s hands behind his back, and his thoughts busy as bees with this or
that, he came face to face with a Demon, who was a prince of his kind.
"Ho, little man!" cried the evil spirit, in a loud voice, "art not thou
the wise King Solomon who conjures my brethren into brass chests and
glass bottles? Come, try a fall at wrestling with me, and whoever
conquers shall be master over the other for all time. What do you say to
such an offer as that?"

"I say aye!" said King Solomon, and, without another word, he stripped
off his royal robes and stood bare breasted, man to man with the other.

The world never saw the like of that wrestling match betwixt the king
and the Demon, for they struggled and strove together from the seventh
hour in the morning to the sunset in the evening, and during that time
the sky was clouded over as black as night, and the lightning forked
and shot, and the thunder roared and bellowed, and the earth shook and
quaked.

But at last the king gave the enemy an under twist, and flung him down
on the earth so hard that the apples fell from the trees; and then,
panting and straining, he held the evil one down, knee on neck.
Thereupon the sky presently cleared again, and all was as pleasant as a
spring day.

King Solomon bound the Demon with spells, and made him serve him for
seven years. First, he had him build a splendid palace, the like of
which was not to be seen within the bounds of the seven rivers; then he
made him set around the palace a garden, such as I for one wish I may
see some time or other. Then, when the Demon had done all that the king
wished, the king conjured him into a bottle, corked it tightly, and set
the royal seal on the stopper. Then he took the bottle a thousand miles
away into the wilderness, and, when no man was looking, buried it in the
ground, and this is the way the story begins.

Well, the years came and the years went, and the world grew older and
older, and kept changing (as all things do but two), so that by-and-by
the wilderness where King Solomon had hid the bottle became a great
town, with people coming and going, and all as busy as bees about their
own business and other folks' affairs.

Among these towns-people was a little Tailor, who made clothes for many
a worse man to wear, and who lived all alone in a little house with no
one to darn his stockings for him, and no one to meddle with his coming
and going, for he was a bachelor.

The little Tailor was a thrifty