One of my favorite childhood stories was that of King Solomon and the two mothers:
"There were two women in Jerusalem who went to see the King with a big problem. Each woman had a baby but during the night one of the babies died. The mother of the dead baby, very quietly, changed her dead child for the other woman's baby.
The woman whose child was stolen told the King that when she wanted to feed her baby she found that it was dead.Then she saw that the dead baby was not her child. Each woman said the baby was hers. King Solomon had to find out who the real mother of the living baby was. Wise King Solomon did a very strange thing. He told a soldier to cut the living baby in half so each woman could have part of the baby. The real mother pleaded for the King not to hurt the baby but rather give it to the other woman.
But the other woman agreed to have the baby cut in half. Now who do you think was the real mother? With Godly wisdom the answer is easy. Solomon gave the baby to the woman who was prepared to give it away to save its life." (From Touch of Fire)
My take:
The moral dilemma here was faced by both mothers. The "good" mother compassionately chose for her baby to survive, even if she could not be the one to raise and mother him. The "bad" mother, conversely, had so little concern for the child she was willing to settle for half a baby. Not only did she lack maternal instinct, one could easily argue the "bad" mother was amoral.
Not a very difficult dilemma, granted. Stay tuned for a trickier one.
