«Marot’s preface to the Roman de la Rose. The Queen of Sheba wanted to test the wisdom of King Solomon. “She took two roses, of which one came naturally from the tree, and the other through simulation: for she had made it, in a sophisticated way and through her art, so that it well resembled the natural Rose, so subtly was it crafted. ‘Here,’ she said, ‘are two roses before your pacific Majesty presented, of which one truly is natural, but the other not. And yet, tell me, Sire, which is the natural Rose, show it me with your finger.’ Solomon, that seer, had various honey-flies brought in, thinking and considering by the knowledge he had of all natural things that the said flies, according to the property they possess, would go incontinent to the natural Rose, not to the sophisticated: for such celestial birdlets, pleasant and mellific, desire and hunger for sweet flowers above all things. Through which he showed the Queen the true Rose, discerning it from the other which was made of scents that counterfeited nature.”
A fine story . . . We lack the swarm that would guide us to the true Rose, like King Solomon. The spirit of King Solomon is in us, but also the spirit of the Queen of Sheba, the Egyptian. We are amused by our own sophistication, our own coun-terfeits, and we can’t distinguish between them and the real thing anymore. Then the time comes when we realize that we have killed the “celestial birdlets.”» (Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944: Collaboration, Resistance, and Daily Life in Occupied Paris, Jean Guehenno,David Ball).