Changeling, and Other Stories
me?" They sat under a great cedar-tree. The pigeons thundered. The
bees droned among the apricots. The lizard flashed upon the wall. "I
wonder myself.... But you can tell me, Solomon. You are so wise."
"Am I?" There was a little note of bitterness in his voice.
"Are n't you?"
"I don't know," he said. "I--I don't know."
"But all the questions that are put, you answer them. All the matters
of judgment you pass on. Of course you are wise, Solomon."
"It is easy, Balkis, very easy, that sort of wisdom, for Nathan, as far
back as I can remember, has been dinning precepts and examples into my
ears. And at times, when things are difficult, comes a little
inspiration, like a little unpremeditated bar on a musician's psaltery.
And the tricks of reading a riddle are no more than the mason's tricks
of arranging stones. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty
themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south or
toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be. And if that is wisdom, then I have wisdom. But I know not what is
the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her
that is with child."
"Poor Solomon!"
"O Balkis, I wanted to go out with the young men, and to understand
what they all understand and I do not understand: the way of an eagle
in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; to hunt and fish with
them and know the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. But I never
could, Balkis, for while still a boy Nathan made of me a man, an old
wise man. Woe to thee, O land, he prophesied, when thy king is a
child, and thy princes eat in the morning! So I 've always been a man,
Balkis, a wise old man."
"Dear, poor Solomon! Never were young."
"Never, dear Balkis, never. I must never be young, never do a wild
boyish thing. Dead flies cause the ointment of an apothecary to send
forth a stinking savor; so doth a little folly him that is in
reputation for wisdom and honor. O Balkis, the long wise days!"
"Poor Solomon! Poor dear Solomon!"
"O Balkis," he cried suddenly, "you came from afar to hear my wisdom,
and you heard a little mouse-like noise. And you wanted to commune
with me on what was in your heart, and I 've shown you my own heart,
that is like a troubled pool. Madness is in my heart while I live, and
after that I go to the dead. O Balkis, all is vanity and vexation of
spirit."
"Hush! hush dear Solomon!"
And very suddenly his body broke in sobs, and his dark head fell on her
leaning shoulder. There was a mist in her Arab eyes as she held him,
as she patted him:
"Hush, dear Solomon!"
V
And in the dusk of day, when the master masons and their helpers had
gone, he brought her to the temple he was building to his god, the
great temple that Hiram, the trader king of Tyre, was embellishing for
the reward of twenty cities in the land of Galilee. And Balkis's eyes
flashed with anger at the cunning of the Phoenician king. It was such
a shame to take advantage of the boy! Poor wise-foolish king! He was
like a child showing his toys.
"See these brass bases, Balkis, with the borders of lions and oxen and
cherubim. And the brazen wheels at each base. They say there are
cunning brass-workers in India, but surely there is no more beautiful
work than this. Surely they cannot beat this."
"Of course not, my dearest. Of course not."
"And come with me, Balkis, to where the watchmen are, and I will show
you marvels such as you never saw before: an altar of gold and a table
of gold and ten candlesticks of pure gold with the flowers and the
lamps and the tongs of gold; and bowls and snuffers and basins and the
spoons and the censers of pure gold. Come."
They went toward the king's house. On the way Solomon stopped suddenly
and looked at his temple.
"O Balkis," he asked, "you have come through Egypt. How much bigger is
my temple than the pyramids and labyrinth? I 've heard so much of
them."
"Bigger?"
"Yes, how much bigger?"
She looked at the little building, twenty cubits broad, sixty cubits
long. Twelve paces one way, forty another. For an instant laughter
bubbled in her, but gave way to pathos, and her sloe-black eyes were
wet again. O poor lad!
"Is it very much bigger than the pyramids, Balkis?" he asked eagerly.
"Oh, lots bigger. Much."
"Why, Balkis, you are crying. Are you lonely?"
"Yes, a little homesick," she lied again.
He came toward her and kissed her, in kindness, but the touch of lips
fired, startled them both, sent their blood pounding in the soft Syrian
gloom.
"O Balkis!" his voice trembled. "O Balkis!"
"Solomon!" she uttered softly. "Dear Solomon!"
VI
Around the king's house the little winds of springtime hovered, the
little moon of May was in the air. Came the rustle of the grasses, and
the minor of the frogs, and the barking of cub foxes. All the
constellations hung in a cloud and the sickled moon was in the
west--stars and moon and purple night sky, like some rude mosaic. And
from the king's room came the pale gold of candles and the murmur of
voices in exaltation. And beneath the king's casement Nathan writhed
in fear and anger and pain.
"O Balkis," came Solomon's voice, "you are wonderful. You are like a
company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
"Your cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of
gold."
