Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of the holiday, I have saved this prompt. Just remember, Valentine's Day is for all kinds of love, not just the romantic sort. It's for mothers and children, brothers and sisters, friends, neighborly love, and of course God's precious love for us.
The Prompt: Write a short story on how the Shulamite and the Beloved from the Song of Solomon meet. (I am going by memory of the Song of Solomon, so please forgive any Biblical errors I make.)
The Shulamite woman with the long dark hair went into town several times a week, sometimes to run errands for her brothers, other times to buy groceries for dinner, and still other times to sell items in the market. Ever since her mother had died four years ago, the weight of the household affairs rested on her shoulders. Yet despite the fact that she worked hard, she still managed to maintain her beauty. A few men had approached her father for her hand in marriage, but he had refused them. The household needed her, and her father was not just going to give his only daughter away to anyone.
That morning, King Solomon was expected to visit the city in order to make sure his "mayors" were doing their duties and that his subjects were happy. Solomon enjoyed spending one-on-one time with them. Sometimes he asked them just to treat him as a normal person. He wanted to be approachable to them. At the time, Solomon was still a young king and only had three wives. He was growing even more handsome by the day, and all his female subjects felt their hearts race slightly when he was near.
Solomon had been on his donkey for well over three hours, and the sun was directly overheard now. He desired to get down and stretch his legs, so he instructed his guards to follow him at a distance while he walked around for a bit to find some water. The town was busy; the crops had just come in, and people wanted to have the first pick. Solomon draped his tunic over his face a little, in hopes to at least partially conceal his identity.
As he made his way through the swarming people around him, he stopped short when he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen at one of the stalls in front of him. She was weighing a bag of lentils in her hand to decide how many pounds to purchase. Solomon stared at her slender hands, her hair draped over her shoulders as it peeked through her headwrap, and watched her delicate mouth moved as she talked to the vendor. Solomon had to meet this woman. He began striding over towards her, but a man on his donkey walked right in front of him, with his family and their wagon trailing behind him. Solomon impatiently tried to see over them, but after they had moved, the woman was gone.
Solomon quickly strode over and asked the surprised older man where the young woman had gone. Flustered, the man gestured towards a tent to Solomon's right. Solomon followed the fingered and stared helplessly at the dozens of rows of tents mingled with thousands of shoppers. He quickly thanked the man and started on his quest.
Solomon searched for two hours down that road, staring into the sea of faces and asking each vendor if they had seen the young woman. It was an arduous task that proved fruitless. Solomon was so absorbed in his hunt that he did not think to ask his guards for help. Now he was exhausted and quite thirsty. He started asking around for a nearby well.
The Shulamite looked over the bags and baskets that were tied to her donkey to make sure they were all secure and double-checked her mental list to make sure she got everything. One quick stop at the well to water her donkey before she started back home would complete her errands for the day. As she was about to mount, she noticed a tired-looking man, wearing expensive white clothes, wandering from person to person like some beggar. Curious, she approached him and overheard him mention a well.
"Excuse me, sir!" she called.
His large brown eyes locked on hers and made her stomach flip. He walked quickly towards her.
"Yes?" Solomon asked softly. She was even more beautiful close-up.
"Are you looking for a well?"
"Yes, I am," he said in a friendly, rich tone.
"I happen to be going that way. I can escort you there, if you'd like." She shyly lowered her eyes.
"I would like that very much. Here." Solomon gently took her donkey's rope from her hands. "Let me help you with that."
They almost never took their eyes off each other as they walked to the well.
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