She was in no wise impressed, somehow, by his ceremonial officers. They lacked dignity and were familiar. Nor did Solomon's great captains please her. They were not fighters; they were strategists. They played with companies as the Persians played chess with pawns. Her own men were her ideal of soldiers, copper-colored, muscled like panthers; they would crash into an opposing army like their native lightning, or they would die doggedly, their backs to the wall, their heads broken, the blood streaming into their eyes.... Nor did all the magnificence of the king's house please her.... There was too much, too quickly acquired, and jumbled, no composition. The Egyptians had more magnificent things, and grouped them better. Her eyes flickered from the hall to the pale young king on his throne. Beside him, standing, was Nathan, the principal officer, and the king's friend, a great frame of a man, fanatical. And there was silence. "I am Balkis, Queen of Sheba," she said and threw back her veil. Solomon cast an uneasy glance at the prophet by his side. "She is come to prove you with hard questions," Nathan spoke. For an instant Balkis all but laughed. Behind her stood her fighting men, in exact ranks, rather contemptuous. Around the hall the men of Judah and Israel fluttered. Winked at, nudged one another. "From Abyssinia she comes, to ask him questions. See what a king we have! A great people, we!" It was so like a showman with a marvel to exhibit! "Ask him, ask him anything you like. Go on. Ask him." The cadaverous prophet! The white, young king. A swift stab of pathos went into Sheba's heart. Poor lad! Poor king! Poor mummer! She smiled in the corner of her veil. She was supposed to ask questions, he to answer them. Well, let the mummery go on! "O King," her voice rang out, "what is sweeter than honey?" "The love of pious children." "O King, what is sharper than poison?" "The tongue." "O King, what is the pleasantest of days?" "The day of profit on merchandise." "O King, what is the debt the most stubborn debtor denies not?" "The debt is death." "O King, what is death in life?" "It is poverty." "O King, what is the disease that may not be healed?" "It is evil nature." She was rather ashamed for herself and for him, and her great Ethiopians were puzzled. But it was so evident that the poor white king's hold on his people was this trick of wisdom. She must help him. She remembered quickly what history she knew of his folk. "O King," she asked, "what woman was born of man alone?" "Eve was born of Adam." "O King, what spot of lowland is it upon which the sun shone once, but will never again shine until judgment-day?" "The bottom of the Red Sea, which clave asunder for Moses. Then the sun shone on the bottom and will never again shine until judgment-day." "O King, what thing was it whose first state was wood and whose last life?" "The rod of Aaron, which became a writhing serpent."