"Then the other woman said, 'No; but the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.' And the first said, 'No; but the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.' Thus they spoke before the king." — The second woman contests: *lo ki beni ha-chay u-venakh ha-met* (No; the living child is mine and the dead child is yours). The first responds: *lo ki benakh ha-met u-beni ha-chay* (No; your child is the dead one and mine is the living one). The dispute is *zero-sum*—one living child, two mothers, each claiming the living one as hers. The *mirror statements* emphasize the *perfect contradiction* in testimony; both cannot be true, yet both are asserted with equal confidence. The narrative frames this as an *impossible legal situation*: testimony against testimony, no witnesses.

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