The Last Queen of Sheba by Jill Francis Hudson

Author:Jill Francis Hudson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

As soon as the banquet began, I decided that Solomon intended to keep his word. He made no attempt to beguile Makeda into drinking more heavily than was prudent, nor had anyone tried to interfere with her wine or her food, for she was served from the same wine jar and platters as the rest of the guests at the topmost table.

And what a table it was! There was every luxury and delicacy you could imagine, and many more besides. Ten courses of fabulous foods were ceremonially carried in and the leftovers whisked away in their turn: venison, peacock, duck and goose, as well as the tenderest beef, lamb, goat, and every conceivable kind of fish. Everything was cooked to perfection in the peculiar Hebrew fashion to which Makeda’s own royal cooks would have to become rapidly accustomed, though I noted that it was much more generously spiced than the Israelites are wont to prepare it – out of special deference to Sheban taste, or so Solomon professed. After the savouries came the sweetest of sweetmeats, and pastries soaked in honey; even these were spiced with cinnamon and saffron. All the while myrrh and cassia burned in golden lampstands, rose petals were scattered constantly by pretty little servants, and the whole atmosphere was utterly exquisite.

Makeda herself was calm and composed now too. She seemed to have done all her weeping by the time she took her seat beside Solomon, and to be fully focused on presenting herself to her subjects and to his as the proud and dignified monarch she truly was. In fact, I had ceased to worry about her almost entirely since earlier that afternoon when she had made me kneel and pray aloud with her to Adonai. This was something we had not really tried until then, and an indescribable peace such as neither of us had ever experienced descended upon us both, and convinced us that in returning to Sheba now we were acting fully in accordance with the will of God himself.

Would that my stomach had felt as settled as my soul. But the longer the banquet went on, and the more of that spicy food I permitted myself to eat, the iller I started to feel. Of course, I knew it was only my stomach’s notorious queasiness that was to blame; no one was trying to poison me, because just like Makeda I was being served from the communal plate. But from the initial hint of discomfort, the griping in my belly grew steadily worse until the perspiration was pouring down my face and I seriously feared that I might be going to collapse.

I bore it as long as I was able. I remained stolidly upright in my seat even when I could no longer make sense of a single word that was being said to me. Soon Solomon and Makeda, as they chatted and smiled and laughed and did everything they could to preserve decorum and keep their mutual sorrow at bay, were just blurred, muzzy shapes swimming somewhere in the middle distance.

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