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the end of three years.’ And it came to pass at the
end of three years that the Queen of Sheba came to King
Solomon. And when King Solomon heard that the Queen
of Sheba had come, he sent unto her Benaiah the son
of Jehoiada, who was like the dawn that rises at morning-time,
and resembled the Star of Splendour (Venus) which shines
and stands firm among the stars, and was similar to
the lily which stands by the water-courses. And when
the Queen of Sheba saw Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, she
alighted from the chariot. Benaiah, son of Jehoiada,
answered and said to her, ‘Why hast thou alighted from
thy chariot?’ She answered and said to him, ‘Art not
thou King Solomon?’ He answered and said to her, ‘I
am not King Solomon, but one of his servants who stand
before him.’ And forthwith she turned her face behind
her and uttered a parable to the nobles, ‘If the lion
has not appeared to you, ye have seen his offspring,
and if ye have not seen King Solomon ye have seen the
beauty of a man who stands before him.’ And Benaiah,
son of Jehoiada, brought her before the king. And when
the king heard that she had come to him, he arose and
went and sat in a crystal house. And when the Queen
of Sheba saw that the king sat in a crystal house, she
considered in her heart and said that the king sat in
water, and she gathered up her garment that she might
cross over, and he saw that she had hair on her legs.
The king answered |
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and said unto her, ‘Thy beauty is the beauty of women,
and thy hair is the hair of a man; and hair is beautiful
for a man, but for a woman it is disgraceful.’ The Queen
of Sheba answered and said to him, ‘My lord the king,
I shall utter to thee three parables, which if thou
explain to me, I shall know that thou art a wise man,
and if not, thou art as the rest of men.’ (Solomon solved
all three problems.) And she said, ‘Blessed be the Lord
thy God who delighted in thee to seat thee upon the
throne of the kingdom to do judgment and justice.’ And
she gave unto the king good gold and silver. ... And
the king gave her all that she desired."
In this Jewish narrative we see that there is mention
made of certain puzzles which the Queen of Sheba desired
Solomon to solve for her. Although this matter is not
mentioned in the Qur'an, yet it is all recorded in the
Traditions. And since what the Qur'an says with regard
to the Queen's mistaking the crystal pavement for a
deep pool of water is not quite so full an account of
the incident as that given in the Targum, certain Muhammadan
writers have filled up the details exactly. For instance,
in the 'Araisu'l Majalis (p. 438) we read: "She
uncovered her legs that she might wade through it, unto
Solomon. Then Solomon beheld her, and lo she was the
fairest of women as to leg and foot, except that she
was hairy-legged. When therefore Solomon saw that, |
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