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I WHEN Solomon was reigning in his glory, | |
| Unto his throne the Queen of Sheba came; | |
| (So in the Talmud you may read the story) | |
| Drawn by the magic of the monarch’s fame, | |
| To see the splendours of his court, and bring | 5 |
| Some fitting tribute to the mighty King. | |
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II Nor this alone: much had her highness heard | |
| What flowers of learning graced the royal speech; | |
| What gems of wisdom dropped with every word; | |
| What wholesome lesson he was wont to teach | 10 |
| In pleasing proverbs; and she wished in sooth, | |
| To know if rumor spake the simple truth. | |
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III Besides, the Queen had heard (which piqued her most) | |
| How through the deepest riddles he could spy; | |
| How all the curious arts that women boast | 15 |
| Were quite transparent to his piercing eye; | |
| And so the Queen had come—a royal guest— | |
| To put the Sage’s cunning to the test. | |
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IV And straight she held before the monarch’s view, | |
| In either hand a radiant wealth of flowers; | 20 |
| The one, bedeckt with every charming hue, | |
| Was newly culled from Nature’s choicest bowers. | |
| The other, no less fair in every part, | |
| Was the rare product of divinest art. | |
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V “Which is the true, and which the false?” she said. | 25 |
| Great Solomon was silent. All amazed, | |
| Each wondering courtier shook his puzzled head; | |
| While at the garlands long the Monarch gazed, | |
| As one who sees a miracle, and fain, | |
| For very rapture ne’er would speak again. | 30 |
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VI “Which is the true?” Once more the woman asked, | |
| Pleased at the fond amazement of the king; | |
| “So wise a head should not be hardly tasked | |
| Most learned Liege, with such a trivial thing!” | |
| But still the sage was silent; it was plain | 35 |
| A deep’ning doubt perplexed his royal brain. | |
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VII While thus he pondered, presently he sees, | |
| Hard by the casement—so the story goes— | |
| A little band of busy bustling bees, | |
| Hunting for honey in a withered rose. | 40 |
| The monarch smiled, and raised his royal head: | |
| “Open the window!”—that was all he said. | |
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VIII The window opened at the King’s command. | |
| Within the room the eager insects flew, | |
| And sought the flowers in Sheba’s dexter hand, | 45 |
| And so the king and all the courtiers knew, | |
| That wreath was Nature’s—and the baffled Queen, | |
| Returned to tell the wonders she had seen. | |
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IX My story teaches (every tale should bear | |
| A fitting moral) that the wise may find, | 50 |
| In trifles light as atoms of the air, | |
| Some useful lesson to enrich the mind— | |
| Some truth designed to profit or to please— | |
| As Israel’s king learned wisdom from the bees. | |
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