340 THE KING'S MIRROR 



but more severe in Saul's case, because he was less dis- 

 posed to do penance for his misdeeds. Now there are 

 certain other matters which I am much interested in 

 and which I shall ask about with your permission, 

 namely those events that occurred after David's death. 

 Once when two women came before King Solomon, 

 quarreling about a child, the king ordered the child to 

 be hewn in pieces and half given to each of them : * now 

 I wish to ask whether, if neither of the women had 

 spoken up, the king would have hewn the child asunder 

 or not. 



Father. The king ordered the child to be divided be- 

 cause he knew of a surety that the one who was the 

 mother would not be willing to have the child divided. 



Son. I asked whether the king would have divided 

 the child if the mother had kept silence. 



Father. If the mother had been so void of mercy that 

 she would not ask him to spare the child, the king would 

 have divided it between them. 



Son. Would it not look to you like plain murder, if 

 he had slain an innocent child, seeing that it was not for 

 punishment ? 



Father. It would indeed have been murder if he had 

 killed the child ; still, the guilt would not have been with 

 the king but with the mother, if she had failed to beg 

 mercy for her child, when she heard the king render a 

 fair judgment in their case, which she realized would 

 mean the child's death; therefore the guilt would be 

 hers if she withheld the motherly pity which could save 

 the child. 



* See / Kings, iii, 16-28. 



