The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1908-02-20
J e2UEEN OF sHEB-A-.
Legend Of Wandering Royal Scholar and
Maker of Riddles.
From the journal Of American Folk Lore.

OF folk lore. according to the wider
definition sometimes given that term.
The book of Esther though It makes
no reference to religion. was a favor
lite among the Jews because It de-
scribes a great national triumph (which
is. however, not historically. 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 ex-
traordinarily confused history of the
foreign monarchs who had oppressed
Israel, the writer turns to David and
then to solomon (of which also he
had previously spoken) OF whom God
had given dominion over all beasts.
birds, reptiles, demons and spirit, and
he knew the speech Of all these. OF
a certain day when his heart was
warmed by wine be made great feast,
invited all the neighborlng 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 greatness All these came ex-
cept the moorcock, whom the angry
king was about to put to death. The
bird, however, excused himself By say
ing that for three months he had been
flying over the earth, without food OF
drink, to see If there was any land that
did not acknowledge the Kings author
ity-he had come on land in the east
Astounding in gold and silver, with
trees as old as the creation and water
ed from the Garden Of Eden, its inhab-
itants ignorant Of war, and ruled over
by a woman whose name was the
Queen Of Sheba; and, he added, II the
King desired, he would bring the rul-
ers of 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-looking up she sees, the
sun Obscured by the host Of birds and
is astounded-the bird descends, she
sees the letter and reads Gin sub
stancel "King Solomon greets you
and your mobiles. Know that God has
given me authority over beasts, ETC.,
and all kings send me greeting, II
you will do likewise will confer great
honor on you--if not l win send an
army and destroy you The Queen
decided that it would be wise to obey.
She sent costly presents, with letter
saying 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 wooden 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 anti
mony mixture; the buckets are the
needles with which the mixture is ap-
piled to the eyebrows, Second riddle:
As dust It. comes forth from the
ground. its food is dust Of the earth,
IT, is poured out like water, and It IL
lumlnes the house, Answer. naphtha-
Third riddle: A piper passes over its
head and It utters a. 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, 10y to birds, trouble for fishes
nax--the wind pipes over the
fax stalks. linen furnishes garments OF
varying value to different classes Of
men, from flax are made shelters for
birds, nets for fishes, These seem to
be poor things to take three years
journey for; one might expect more
serious questions to be assigned to an
eager woman and a wise
man; but these riddles are the tattls
ot story tellers. 10 ,f.s