Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/396

 SS Shakespearian Story in Serbian Folklo7'e.

aid before they heard the blast of a trumpet, and that then every man was to advance under cover of a large leafy bough, which he was to hold in front of him. He then proceeded to the palace. Solomon's wife, perceiving him from afar, and knowing his superior wisdom, advised her husband by no means to enter into conversation with him,, as Solomon would most certainly beguile him, but to strike off his head at once. When Solomon drew near,^ the king immediately drew his sabre to strike off his head. " Wait a moment," quoth Solomon; " this is not the way to kill a king. His death must be pubhc. Take me to an open field, cause the trumpets to be sounded thrice, and thou wilt see that even the forest will draw nigh to behold the beheading of a king." The simple-minded king, ver>' curious to prove the truth of Solomon's words, consented to this proposal. He caused Solomon's arms to be pinioned, cast him into a chariot, and departed with him to seek an open field. During their journey Solomon smiled from time to time, and the king asked him : why } Said Solomon : " I am watching the wheels of this chariot. While one pair sinks in the mud, the other emerges, and that seems strange to me " : " Bah," said the king, who failed entirely to seize the allegorical meaning of the words of the sage. " I have been told that thou art the wisest man in the world, and now thou art speaking plain foolishness, thou great zany ! " When they arrived at the spot, the order was given for the trumpets to sound. At the first blast the soldiers began to march. At the second blast, they came nearer, though as yet they could not be distinguished ; one merely saw the waving foliage like a moving forest. The king, greatly amazed and now quite convinced of the truth of Solomon's prediction, commanded the trumpets to be sounded for the third time. Then Solomon's soldiers arrived, dehvered their master and chastised the king and his court.

This motif of the moving forest is very popular in Serbian