The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast)

Këbra Nagast thou canst not do this. Behold, there is no one except a priest who can carry the Tabernacle, and whosoever toucheth the Tabernacle except the priests, his soul departeth from him immediately. Moreover the children of Israel have no protection whatsoever against their enemies except the Tabernacle of the Covenant of God.” But these words did not satisfy him, and he said unto Solomon, “I ask of thee neither gold nor silver, for in my country men gather in heaps gold from its earth. I ask from thee nothing but the Tabernacle of the Covenant of God, so that it may protect me on my journey, and may be a support for my kingdom and for my soldiers in my country.” And Solomon said unto his son, “O my son, if it be the Will of God, the Governor of the Universe, that thou shalt take away the Tabernacle with thee, it will be an easy thing for thee to do so. But when thou carriest away the Tabernacle do not let me know about it, and when thou goest away with it do not bid me farewell. For, behold, without doubt, the priests and the elders of the fortress of Israel will make me to swear an oath by the Name of God concerning this matter, and when I have to swear an oath by the Name of God I must swear what is true.”

Then the young man summoned to himself secretly a workman, who made a wooden case of the same length and breadth and depth and shape as the Tabernacle, and then the young man killed him by night. Then he brought in other artificers, and they overlaid the wooden case with plates of gold similar to those that covered the Tabernacle, and he treated those men even as he had treated the carpenter, and then the young man covered the case with draperies into which gold had been woven. Now whilst he was making his preparations for his departure Solomon the King knew nothing whatsoever about them. Then the young man summoned to him four of the priests who could be trusted, and he made them believe that he had done so in order to ask them to pray for him before his departure, and he gave them much gold to pray for xliv