“Yes, sir,” answered the boy.

“Then,” said the doctor, after taking a dose of quinine to brace up his nerves, for he remembered the fate of the schoolmaster, “then please tell me why a man as two eyes.

“A man has two eyes, sir,” returned Solomon, solemnly, “because he was born that way.”

And the doctor marvelled greatly at so much wisdom in a little child, and made a note of it in his note-book.

Solomon was so full of wisdom that it flowed from his mouth in a perfect stream, and every day he gave new evidence to his friends that he could scarcely hold all the wise thoughts that came to him.  For instance, one day he said to his father,

“I perceive our dog has six legs.”

“Oh, no!” replied his father, “our dog has only four legs.”

“You are surely mistaken, sir,” said Solomon, with the gravity that comes from great wisdom, “these are our dog’s fore legs, are they not?” pointing to the front legs of the dog.

“Yes,” answered his father.

“Well,” continued Solomon, “the dog has two other legs, besides, and two and four are six; therefore the dog has six legs.”

“But that is very old,” exclaimed his father.

“True,” replied Solomon, “but this is a young dog.”

Then his father bowed his head in shame that his own child should teach him wisdom.

Of course Solomon wore glasses upon his eyes—­all wise people wear them,—­and his face was ever grave and solemn, while he walked slowly and stiffly so that people might know he was the celebrated wise man, and do him reverence.

And when he had grown to manhood the fame of his wisdom spread all over the world, so that all the other wise men were jealous, and tried in many ways to confound him; but Solomon always came out ahead and maintained his reputation for wisdom.

Finally a very wise man came from Cumberland, to meet Solomon and see which of them was the wisest.  He was a very big man, and Solomon was a very little man, and so the people all shook their heads sadly and feared Solomon had met his match, for if the Cumberland man was as full of wisdom as Solomon, he had much the advantage in size.

They formed a circle around the two wise men, and then began the trial to see which was the wisest.

“Tell me,” said Solomon, looking straight up into the big man’s face with an air of confidence that reassured his friends, “how many sisters has a boy who has one father, one mother, and seven brothers?”

The big wise man got very red in the face, and scowled and coughed and stammered, but he could not tell.

“I do not know,” he acknowledged; “nor do you know, either, for there is no rule to go by.”

“Oh, yes, I know,” replied Solomon; “he has two sisters.  I know this is the true answer, because I know the boy and his father and his mother and his brothers and his sisters, so that I cannot be mistaken.”