King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

 

(From the novel, Mermaid Assassin)

 “Ezra?” says Sheikh Hamad. “Can you tell us story? Perhaps a story from Israel?” 

  “My story is not part of the official record,” replies Ezra.

  Ezra begins, “One day the Queen of Sheba met King Solomon. And she says to him, “After much thought, I present you with one question to test your wisdom.”

  King Solomon realizes this is the queen’s way of flirting, and indeed, it is working. And so he says to her, “Go ahead. Untested, wisdom is of little value. Ask your question.”

  “The Queen of Sheba says, ‘What is missing from life such that if we possessed this one thing we might attain our highest destiny, live in harmony, and be so pure that love will never fail us?’

  “King Solomon laughs, because for him a great question is more precious than the rarest of diamonds. Asking it calls forth divine light. He leans slightly forward and gazes into her eyes such that she is nearly paralyzed, for now it was no longer a man or a king who is in front of her. The spirit hidden within the man has briefly taken possession of him.

   “The king speaks, his voice deeper and resonating, ‘You are not the first to ask this question. The archangels deliberate on the purpose, the destiny, and final end of the human race.

  “’When you can feel that water in the rain, rivers, lakes, and seas is part of yourself, then you will understand what is missing from life.’

  Just then the throne disappears and the King and Queen are sitting beside a stream in Northern Israel. They could reach out and feel its water flowing over their hands as if it is a living being.

  And King Solomon reaches down and fills the palm of his hand with water and then, speaking to the water, he says, “How beautiful you are. More receptive and yielding than any women; more nurturing and life giving.  

  “You turn into wine when imbued with spirit. You absorb without fear the burning fire of the sun and, without hesitation, with its light you are one. At night, you reflect with perfect admiration the distant, cold fury of the stars. 

  “You still the mind and calm the soul. For those who gaze upon you with purity, the past, present, and future and the innermost dreams of the heart are clear before their eyes.

  “If I enter you, you purify me. From you the oil of the olive anoints me. You cleanse and cool the skin. From you the eye learns to cry, to shed sorrow, sadness, and grief for what has gone by.

  “In your embrace, sin dissolves; obsession lets go its hold through your grace.

  “One day both men and women shall be as you are now—so pure and receptive, so giving and healing, wars shall cease on earth, for then we shall have learned to make every being, mortal or divine, our friend as I have made you mine.” 

  “In that day, women shall finally understand the power they possess—to unite with the soul of any man and to transform him into the person he is meant to be.”

  When the Queen departs for her home, she is indeed satisfied, for all her questions have been answered.