THE GOOD QUEEN ESTHER.
Far back in the past, wise men had fore-told that the Jews would be kept out of Je-ru-sa-lem for three-score and ten years, and at the end of that time a king, Cy-rus, would let them go back to the land they came from. And he did so.
Not all the Jews went back to their own land, but some of them made their homes in Per-si-a and else-where. And King A-has-u-e-rus was on the throne.
In the third year of his reign he made a great feast.
And he sent for Vash-ti, the queen, to throw off her veil and let his guests see how fair she was.
But Vash-ti would not do it.
Then the king was in a rage, and said to his wise men, What shall we do to Queen Vash-ti to make her know that the king's will is her law?
And the wise men said, Vash-ti hath done wrong to the king and to all the lords of the land.
For when this is told, wives will not do as their liege lords wish. They will say, The king sent word for Vash-ti, the queen, to be brought to him, but she came not. Let the king make a law and put Vash-ti from him and choose a new queen, that all wives, great and small, may take heed and do as they are told.
The king and all the lords thought these were wise words. And the king made it a law that a man should rule in his own house.