Queen of Sheba (37 page)

As to the coalition that had been formed against him and was such an ominous threat, it had now collapsed. The leaders had been informed that their plans had all fallen through. The queen had accepted the God of Israel as her God. Her high priest and some of her tribesmen were studying with Nathan. An agreement of cooperation was already being drawn up between the two countries, Israel and Sheba.

Solomon was pleased and relieved with all that had been accomplished, but he was frustrated beyond belief by the queen’s refusal to marry him. He knew that there was little time left. She would be making plans very soon for her return trip. He could accept that with difficulty, but to think that their relationship had never blossomed into anything more than lessons in wisdom was, in his estimation, intolerable.

Late that night Solomon was still up talking to Nathan and some of the tribesmen about their progress in drawing up an agreement with the dignitaries from Sheba. Nathan had explained all that he had learned of their beliefs and the temple built to the moon god. He reported that both their superstitions and their wisdom regarding the stars had been recorded. They in turn had been open and receptive to all that he was teaching them about the God of Israel and the law.

Solomon had listened with rapt attention. He was becoming more convinced that somewhere within the queen’s past was an unpleasant incident that had made her fearful of love. Perhaps it was somehow linked to
the rejection of her own religion and the search for the truth. “Every man has a key and undoubtedly it is also true of every woman,” he said. “One has only to find the key, and any problem can be solved.”

“And the key, what is this key?” Nathan asked.

“Every person has something they either fear or want. When you discover either of these you can unlock the heart and there are no more problems.”

“And so what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Nathan left and Solomon sat thinking; he was reluctant to retire until he had come to some resolution. Slowly an idea began to form. It was an exciting idea. Impulsively he motioned to one of the pages. “Go to the house of Badget the trader,” he ordered, “and if he is still at home bring him here immediately.” It was obvious the page had been bored and was eager to be sent on some errand. He bowed, backed from the room, and hurried out into the night.

There was the familiar challenge from the guards, muffled voices, then the sound of feet hitting hard on the marble steps. Still more faint on the night air was the challenge from guards stationed in the courtyard, and then the palace gate. Solomon loved these sounds, sounds that were lost during the day.

A wind had sprung up, making the silken hangings billow slightly and the goathair ceiling rise and fall. The oil lamps sputtered and flickered, the incense burners gave off intermittent twists of perfumed smoke. The wind would in a few months bring the early rains signaling that the monsoons would be blowing to the southeast, and Solomon knew the queen must soon be leaving. It all served again to remind him of the shortness of the time that was left. Quickly he dismissed the thought as too painful.

He deliberately shifted his thoughts to the trader, with the hope that he could shed some light on the situation. “That wily trader owes me a great deal for bringing peace to his house,” Solomon muttered.

Badget came in such a hurry that he was still adjusting his outer robe and had forgotten his ornate girdle. At first he listened carefully to the king’s questions all the time nodding and smiling. Then he became impatient. He could hardly wait to tell all he knew of the situation in Sheba. Finally, before Solomon had asked all his questions, Badget began to tell
him in detail of the queen’s refusal of one suitor after another. How even her cousin had been rejected. Then how at last there had been news that she was going to the temple to meet with the god Ilumquh. The god was to be her only husband.

“And why,” Solomon asked, “was it so necessary that she have a husband?”

“The people were demanding an heir to the throne. They cared very little whether she had a husband or not, but they insisted she must have an heir.”

“And so?”

“We heard of special diets, rituals, and purifications the queen was having to endure if she was to meet the god.”

“And this god she was to meet—who was he?” Badget laughed. “He’s the moon god. His presence on earth takes the form of an alabaster bull that lives in a special pavilion beside the larger temple. It was odd. I told people myself that neither an alabaster bull nor the moon itself could give the queen the son she wanted.”

“They believed she would have a son by this god?”

“They believed it. With my own eyes I saw the queen enter the small temple.”

“She actually went to meet this god?”

“She actually went. The people were terrified. They thought the bull god might tear her to pieces.”

“Was she frightened?”

“She didn’t seem to be, but then who knows, she may have been terrified and just didn’t show it. She’s well known for her bravery. Then again the priests may have given her a potion they call ergot. It makes ordinary people dream of gods and demons. It can also make them lose their wits. With my own eyes I’ve seen some of them.”

“What came of all this? Did the queen have a son?”

“Oh no, my lord. It seemed to me she wasn’t in the temple long before she reappeared, looking upset. She didn’t speak to anyone but gave orders to be taken right back to the palace. She didn’t even appear in the temple where the people were waiting for her.”

“Did she say anything to her people?”

“No, it was all very strange. It was after that she suddenly decided on
this trip. Said she was coming to ask you questions. She wanted to find the truth.”

Solomon thanked Badget and dismissed the tribesmen, leaving only the harpist and some guards. He didn’t want to be bothered. He wanted to think. Badget had told him enough. He could well imagine the rest. He had often heard of the dark, shady practices of pagan priests.

It was painful to think of this woman he loved so deeply, who was so brave and trusting, being put through such an ordeal. Now he understood everything. Her consuming interest in Israel’s God, and her reluctance to respond to the love he knew she felt for him. The coalition meant little to her, the fact that he was bypassing her country’s trade route for a water route was important but wouldn’t have driven her to take off on such a perilous and arduous journey.

He had the key. Now all that was left was to find out how best to use all that he knew. It was obvious why she feared any kind of commitment, and it was also obvious that above all else she wanted a child. “Without an heir to her throne she’ll always have the priests and her people troubling her to marry.”

He summoned his guards and went to his bedchamber, where he went over every detail of the situation, summoned up all he knew of moon worship and its rites, decided on a course of action, and then dismissed the whole thing. Finally, as he had done so often, he went to sleep and in the morning knew just what he should do.

