Judgment of Solomon: Difference between revisions

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* Subverted in ''[[Ranma One Half½]]''. Akane and Shampoo try to drag Ranma in different directions, and Mousse says it reminds him of a story about an old ruler who, when presented with two mothers fighting over a baby, told the mothers to have a tug of war, with the winner getting the child. But the mother's love was strong in both of them... so the child was ripped apart and nobody lived happily ever after.

* Subverted in a story from the ''[[Batman]]'' [[Batman: No Man's Land|No Man's Land]]'' [[Bat Family Crossover|bat-crossover]] with an actual baby that two women lay claim to, but neither of whom is the child's real mother, who entrusted the child to the first woman when she (the mother) was near death and when she set the baby down to get something, the second woman found the baby and assumed the first woman had abandoned it. The "real" and "false" mother ''both'' react with horror at Batman's suggestion. Batman's second proposal is that if they care about the child they can learn to look after it together, since in No Man's Land, everyone needs to stick together to survive. This gets through to them and they learn to become friends.

* Subverted in a recent{{when}} ''[[She Hulk]]'' comic - Shulkie, at the time, was being some form of cosmic judge, and was brought a case in which the two (alien) parents were contesting custody of the child. She thinks to herself 'oh, it's the [[Judgment of Solomon]]', and orders that the child be cut in half, expecting the trope to play out as it did originally. The alien father takes her literally, and cuts the child in two. She's horrified, until someone points out her brilliance, since the species concerned can regenerate from this, and the parents end up with a child each.

* Larry Gonick explained the symbolism of the story in his ''[[The Cartoon History of the Universe]]'', revealing it to be a political parable; Solomon (the false mother) was the illegitimate king, and Adonijah's family (the true mother) were the rightful rulers. Solomon was willing to divide Israel (the baby) with civil war unless Adonijah's family ceded their claim to the throne.

* Subverted horrifyingly by the Emperor in ''[[Fables (Comic Book)|Fables]]''. When asked by two brothers to rule on a dispute caused by the fact that they disagree on how to administrate the land they inherited but can't divide it on their own, instead of granting the division, the Emperor says that because strong families are the foundation of the Empire, he will remove the material things that separate the brothers. I.E. commanding that the land and property be forfeited to the Empire and the servants and tenants of the land killed.

== [[Film]] ==

** King Pteppic makes this judgement with a cow in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Pyramids|Pyramids]]''. However his ruling is "interpreted" by the [[Evil Chancellor|overbearing High Priest Dios]], who gives ownership of the cow to the more pious man, and adds that it should be sacrificed to the gods immediately.

** A variant in ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'': To test who's the greater witch, Granny Weatherwax and her young rival both attempt to out-stare the sun. A child in the audience screams, and Granny immediately turns to check that he's okay. The challenger protests that she won the challenge, but the rest of the village agrees that a ''great'' witch is someone who'll set a child's welfare above some petty competition.

* Subverted in the ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' novel ''Hit Andand Myth'', where Skeeve ([[Emergency Impersonation|disguised as King Roderick]]) makes the ruling during a dispute over a cat.

{{quote| This was supposed to inspire them to settle their difference with a quick compromise. Instead, they thanked me for my wisdom, shook hands, and left smiling, presumably to carve up the cat.}}

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

== [[TheaterTheatre]] ==

* ''[[Irritability]]'' [http://maze.icomix.com/comicpage/browse.php?index=224 subverts] this by having both characters agree to have the cat cut in half.

{{quote| '''Solomon/Homer''': The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive...death. I'll eat the pie.}}

** This trope inspired Reverend Lovejoy to come up with a solution when he and his wife were fighting with Homer and Marge over a mattress that somehow seems to invigorate the sex life of any couple that sleeps in it. Marge's only complaint was that Lovejoy cut the mattress diagonally, making it look like a grilled cheese sandwhich.

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Histeria (Animation)|Histeria!]]'' King Solomon gets presented with the two women claiming to be the mother, and he suggests (like in the original) cutting the baby in half. ''Both'' women react with disgust, declare they're not the mother, and leave, forcing Solomon to take ownership of the baby. To make it worse, neither of the two women claimed to be the mother in the first place; Solomon's guards just picked up two random women off the street.

* One episode of ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' shows Jake attempting to negotiate between two tribes of fairies over custody of a magic apple (the tree that the apple grew on is in one tribe's territory, but the apple itself hangs over the other tribe's territory). When he suggests splitting it, both sides protest because doing so would destroy its magical properties. Jake's grandpa then steps in and quells the discussion by eating the apple.