In 1 Kings 3:23, Solomon as judge summarizes the case as he had understood it. He does this very succinctly (using few words, to good effect). Solomon in this summary showed that he understood that the issue was one person’s word against another's. It also demonstrated that in the testimony before him there was an absolute contradiction. There was no room for compromise in the stories as he heard them. How was he to judge between them?
23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’”