The king let out a wail of fright, but suddenly there was someone else screaming as well

Damascus, 17th Century

The African king suddenly had a wild idea. He raced toward the bed and jumped onto it with all his might. He flew into the air and was suddenly eye to eye with the mischievous monkey! He wrapped his arms around the monkey and they both crashed down onto the bed.

The soldiers burst into the room with their weapons drawn.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” the king spluttered, staring at them as he lay with the monkey in a tangle of bedsheets and broken bedposts. “Just getting whatever it was that I had left here.”

“Get out!”

“Okay, okay, relax! I’m going!”

The king fled from the room; the plant clenched tightly in his fist.

He raced toward the cemetery where the queen lay buried. He turned left and right in panic — where was the grave? It was very dark, and a cold wind sent shivers up the king’s back. Frantically he searched, knowing that with each passing second, the only chance to revive the queen was fading.

Suddenly, he saw the freshly dug grave. He began digging at the ground like a madman, sweat dripping from his face. His progress was painfully slow. At long last he uncovered the queen’s body and ground up the plant as best as he could before stuffing it into her throat.

Nothing happened.

The king let out a wail of fright, but suddenly there was someone else screaming as well.

Rising up from the ground, the queen looked around in terror. She could not believe it had actually worked. But the mission was far from over. The African king and King Shlomo’s queen spent a long time covering the grave again, leaving no trace of their escapade.

Eventually, they made it out of Eretz Yisrael. They traveled to Africa and no one had any idea what had occurred.

The queen arrived in Africa and found herself in the palace of a different, very powerful African ruler. As it happened, this king hated Shlomo Hamelech and was supremely jealous of him.