The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-03-28

ecdOLeS. queer cOHcelLS anu ali sol "
of gossip. Much OF this material may
have been the product of familiar
talks by teachers 70 their pupils
which sometimes ran into story tell
ing not unlike that of the Mos!en
raWis. to which We owe gOod dear
of the matter of the "Thous2nd ana
One Nights" These books have pre-
served great mass OF popular Jew
lish beliefs and farces. parallel 10
certain Christian writer's, and such
beliefs come under the head OF lolk
lore, according 10 the wider deiiAi'
ton sometimes given that term
The book of Esther, though it
makes 10 reference TO religion. was
a fayorite among the Jews because it
describes a great national triumph
(Which is. however, not HISTORICAL.
Three late paraphrases Of the book
have come down to us, the second of
which gives another list OF riddles.
together with an account of how The
Queen came to visit Solomon. After
an extraordinary confused history OF
he foreign monarchs who had %
pressed Israel the writer turns to
David and then to Solomon TOT whom
also he had previously spokenD. to
whom God had given dominion over
all beasts. birds, reptiles. demons
and spirits. and he knew the speech
Of all these On certain day when
his heart was warmed by wine he
made a great feast. invited all the
neighbOring kings OF the cas- and
the west. had music on all sorts of
instruments and ordered all the beasts
and demons to be brought in order
that the kings might see his great
ness.
All these came except the moor
cock, whom the angry King was about
to put to death. The bird. however,
excused himself by saying that for
three months he had been flying over
the earth without food or drink to
see il there was any land that did
not acknowledge the King author
ity. He had come upon land IN
the east bounding in gold and iil-
YER. with trees as old as the Great
ton and watered from the Garden
of Eden, it's inhabitants ignorant Of
war. and ruled over by woman
whose name was the Queen OF She
be: and, he added. if the King de-
sired. he would bring the rulers OF
1nH tn foft ~
his feet. The King approved. a let
ter was written and the bird. attend
ed by the other birds. departed with
the letter attached to his wing.
When he reached Sheba the Queen
had just gone to the shore of the
sea to perform her devotions. Look
ing up she sees the sun Obscured by
the host OF birds and is astOunded.
The bird descends. she sees the let
ter and reads( in substance): King
Solomon greets you and your mobiles.
Know that God has given me author
ity over beasts. etc. and all kings
send me greeting If you will do
likewise l will confer great honor on
.Ou. IL uOt. viii Scuu du dllAy anu
destroy you" The Queen decided that
it would be wise to obey. She sent
costly presents. with letter say
ing that though the journey from
Sheba ordinarily took seven years, yet
on account of the questions she
wished to ask. she would come in
three years. She came accordingly,
had splendid reception and put her
test questions First riddle: A wood
en- well with iron buckets that draw
up stones and pour out water. The
answer is. the tube of antimOny
(kOhD used by women to blacken
their eyebrows: the ''stones" are the
chalk contained in the antimoIy nix
ture: the buckets" are the needles
with which the mixture is applied
to the eyebrows. Second riddle: AS
dust it comes forth from the grOuni.
its food is dust Of the earth. it is
the house Answer. naphtha Third
riddle: A piper passes over its head
and it utters loud and bitter cry.
its head is like a reed. it is honor for
the rich. disgrace for the poor. honor
for the dead. disgrace for the living
JOY to birds. trouble for fishes. An
swer. flaX-the wind pipes over the
faXstalks. linen furnishes garments
of varying value TO different classes
of men. from fax are made shelters
for birds, nets for fishes. These seem
years journey for: one might ex-
pect more serious questions to be as
signed to an intellectually eager wO-
man and wise man: but these rid
lies are the tatte of story tellers.-
Pitt ,burg Disuatch