This 1912 image by J M Gleeson illustrates Kipling’s The butterfly that stamped. King Solomon was so wise he could understand what all creatures said, as well as rocks, trees, plants and people, and his Head Queen Balkis was nearly as wise as he. He wore a magic ring that gave him power to summon Djinns, Afrits, Fairies and the Archangel Gabriel. But he was not proud, and if he ever showed off he repented it. Once he tried to feed all the world’s animals in a day, but an Animal came out of the sea and gobbled up all the food, commenting that in his family that was barely a snack, a lesson that
This 1912 image by J M Gleeson illustrates Kipling’s The butterfly that stamped. King Solomon was so wise he could understand what all creatures said, as well as rocks, trees, plants and people, and his Head Queen Balkis was nearly as wise as he. He wore a magic ring that gave him power to summon Djinns, Afrits, Fairies and the Archangel Gabriel. But he was not proud, and if he ever showed off he repented it. Once he tried to feed all the world’s animals in a day, but an Animal came out of the sea and gobbled up all the food, commenting that in his family that was barely a snack, a lesson that Solomon remembered. He had a thousand wives, and they all lived in a palace together. The wives kept quarrelling, all except Balkis. He went to find peace in his garden. Solomon heard two butterflies quarrelling. The male one told his wife he could stamp his foot and the palace and garden would disappear. Solomon, laughing, called him and asked why he told such a fib, and he said it was to silence his quarrelsome wife. He then told her he had promised Solomon not to stamp. Balkis called the butterfly’s wife, who said she knew it was bluff. Balkis told her next time to dare her husband to stamp, so she did. The butterfly appealed to Solomon, who summoned four Djinns and told them to make the palace disappear when the butterfly stamped. This was done and the butterfly’s wife submitted. Solomon laughed harder, and told the butterfly to stamp again to restore the palace. When it was back, all the queens rushed out in a panic. Balkis told them what had happened and showed them Solomon with the butterflies. The queens were awed and tiptoed away. Balkis told Solomon they had learned their lesson. They went up to the palace and lived happily ever after. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling's works of fiction include the Jungle Book dilogy, Kim, the
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Keywords: 1900s, 1902, animal, butterflies, butterfly, early, english, gleeson, journalist, king, kipling, leopard, lit, literature, man, novelist, poet, quarrel, quarrels, rudyard, short, solving, stamped, stories, story, tale, tales, writer