First he ordered a bed constructed exactly like his own with posts and curtains enclosing the sleeping area so there would be some privacy from servants and the tribesmen that were always present. This was to be put in his own bedchamber directly across from his own bed. Then he called in his counselors and his brothers. “There are some details I want to add to the treaty being drawn up between our kingdom and that of Sheba,” he said.

They spent the whole day going back and forth, wording and rewording the treaty until it exactly met Solomon’s requirements. There were all of the usual declarations and provisions for a friendly colation. There were also a few surprises. It was suggested that the queen take full advantage of the new sea route by building up the small town of Axum on the African coast of the Red Sea. That way she could benefit by both the land trade and the sea. She could market the same goods from her own country and
at the same time build a new market of goods gathered from Africa.

The biggest surprise was a carefully worded portion that promised that with the acceptance of this agreement, Sheba would be given an heir to the throne.

The next day he ordered preparations be made for a great feast. “If the queen accepts the agreement,” he said, “I’ll send word and announcements can be read in every town and village that a large celebration will be held in Jerusalem.”

When Solomon reached Jericho a few days later, he found that the queen had already received the treaty and had been studying it with her counselors. She was puzzled by the suggestion that she make the small town of Axum, on the Ethiopian coast, a center for sea trade. “What should I do with this small town? It’s a long way from my capital in Marib.”

Solomon smiled. That was just what he wanted her to ask. “If you sign the agreement, we’ll be partners and I’ll help you to benefit by the new sea route.”

“I don’t understand.”

Solomon called for some parchment and some charcoal. Then he began to draw a crude map of the Red Sea and the coast of Africa. “See, if you are here instead of over here at Marib, you can collect all the ivory, precious stones, animal skins, and spices from this whole country and send them on ships to my port. In turn I can easily ship you the supplies you might need as the ships set out for the distant ports.”

She bit her lower lip and frowned as she studied the parchment carefully. “I’ll have to think about it. We’ve always ruled most of the coast of Ethiopia but we’ve never built any real towns or ports there. I must also think of my trade with countries to the south and east of Sheba.”

“That’s the whole point. If you stay in Marib, my ships will cut off much of your trade, but if you move you can be right in the center of everything.”

She cocked her head to one side and looked at him from under long curled lashes. “And,” she said, “what of this section that promises me an heir to the throne?”

Solomon smiled. He’d wondered just how she’d bring up the subject. “Why,” he said, “if you sign the agreement, not only will our countries be married but we’ll be married. I’d hoped this would be agreeable to you.”

“This marriage. What does it mean?”

“It’s very simple. I’ve already ordered a wedding bed for you and have had it placed in my own chambers.”

She stiffened slightly. “And so you too will try to control me.”

Again Solomon smiled a relaxed, confident smile. “Of course I have no such thing in mind. We’ll decide on things together; make an agreement.”

“What kind of an agreement?”

“We could agree, for instance, that only if you take something that belongs to me can I claim you.”

Now the queen smiled. “Only if I take something that belongs to you. That should be easy. Why would I take something that belongs to you. I have everything I want.”

“Exactly,” said Solomon. “There’s really very little chance that I can claim you. However, if you forget and take something that is mine, then you will belong to me. Isn’t that fair enough?”

“It’s fair,” she said smiling as she rolled the scroll back into its goatskin holder.

So the agreement was signed and that afternoon the queen and her maidens moved her to the apartment of Solomon, where she found that he had indeed designed a marvelous bed. The posts were covered with gold leaf and the curtains that pulled around it were of fine linen with embroidered peacocks and leopards that resembled his own curtains of stalking lions. He had ordered the curtains made when he first heard of her coming. He had thought at the time that they would be a fitting gift for her to take back to Sheba. Now they served the purpose of giving her the privacy she would need in this large bedchamber where tribesmen, servants, and emissaries came and went at all hours of the day and night.

From the moment the treaties were signed the feasting and celebration began. It was the same sort of feast and celebration that always took place at any royal wedding. Each day started with some new adventure, and every night there was a lavish feast. Solomon and the queen were constantly together, but at night, when they retreated to his bed chamber, she was always cautious to remind him that she had taken nothing that was his and so the agreement that had been signed seemed to come no closer to bringing them together than before.

Solomon saw quite clearly that while she desperately wanted an heir to the throne, still she could not bring herself to yield, to give up, to surrender herself. Even if it meant she must go back to her country without her desired heir, she seemed to feel the need to remain aloof. He could tell that she loved him. Her eyes sparkled with animation when she looked at him, and sometimes she almost reached out to touch his hand when they were talking. She had taken to spending longer and longer with her beauticians and hairdressers and had emerged looking devastatingly beautiful.

With his typical penchant to solve problems, Solomon finally made up his mind. He must act and it must be done in such a way that she wouldn’t feel trapped or resentful. “It is the habit of the people of Arabia to solemnize a serious agreement with the mutual eating of salt. Tonight we’ll have salt in everything, and the queen and I will perform a special salt-eating ritual joining our two countries in peace and prosperity,” he ordered those preparing the feast.

Then later, in the bedchamber, knowing she would be thirsty, he ordered a flask of fresh spring water and a silver goblet placed by her bed.

That night after the feasting and festivities had come to an end they all retired to their beds. Solomon said goodnight to the queen but was resolved not to go to sleep until his plan was implemented. He didn’t have long to wait. He heard her rise, draw the curtain aside, pick up the flask, pour water into the goblet, and drink not once but twice and then again as though the spices had taken full effect.

In the shaft of moonlight he saw her quite clearly. From the small bare feet on the marble floor to the hair that was now loose and flowing down her back she was a vision both lovely and desirable beyond anything he had ever seen. He must be careful not to frighten her.