The slavonic life of Solomon

And at that time Solomon gave a great feast

to his people. Then two female prostitutes
appeared before the king, and one woman
said: I am in trouble, my lord. Me and this
friend of mine - we live in the same house in
which both were born. I had a son. And on
the third day after I gave birth, this woman
gave birth to a son. We live only together,
and there is nobody with us in our house.
This night the son of this woman died,
because she slept him. And so, standing up
in the middle of the night, she took my boy
from my hand and laid him to sleep on her
bed, and laid her dead boy to me. I got up in
the morning to feed the baby and found him
dead. Then I figured out that this is not my
son, whom I gave birth to. And another
woman said: No, my son is alive, and this is
yours. And they argued before the king.

And the king said to them: So you say this:

This is my living son, and her dead - and she
says:No, my son is alive, and yours is dead.
And the king said to the servants, Cut this
living boy in half and give half of it to that
half, half that. And the dead too, having cut,
give half of this, and half of that.

And the woman whose son was alive

answered and answered, for her soul was
troubled because of her son, and she said:
May I be in trouble, my lord. Give her this
boy, do not kill him. And another woman
said: Let there be neither me nor her! Cut it
in two. The king replied: Give the child to a
living woman who said: Give it to her, and
do not kill him. Give it to her, for she is his
mother.

Israel heard of this court, which the king

judged, and all the faces of the Tsar were
afraid, for they understood that it was given
to him the meaning of God to do justice and
justice.
Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter when
he built the Holy of Holies. And he sent his
ambassador to him with the words: My
father-in-law! Send me help. And he chose
six hundred people, having learned through
astrology that they would die that year - he
wanted to test Solomon's wisdom. When
they were brought to Solomon, he saw them
from a distance and ordered them to sew
them shrouds. He sent his ambassador to
them and sent them to Pharaoh, saying: My
father-in-law! If you do not have anything to
bury your dead, then this is clothing for you.
At home, they are buried.

When Solomon built the Holy of Holies, it

was necessary for him to ask a question to
Kitovras. They told him where he lives, they
said - in the desert far. Then the wise
Solomon conceived to shackle the iron chain
and the iron hoop, and on it he wrote the
spell in the name of God, and sent the first
of his boyars with servants, and ordered to
carry wine and honey, and took sheep's skins
with them. We came to Kitovras' dwelling,
to three wells of it, but it was not there. And
at the direction of Solomon poured wine and
honey into those wells, and the wells were
covered with sheepskins on top. In two wells
they poured wine, and in the third honey.
They themselves, hiding, looked from the
hiding place when he came to drink water to
the wells. And soon he came, pried to the
water, began to drink and said: Everyone
who drinks wine is not wiser. But he did not
want to drink water, and he said: You are the
wine that makes people happy, and drank all
three wells. And he wanted to sleep a little,
and dismantled his wine, and he fell asleep
tightly. Boyar, however, coming up, tightly
tied him on the neck, on the hands and on
the legs. And, waking up, he wanted to rush.
And the boyar said to him: Sir, Solomon
wrote the name of the Lord with a spell on
the chains that are now on you. He, seeing
them on himself, humbly went to Jerusalem
to the king.
His character was like that. He did not go by
crooked, but only straight. And when they
came to Jerusalem, they cleared the way
before him and destroyed the house, for he
did not go around. And we approached the
widow's house. And, running out, the widow
screamed, begging Kitovras: Sir, I'm a
wretched widow. Do not hurt me! He curved
around the corner, not agreeing with the
path, and broke his rib. And he said: The
bone breaks the soft tongue. When they led
him through bargaining, then, hearing how
one person said: Do not have shoes for
seven years? Kitovras laughed. And when he
saw another man, who was scolding, he
laughed. And when he saw the wedding, he
cried. Seeing the same man on the way,
wandering without a road, he directed him to
the road. And they brought him to the court
of the princes.

On the first day he did not lead him to

Solomon. And Kitovras said: Why does the
king not call for me? They told him: He
drank yesterday. Kitovras took the stone and
laid it on another stone. Solomon was told
how Kitovras acted. And the king said: He
tells me to drink drinking on drink. And on
the next day the king did not call him to him.
And Kitovras asked: Why do not you lead
me to the king and why do not I see his
face? And they said: The king is not helping
because he ate a lot yesterday. Then he took
Kitovras stone from the stone.

