Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-02-28

David and then to Solomon (of whom
also he had previously spoken), to
whom God had given dominion over
all beasts, birds, reptiles. demons
and spirits, and he knew the speech
of all these. On a certain day when
his heart was warmed by wine he
made a great feast, invited all the
neighboring kings of the east 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 Kings author
ity. He had come upon land In
the east bounding in gold and sill
yer. with trees as old as the Great
ton and watered from the Garden
of Eden, its inhabitants ignorant OF
war, and ruled over by woman
whose name was the Queen of She
be; and, he added, II the King de-
sired. he would bring the rulers or
that land in letters and lay them at
his feet. The King approved, 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 readsf 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. II you will do
likewise I will confer great honor on
you; If not, will send an army and
destroy you" The Queen decided that
1t would be wise to obey. She sent
costly presents, with a 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 a 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 anthony
(kohl) used by women to blacken
their eyebrows; the stones are the
chalk contained in the anthony 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 groun@.
its food Is dust of the earth, 1t Is
poured out like water and 1t illumines
the house. Answer, naphtha. Third
riddle: A piper passes over its head
and 1t utters a loud and bitter cry.
| its head is like a reed, 1t 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, fax-the wind pipes over the
fiaxstalks. linen furnishes garments
Of varying value to different classes
of men. from fax are made shelters
for birds, nets for fishes. These seem
to be poor things to take a threa
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
dies are the tattle Of story-tellers.--
Pittsburg Dispatch.