"O Solomon," her voice half whispered, half chanted, "a bundle of myrrh
are you unto me. My well beloved! He shall lie all night betwixt my
breasts.
"My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of
Engadi."
"Balkis, you are fair, my beloved; behold, you are fair, you have
dove's eyes ... fair, yea, pleasant...."
"As the apple-trees among the trees of the wood, Solomon, so are you
among the sons of man. I sat down under your shadow with great
delight, and your fruit was sweet to my taste. O dear Solomon, your
eyes are closing. You are drowsy. Sleep, heart. O ye daughters of
Jerusalem, I charge you by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please."
"I am not sleepy, Balkis; I am only thinking. O beloved, if we could
only go away from here. Go away together--rise up, my love, my fair
one, and come away.
"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is
come; and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
"The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the
tender grape give a good smell. Arise my love, my fair one and come
away."
"O Solomon, if you only would," came Balkis's voice, pleading.
"Listen, my beloved. In Africa I have a great kingdom, and it could be
greater did I want it so. It is on a high mountain and its
fortifications are the lightnings on the hills. And from the hills my
men can sweep down on all Africa. And there is reverence for me from
the giant Ethiops and from the pygmies of the warm forests. Come with
me, Solomon, come with me to a cooler, fairer kingdom. In the lowlands
there are vineyards, and the vines flourish, and the tender grapes
appear, and the pomegranates put forth; there will I give thee my loves.
"And the mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of
pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my
beloved.
"O Solomon, come to Africa. Come to Africa with Sheba."
"O Balkis, what of my people, my poor people?"
"They can come, too, Solomon. There is welcome for them. They crossed
the Red Sea once; they can cross it again."
"But my temple, Balkis?"
"O Solomon, listen. I will set the Abyssinian millions against the
Pharaoh of Egypt, and they will make Egypt a waste land, as they did
once before. And they will bring back the Egyptians in bondage, and
the Egyptians will build you a temple, Solomon, a temple worthy of you,
for the Egyptians are cunning builders. They will exceed their
pyramids. For you I will conquer Egypt, Solomon.
"O Balkis, you are beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. But you
are terrible, Balkis, terrible as an army with banners."
"That is nothing, Solomon. That is the smallest gage of love. O
Solomon, I have found something in my heart. I have found love. Many
waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown love; if a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
contemned.
"Come with me, Solomon. Make haste, my beloved. Be like to a roe or a
young hart on the mountains of spices. Come to Africa."
He arose and paced the floor. Without, Nathan could hear the troubled
footsteps.
"I am afraid, Balkis. I am afraid."
"Of what, dearest one?"
"Afraid, just, Balkis. Afraid of Nathan, afraid of the new strange
land. Afraid for the temple. Afraid of God."
"Afraid? Do not be afraid, Solomon. Awake, O north wind," she
chanted, "and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices
thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his
pleasant fruits."
Solomon stood by the window in distress, eager, afraid.
"Hiram, King of Tyre, will be angry."
"The King of Tyre," Sheba laughed, "will not be angry with me. Hiram
is shrewd. He is a trader, not a fighting man."
"Are you sure, Sheba?"
"Yes, certain."
"Then I will--then I will--"
The voice of Nathan rose under him in an angry whisper:
"There was a young man void of understanding, ... and there met him a
woman subtle of heart.
"And she caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto
him:
"'I have peace offerings with me....
"'I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works,
with fine linen of Egypt.
"'I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon....'
"With her fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of
her lips she forced him.
"He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as
a fool to the correction of the stocks.
"Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare,
and knoweth not it is for his life...."
"O Balkis, do you hear anything? Do you hear anything without the
window? Do you hear a hissing as of a serpent aroused?"
"I hear nothing, Solomon. I hear nothing but the little murmur of the
trees. Come from the window. Come over here and kiss me with the
kisses of your mouth, for your love is better than wine. Put your left
hand under my head, Solomon, and let your right embrace me--"
"Don't you hear anything, Balkis? Are you sure?"
"There is nothing, Solomon, O white and ruddy, O chiefest among ten
thousand."
"No, there is nothing. I thought for a moment--"
Again the voice of Nathan came like the strokes of a sword:
"... O King, attend to the words of my mouth.
"Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
"For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been
slain by her.
"Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death."
"Oh!" went a long shudder from the king.
"What is it, Solomon? Does anything affright you?"
"No, no, Balkis."
"Then come over to me, Solomon. Come where I can see your face. Your
countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. Come."
"Remember your father, David," came the voice beneath the window, "son
of Jesse, turned from wisdom. Remember how his chiefest joy, Absalom
his son, died. Remember how he stood against God, the prophet of the
Lord, and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even
to the time appointed, three days' time; and there died of the people
from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
"And the angel of the Lord stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to