“Very well,” he replied, “I will respect your property, and promise
to take nothing of yours so long as you respect and take nothing of
mine.” She agreed to these conditions and the king backed away
gracefully.
The following evening, the final night of her stay, they enjoyed an
abundant feast which incorporated the finest fruits of the king’s
empire. Through his many foreign wives Solomon had become
introduced to the spicy cuisine of other lands and though Sheba and
her entourage were impressed, they were unaccustomed to such fare.
After retiring to her bed, the queen became very thirsty; the
spices had dehydrated her to the point where she almost could not
breathe. A simple cup of water stood on her bed table and she sat up
and drank it. When she placed the empty cup down, the king jumped
up from his own bed and cried “Aha! You have broken your promise!
You have taken something which is mine!”
“But it is only a glass of water,” the queen replied, to which
Solomon answered with evident satisfaction: “My dear Sheba, is
there anything on earth more valuable than water?”
The Queen saw at once that she had been tricked. This was both
payment for her education as well as her final lesson. She had been
deceived in the biblical tradition, a book in which she would
subsequently be immortalized.
They made love through the night. The next morning, the queen
departed with her retinue for the long journey back home. Crossing
the long African plain, she had much time to reflect on the
shimmering path unfolding directly in front of her.
She knew that to advance her kingdom, she would institute
Solomon’s teachings in her land, that her people would now be called
Jews. She also knew that she had received something else, something
even more precious than the knowledge he had given her. She would
bear his child. Now she would have a chance to show him just how
diligent a student she had been. She felt it in her bones. The great
Lord of the North would shine his favor upon her faraway country
and an era of darkness would fall upon Solomon and his doomed
tribe.
ABYSSINIA
28
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