On the third day they said: The king is

calling you. He measured the rod by four
cubits, went in to the king, bowed and
silently threw the rod in front of the king.
The king, in his wisdom, explained to his
boyars what the rod means, and told: God
gave you the possession of the universe, and
you were not satisfied, he caught me. And
Solomon said to him: Not by my whims I
brought you, but to ask how to build the
Holy of Holies. He brought you at the
command of the Lord, because he did not
allow me to rock stones with iron.
And Kitovras said: There is a small bird's
nail named Shamir. He keeps his field cock
in his nest on a stony mountain in the desert
far away. Solomon sent his boyar and his
servants, at the direction of Kitovras, to the
nest. And Kitovras gave the boyar a clear
glass and told him to hide at the nest: When
the kokot flies out, close this nest with glass.
The boyar went to the nest; and in it - the
chicks are small, the coconut flew away
behind the stern. And he laid the mouth of
the nest with glass. We waited a little, and
the coconut flew in, wanted to get into the
nest. The chicks squeak through the glass,
and he can not get to them. He kept the
Shamir in a place, and brought it to the nest,
and put it on the glass, though he was seated.
Then people shouted and he let go. And,
taking, the boyar brought to Solomon.

Then Solomon Kitovras asked: Why did

you laugh when a man asked for shoes for
seven years? I saw him, Kitovras replied,
that he will not live even seven days. The
king sent the check, and it turned out so.
And Solomon asked: Why did you laugh
when a man was fortunate? Replied
Kitovras: He told people about the secret,
but he did not know that under him - a
treasure with gold. And Solomon said: Go
and verify. Checked, and it turned out so.
And the king asked: Why did he cry when
he saw the wedding? Kitovras replied: I was
saddened, because the groom does not live
for thirty days. Checked the king, and it
turned out so. And the king asked: Why did
you bring a drunk man to the road? Kitovras
replied: I heard from heaven that this person
is virtuous and should serve him.

Kitovras stayed with Solomon until the

completion of the Holy of Holies.

Once Solomon told Kitovras: Now I saw

that your strength is like human, and not
more than our strength, but the same. And
Kitovras told him: King, if you want to see
what my strength is, take off my chains and
give me your ring from your hand, then you
will see my strength. Solomon took off his
iron chain and gave him a ring. And he
swallowed the ring, spread his wing, swung
and struck Solomon, and threw it on the
edge of the promised land. The wise men
and the scribes learned about this and sought
out Solomon.

Always embraced Solomon's fear of

Kitovras at night. And the king built a couch
and commanded sixty strong men to stand
around with swords. Therefore, it is said in
the Scriptures: The bed of Solomon, sixty
young men of the brave of the Israelites and
of the countries of the north.

Kitovras, leaving to his people, gave

Solomon a man with two heads. This man
got accustomed to Solomon. Solomon asked
him: What kind of people are you? Are you
a man or a demon? The man answered: I am
from people who live underground. And the
king asked him: Do you have the sun and the
moon? He said: From your west the sun
rises to us, and in your east comes. So when
you have a day, then we have a night. And
when you have a night, then we have a day.
And the king gave him a wife. And two sons
were born to him: one with two heads, and
the other with one. And their father had a lot
of good. And their father died. Two-headed
said to his brother: Let's divide the property
over the heads. And the smaller brother said:
There are two of us. Let's divide the estate in
two. And went to the court to the king. The
one-headed man said to the king: We are
two brothers. We must divide the property in
half. And he, a two-headed, said to the king:
I have two heads, and I want to take two
shares. And the king, in his wisdom,
commanded to give vinegar and said: Are
these two heads from different bodies; I'll
pour vinegar on one head: if you do not feel
another head, you'll take two shares on two
heads. And if the other head feels pouring
vinegar, then both of these heads are from
one body. Then one share will be taken. And
when vinegar poured on one head, the other
squealed. And the king said: If you have one
body, take one share. So king Solomon
judged them.

