and stretched his arms and rejoiced and said, 'O my Lady and Sweetener
of my Days, know that if I had made a magic against my Queens for the
sake of pride or anger, as I made that feast for all the animals, I
should certainly have been put to shame. But by means of your wisdom I
made the magic for the sake of a jest and for the sake of a little
Butterfly, and--behold--it has also delivered me from the vexations of
my vexatious wives! Tell me, therefore, O my Lady and Heart of my Heart,
how did you come to be so wise?'

And Balkis the Queen, beautiful and tall, looked up into
Suleiman-bin-Daoud's eyes and put her head a little on one side, just
like the Butterfly, and said, 'First, O my Lord, because I loved you;
and secondly, O my Lord, because I know what women-folk are.'

Then they went up to the Palace and lived happily ever afterwards.

But wasn't it clever of Balkis?

THERE was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world's end;
But Balkis talked to a butterfly
As you would talk to a friend.

There was never a King like Solomon,
Not since the world began;
But Solomon talked to a butterfly
As a man would talk to a man.

_She_ was Queen of Sabaea--
And _he_ was Asia's Lord--
But they both of 'em talked to butterflies
When they took their walks abroad!

[Illustration]

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Page 157, "waiving" changed to "waving" (Tegumai, waving his)

Page 159, caption "19" was added to illustration.

Page 198, "you" changed to "your" (Wipe your feet)

Page 211, "Your" changed to "You" (You are neither a)

Page 213, "ths" changed to "the" (and the Woman heard him)

Page 225, word "is" added to text (but this is not one)

Page 244, "Pharoah" changed to "Pharaoh" (daughter of a Pharaoh)

Page 278, "Sueliman" changed to "Suleiman" (Then Suleiman-bin-Daoud
rose up)

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

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