The Abdication

Then two unmarried women approached Solomon. They had both given birth at the same time in the same place. The mothers somehow had become separated from their offspring. One of the infants had lived, the other had died. Each mother thought the infant still living was hers. Solomon declared that it should be cleaved in two and split equally between the two women. The women were filled with dismay at the barbarity of his words. They had expected to encounter wisdom and mercy but now thought they had found none. The rueful Solomon, smiled, he said, 'you have mistaken me for somebody else.' Resignedly, he stepped away from the golden chair, where he had sat for many centuries. He lifted the heavy crown from his head and, in a gesture of finality, passed it to another - that it might be put away. 'This is the final judgment of the time of men,' he said, 'I perceive that one of you is a woman who is moved to dismay by the threat of violence to a child she is not related to. The child shall be blessed with two mothers. It is the sign I have been waiting for. Equality in status shall now be set at the level of obligation to the other, and not at the level of possessions. The time of judgments will fall away before the time of discretionary powers.' The women were amazed by his words and went away from him, as if under a great burden. And they found the land was already without a king. But many troubles multiplied before them. And they had to meet these by themselves.