There was the South's queen a stranger

named Malkatoshka. She came to try
Solomon with riddles. She was very wise.
And he brought him gifts: twenty kapiy of
gold, a lot of potions and a tree of the non-
rotting. Solomon, hearing about the arrival
of the queen, sat in the hall with a floor of
transparent glass on the platform, wanting to
test it. And she, seeing that the king is sitting
in the water, picked up her clothes in front
of him. And he saw that she was beautiful
face, her body hairy, like a brush. With these
hair she fascinated the men who were with
her. Solomon said to his wise men, Prepare a
bath and ointment with greens and anoint
her body so that your hair falls out. And the
wise men and scribes told him to get along
with her. Having conceived from him, she
went to her land and gave birth to a son, and
it was Nebuchadnezzar.

That was her riddle to Solomon. She

gathered the boys and girls dressed in the
same clothes, and told the king: Understand
your wisdom, which are boys, and which are
girls. The king, by his wisdom, commanded
to bear fruit, and poured them out before
them. The boys began to pick up the clothes
in the clothes, and the girls in the sleeves.
And Solomon said: These are boys, and
these are girls. She was surprised at this by
his cunning.

The next day she gathered the children of

the circumcised and uncircumcised, and said
to Solomon, Make out who are circumcised,
and who are uncircumcised. And the king
commanded the bishop to bring in the holy
crown, on which the word of the Lord was
written, to which Balaam was turned away
from the witchcraft. The circumcised
children stood up, and the uncircumcised fell
before the crown. She was very surprised.
The sages guessed her cunning Solomon:
We have a well far from the city. Wisely
guess what you can drag him into the city?
The Solomon cunning, realizing that this
could not be, was told to them: Weave a
rope from the bran, and we will drag your
well into the city.

And again her sages asked: If the field

becomes knives, how can you shake it?
They were answered: The donkey's horn.
And the wise men said to her, Where are the
horns from the donkey? They answered:
And where will the knives bring the knives?

And they also guessed: If salt decays, what

can you salt it with? They said: Take the
mule taking it, it must be salted. And they
said: But where does the mule give birth?
They answered: Where does the salt rot?

The queen, seeing the mansions created, and

eating plenty, and how his people sit, and
how his servants stand, and their attire, and
the drink, and the sacrifices they brought to
the house of God, said: The true speech I
heard in my land concerning your wisdom.
And I had no faith in speech until I came
and saw with my own eyes. It turns out that
half of me was not told. It is good for your
husbands who hear your wisdom.

King Solomon gave this queen the name of

Malkatoshka and everything she asked for.
And she went into her own land with her
people.

In the days of Solomon there lived a man

who had three sons. Dying, this man called
them to him and told them: I have a treasure
in the ground. In that place, - said, - three
vessels stand on top of each other. After my
death, the older one will take the upper, the
middle - the middle, and the lower - the
lower one. After the death of his father, his
sons opened this treasure in the presence of
people. And it turned out that the upper
vessel was full of gold, on average full of
bones, and in the lower one full of earth.
They began to quarrel these brothers, saying:
You are a son, if you take gold, and we are
not sons? And they went to Solomon's court.
And Solomon judged them: what is gold,
then to the eldest, that the cattle and servants
are to the middle, judging by the bones; but
that the vineyards, fields and bread - then the
smaller. And he said to them: Your father
was an intelligent man and divided you in
life.

One day three people walked their way,

carrying gold in their belts. Stopping for a
Saturday rest in a deserted place, they
conferred and decided: Hide the gold in a
hiding place: if robbers attack, we will
escape, but it will be saved. After digging a
hole, they all put their belts in a hiding
place. In the middle of the night, when the
two friends fell asleep, the third one, feeding
on the evil thought, got up and stashed the
belts to another place. And when they,
having rested, came to a hiding place to take
their belts, then, not finding them, they all
shouted at once; The villain screamed much
louder than both. And all returned home.
And they said: Let's go to Solomon and tell
him about our misfortune. And they came to
Solomon, and said: We do not know
whether the king took the beast, whether it
was a bird or an angel. Explain to us, the
king. He told them in wisdom: I'll find you
tomorrow. But since you are travelers, I beg
you, please explain to me:

A certain young man, engaged to a beautiful

girl, gave her an engagement ring without
her father and mother knowing. This young
man went to another land and married there.
And the father gave the girl in marriage.
And when the groom wanted to mate with
her, the girl screamed and said: From shame,
I did not tell my father that I was engaged to
another. Fear God, go to my helper, ask him
for permission: let me be your wife by his
word. The young man gathered and, taking
much good and a girl, went there. And he
allowed him: Let her be your wife, since you
took her. The bridegroom also tells her: Let's
go back and we'll have a wedding again.
And when they went home back, they met a
certain rapist with their people and captured
him and with the girl and with the good.
And this robber wanted to create violence
over the girl, and she cried out and told the
robber that she went for permission and was
not yet with her husband in bed. The robber
was surprised and told her husband: Take
your wife and go with your good.

