Note 235 — PERSIAN STORIES.

Bilkís, according to Muslim tradition, was the name of the celebrated Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon “in all his glory.” Many curious legends, or stories, are related, both by the Rabbins and the Muslims, regarding Solomon and Bilkís. It is said that Solomon had been told by some slanderer that she had goats’ feet and legs. In order to ascertain the fact, he caused the floor of the audience-chamber to be laid with glass or crystal. When Bilkís entered the chamber and perceived what looked like clear water on the floor, she gracefully raised the skirt of her dress a few inches, to save it from being wetted, and Solomon saw, to his great relief, that she had a pair of “natty” little human feet. We are told in the Bible that the Queen of Sheba plied the sage monarch with “hard questions,” but he answered them every one (1 Kings, x, 1-3). So much was Solomon charmed with her sagacity, virtue, and modesty, that he ultimately married her.—Our friend the Kází, to mollify his wife, calls her a second Bilkís.