The Bible here gives us no clue but tradition has preserved some of the questions which she is said to have put to Solomon to test his wisdom!. These, we believe, are principally found in the Talmudical writings. It is said she introduced a party of children all dressed alike, and asked the king to tell which were boys and which girls. King Solomon ordered vessels to be brought that the children might wash then-hands. The girls rolled up their sleeves, but the boys plunged their hands into the water at once, and were easily detected by the king. The queen next ordered her attendants to set before Solomon a number of beautiful bouquets and asked him to indicate which were the real flowers and which the false. Solomon ordered the keeper of his gardens to bring in a hive of bees, and they almost instantly settled upon the natural flowers and began to extract the sweets from them, leaving the artificial flowers untouched. Other traditions illustrative of Solomon's wisdom are told by the ancient writers.