And Solomon said: I told you about this girl

and the young man. Tell me now, you
people who have lost their belts: who is
better - a young man, or a girl, or a robber?
One in reply said: The girl is good, because
she told about her betrothal. Another said:
The boy is good, because he waited until he
was allowed. The third said: The robber is
better than everyone, because he returned
the girl and let him go. And the good did not
have to be given away. Then Solomon said
in reply: Friend, you are eager for someone
else's good. You took all the belts. The same
said: The king-lord, truly indeed. I will not
hide from you.

And then Solomon the wise, wishing to

experience the meaning of women, called
his boyar, named Dekir, and said to him: I
like you very much. And even more will fall
in love with you, if you fulfill my desire: kill
your wife, and I will give my best for you.
The same thing told him in a few days. And
Dekir did not want to do it. And finally he
said: I will do your will, Tsar. The king gave
him his sword with the words: Cut off your
wife's head when she sleeps, lest she talk
you out with her own words. He went, found
his wife asleep, and on the sides of her two
children. And he, looking at his wife and his
sleeping children, said in his heart: If I strike
my friend with my sword, I will grieve my
children. The king called him to him and
asked him, saying: Have you fulfilled my
will concerning your wife? He replied: I
could not do it, my lord the king.
The king also sent him as an ambassador to
another city and, summoning his wife, said
to her: I like you much more than all
women. If you do what I tell you, I will
make you a queen. Forget your husband's
sleeping on the bed, and this is your sword.
In response, his wife said: I'm glad, king,
that you are so great. Solomon, realizing,
with the wisdom of her husband, that he
does not want to kill his wife, gave him a
sharp sword; and understanding his wife, -
that she wants to kill her husband, gave her a
dumb sword, pretending that he is sharp,
saying: Sword your husband, sleeping on
your bed with this sword. She put the sword
on her husband's breast and began to drive
them through his throat, thinking that he was
sharp. And he jumped up quickly, believing
that some enemies had attacked him, and
seeing that his wife was holding a sword,
why, said, my friend, did you decide to kill
me? In reply to her husband, her wife said:
The human tongue persuaded me, that I
might kill you. He also wanted to call people
and then realized that Solomon had taught
her.

Solomon, hearing about this, wrote this

verse in the Collection, saying: I found a
man among thousands, but women in all the
world did not find.

In the days of Solomon there was a rich man

in Babylon, but he had no children. Having
lived half his days, he adopted a servant boy.
And when he had equipped, he sent him
with the goods from Babylon for trade. The
same person who came to Jerusalem got
there. And he was among the boyars
Solomon, sitting at a dinner with the king.

And in the meantime the master of his house

had a son. And when the boy was thirteen
years old, his father died. And his mother
said to him: Son, I heard about your father's
servitude, that he got hold of in Jerusalem.
Go and find him. He came to Jerusalem and
asked about the man by the name that this
servant had. And he was very famous. He
was told that he was at a dinner with
Solomon. And the boy entered the king's
room, and asked: Who is there such a boyar?
He said in response: This is me.
Approaching, the boy struck him in the face
and said: You are my servant! Do not boyar,
sitting, but go work! And give me my good!
And the king was angry, and he was vexed.
Turning to Solomon, the boy said: If there is
not, the king, this slave of my father is mine,
then for the fact that I hit him with my own
hand, I will get a blow with the sword that
will kill me. The striker, in his turn, said: I
am the master's son, and this is my father's
servant and mine. I have witnesses in
Babylon. The king said: I will not believe
the witnesses; I'd better send my ambassador
to Babylon - let him take a humer bone from
the grave of his father, and she will tell me
which of you is the son and who is the
servant. And you will be here. And the king
sent his trusted ambassador, and he brought
a humerus. According to his wisdom, the
king ordered to clean the bone cleanly,
planted his boyar and all the wise men,
boyars and scribes in front of him and said
to a man who knows how to let blood: Let
the blood go to this boyar. He did it. Then
the king ordered to put the bone in warm
blood. He explained the meaning of the
command to his boyars, saying: If this is his
son, his blood will cling to his father's bone.
If he does not stick, it's a slave. And they
took out the bone from the blood, and it was
a white bone, as before. Then the king
ordered the other vessel to let the child's
blood flow. And, washing the bone, put it in
the blood of a young man. And the bone was
saturated with blood. And the king said to
his boyars: You see with your own eyes
what this bone says: This one is my son, and
this one is a slave. So the king judged them.

