The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-11


WI it excused itself by saying that It
had made a journey south and told this
remarkable story: II had been to the
land of sheba. the realm of Queen Bal
lSis. Sheba was a king after whom
his country was named and the last
of his dynasty was Scharabel tyrant
and a degenerate. He had vizir of
such singular beauty that the daugh-
ters of the Jinns fell in love with him
and often transformed themselves into
gazelles that they might walk by his
side and admire him. One of them,
named Umeira, and of bewitching love-
liness, offered him her hand in mar
riage if he would fly with her to her
own land and never ask concerning
her origin. The dazzled vizir consented
and went with the Jim to an island
where he married her and in due time
Baskis was born of the union.
The vizir however, forgot his prom
ise and asked his wife concerning her
origin, whereupon she Immediately van
ished forever from his sight and the
desolate man returned to his own coun-
try bringing his daughter with him AS
Ralkis was so extravag gantly beautiful
her father kept her secluded lest Schar-
abe should see her and carry her to
the royal harem. But the King had
habit of travelling over his realm in
disguise in order to see how his sub
5ects Jared. Dressed in the rags of a
beggar he one day appeared at the
door of his ex-vizir and when their eyes
met the recognition was mutual Bal
llis had given aims to the psuedo men,
dicant who Immediately lost his heart
10 her and demanded her hand The
gill, who was Just 10 years of age.
apparently consented and after the
wedding banquet when Scharabel was
heavy with wine she stabbed him TO
the heart with dagger She then bade
her~father order in the name of the
King that all of the citizens of the
town should bring their daughters to
the palace that the monarch might se-
iect therefrom recruits for his harem
This was done and the popuace then
rose in revolt The multitude gathered
in anger around the palace when
Ballis cut off Scharabels head and
displayed it at the window. A cry of
JOY rocked Sheba' and Bal<is was pro-
claimed queens When Solomon heard
this strange story he Immediately sum.
noned Balkis to appear before him and
Rabbinic authors have preserved the
royal message in itse entirety.
The queen of Sheba was wise. She de-
termined to try to propitiate Solomon
with gifts, saying if he accepted them
he was human, but if he rejected them,
he was a prophet and she must yield to
his sway
She dressed 800 boys as girls and clothed
500 girls in boys garments whom she
sent with ambassadors to Solomon. Sine
also sent 1000 carpets of gold and silver
tissue crown of pearls and diamonds
and quantity of rich perfumes She also
placed in box a pearl, diamond pierced
in zigzag, perforations and a crystal COB
let which she sent accompanied by a let
ter saying she would believe solomon
prophet if he would be able to tell the
boys from the girls, guess the contents
of the box, pierce the pearl, thread the
diamond and fill the goblet with water
which came neither from heaven nor
earth
Now the little peewit had told the king
what was in the box so that he expert
cnced no difficulty in declaring its con-
tents to the ambassadors but the other
problems he solved by his native wis
dom.
He ordered his servants to bring silver
ewers before the ambassadors and their
train that they might wash their hands
after the journey. Solomon watched in
tently the boys and girls washing and
noted that 800 of them merely dipped
their hands in the water while the other
500 rolled up their sleeves to their Shout
ders and washed their arms as well as
their hands, The latter he Immediately
declared to be the girls and he was cor
rect. Then he took the pearl and calling
the Schamr bade it drill a hole through
the gem which was done in a trice Next
lie picked up the diamond anG discovered
that the hole by Which it was pierced
wound about in crooked manner SO
that a thread inserted in one end would
not pass through TO the other end. But
the king got a small silk thread and
putting it in the mouth of SIX worm in
serted the creature in the hole. The worm
,crawled through the winding passage and
brought the silk thread out at the4other
opening.
At last came the test of filling the COB
let with water that came not from heaven
or earth and all of the ambassadors
smiled at thought of their contemplated
triumph and the kings failure. but they
were in error. Solomon summoned
huge negro slave and bade him mount
a wild horse upon which he galoped over
the plain under the hot sun until the
animal reelSed with sweat. This sweat
The monarch collected in his goblet and
the water was not from the earth nor
IRON the skies. Having accomplished
these tasks the king gave back TO the
ambassadors the presents which Balks