the second; the lowest for the youngest." And when, after his
death, they had gone, and had done as he had willed, they had found that
the topmost division was filled to the top with golden coins, whereas in
the middle one were lying only common bones, and in the lowest naught
but pieces of wood. And so among the younger brothers arose envy for the
eldest, and enmity; and in the end their life had become so unbearable
that they decided to turn to the king for counsel and judgment. And even
here, standing before the throne, they could not refrain from mutual
recriminations and affronts.

The king shook his head, heard them out, and spake:

"Cease quarreling; a stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a fool's
wrath is heavier than them both. Your father was, it is plain to see, a
wise man and a just, and he has expressed his wishes in his testament
just as clearly as though it had been consummated before an hundred
witnesses. Is it possible that ye have not surmised at once, ye sorry
brawlers, that to the eldest brother he left all his moneys; to the
second, all his cattle and all his slaves; while to the youngest,--his
house and plow-land? Depart, therefore, in peace; and be no longer
enemies among yourselves."

And the three brothers--but recently enemies--with beaming faces bowed
to the king's feet and walked out of the Hall of Judgment arm in arm.

And the king decided also another suit at inheritance, begun three days
ago. A certain man, dying, had said that he was leaving all his goods
to the worthier of his two sons. But since neither one of them would
consent to call himself the worse one, they had therefore turned to the
king.

Solomon questioned them as to their pursuits, and, having heard them
answer that they were both hunters with the bow, he spake:

"Return home. I shall order the corpse of your father to be stood up
against a tree. We shall first see which one of you shall hit his breast
more truly with an arrow, and then decide your suit."

Now both brothers had returned in the custody of a man sent by the king
for their surveillance. He it was whom the king questioned about the
contest.

"I have fulfilled all that thou hast commanded," said his man. "I stood
the corpse of the old man against a tree, and gave each brother his bow
and arrows. The elder was the first to shoot. At a distance of an
hundred and twenty ells he hit just the place where, in a living man,
the heart beats."

"A splendid