After this, Solomon began to tell his boyars:

There was Adarian-king, and he ordered his
boyars to call him God. And, not wanting,
the boyars were told: Our King! Do you
think in your heart that there was no God
before you? We will call you the highest
king among the kings, if you take the high
Jerusalem and the Holy of Holies. He,
having gathered with many soldiers, went
and took Jerusalem, and went back, and said
to them: Just as God, what he commands
and says, will do, so I did. Now call me
God. He had three philosophers. The first
responded to him, saying: If you want to be
called God, take heed: the boyar can not be
called a king, being in the royal palace -
until he comes out. So you, if you want to be
called God, come out of the whole universe
and there you are called God.

And the other said: You can not be called

God. The king asked: Why? He replied:
Jeremiah the prophet says: Gods who did not
create heaven and earth, let them perish. If
you want to perish, king, be called God.

And the third said: My lord the king! Help

me quickly! The king asked: What's the
matter with you? And the philosopher said:
My boat is three versts from here ready to
drown, and all my goods are in it. And the
king said: Do not be afraid. I will send
people, and they will lead her. But the
philosopher said: Why do you, the king,
trouble your people? Send a quiet wind, let
him save her. The same, having understood,
did not say anything displeased and went to
rest to his queen.

And the queen said: Philosophers deceived

you, king, by telling you that you can not be
called God. Wishing to console him in that
sorrow, she said: You are a king, you are
rich, you are worthy of great honor. Do it, -
said, - one thing, and then be called God.
The king asked: What kind? And the queen
answered: God's property, which you have,
return. He asked: What property? The queen
said: Return your soul, which God put in
your body, and then be called God. He
retorted: If there is no soul in me, in my
body, how shall I be called God? The queen
said to him: If you do not own your soul,
then you can not even call God.
King Solomon asked the princess for herself.
And they did not give it up for him. Then
Solomon said to the demons: Go, and take
this princess, and bring her to me. And the
demons, having gone, kidnapped her at the
crossing, when she came from her mother's
quarters, she was put in a ship and rushed by
the sea.

And then the princess saw that a man drinks

water, and behind him the water goes out.
She asked: Explain to me what it is. And the
demons said: He will explain to you, to
whom you are taking. They go further and
see - a man, wandering in the water, asking
for water, and his waves are knocked down.
And the princess said: My disreputable
matchmakers, and this explains to me: why
does that person, in the water wandering, ask
for water? And they said: He will explain to
you, to whom you are taking. And they
drove on and saw a man reaping hay, he
goes, and two goats, following him walking,
eat the grass: what they cut, they eat. And
the princess said: Explain to me, my
unworthy matchmakers, explain to me: why
should those goats not eat unstripped grass?
And the demons told her: He will explain to
you to whom we are taking you.

And they approached her to the city. One

demon went and told Solomon the king:
Bride you a bride. The king, having mounted
his horse, rode ashore. And the princess said
to him: Today I am yours, tsar. But here's
what to explain to me: a man was drinking
water, and behind him, she went out. The
king said: Why are you surprised at this?
After all, this is a royal house: it enters here,
it leaves here. And the princess asked: And
now explain to me what it is: one man,
wandering around in the water, asking for
water, and the waves knocking him down?
Solomon replied: O bride! Why do you
marvel at this, bride? This is in fact a servant
of the tsars: he judges one case, and another

seeks litigation, so that the heart can do good

to the prince. And that's what I still have to
explain: a man cuts the grass, and what cuts,
then two goats, after walking, they eat. Why
should not those he go into the hay eat the
uncut grass? And the king said: The bride!
What are you surprised at! If a person takes
another wife with other people's children,
then what they will earn, they will eat. And
for himself, he has nothing. Now go, bride,
to my rest.

So she became his wife.