10 NETHER LOCHABER. 



In the collection of Jewish traditions known as the Talmud 

 there is a very pretty story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, that 

 will serve to illustrate our meaning better than the longest dis- 

 sertation could be. It is to the following effect : — Attracted by 

 his wealth, and wisdom, and power — the fame whereof had gone 

 forth into all lands — the Queen of Sheba, the Beautiful, paid a 

 visit to Solomon, the "Wise, at his own court, that she might there 

 admire the splendour of his throne and be instructed of his wisdom. 

 Charmed with the courtesy and gallantry of the accomplished King, 

 delighted with the magnificence and splendour of his court, and 

 amazed at his surpassing wisdom, which, indeed, exceeded all that 

 she had heard reported of it, the Queen still thought that Solomon 

 could be outwitted, and she resolved to have the glory of puzzling 

 and outwitting one so wise. To this end she one day presented 

 herself before the King, bearing in one of her hands a wreath of 

 natural flowers, the most beautiful she could gather, and in the 

 other a similar wreath of artificial flowers, the most beautiful and 

 like unto natural flowers that the cunning of herself and her 

 handmaidens could fashion. Of the two wreaths the hues were of 

 the brightest, and the flowers of the one wreath were as if they 

 had been pulled off the same stalks that bore the flowera of the 

 other. ■" Tell me now, King," said the Queen as she stood at 

 some distance from the throne whereon the monarch sate, " Tell 

 me now, King, which of these wreaths I hold in my hands is 

 fashioned of artificial flowers, for one of them is so fashioned ; and 

 which of them of natural flowers, that grew from out the earth, and 

 imbibed their beauty and their brightness from the sun, for of such 

 of a truth is one of them formed?" And, lo, the King was per- 

 plexed and sorely troubled, for he wist not what answer to make, 

 seeing that the two wreaths were as like one to another as twin 

 sisters at their mother's breast, or twin lilies on the same stalk. 

 And the courtiers of the King, and his princes, and his servants, 



