n a furnace, and let him strew the ashes at the parting of the
roads. And during these twelve months let him only drink out of a brass
tube, lest he see the phantom form of the demon, and he be endangered.
This was done by Abba, the son of Martha--he is Abba, the son of Manjumi.
His mother made him a tube of gold."

Magic naturally follows from such teaching. Abba Benjamin says, "If leave
had been given to see the hurtful demons, no creature could stand before
them." Abbai says, "They are more than we are, and stand against us, like
the trench round a garden bed." Rav Huni says, "Everyone has a thousand on
his left hand, and ten thousand on his right hand." Rabba says, "The want
of room at the sermon is from them, the wearing out of the Rabbis' clothes
is from their rubbing against them, bruised legs are from them."
"Whosoever wishes to know their existence, let him take ashes passed
through a sieve, and strew them in his bed, and in the morning he will see
the marks of a cock's claws. Whosoever wishes to see them, let him take
the inner covering of a black cat, the kitten of a first-born black cat,
which is also the kitten of a first-born, and let him burn it in the fire,
and powder it, and fill his eyes with it, and he will see them. And let
him pour the powder into an iron tube, and seal it with an iron signet,
lest they steal any of it, and let him seal the mouth of it, lest any harm
ensue. Rav Bibi bar Abbai did thus, and he was harmed, but the Rabbis
prayed for mercy, and he was healed." Arts of sorcery are attributed to
the Rabbis. They are represented as having the power to create both men
and melons. One of them is said to have changed a woman into an ass, and
ridden the ass to market, when another sorcerer changed the ass again into
a woman.

This sorcery is traced to Abraham, who is said (Gen. xxv. 6) to have given
his sons gifts. These gifts are stated to have been the arts of sorcery.
Legends abound everywhere throughout the Talmud. Rabbi Judah said, Rav
said, "Everything that God created in the world, He created male and
female. And thus he did with leviathan, the piercing serpent, and
leviathan the crooked serpent. He created them male and female; but if
they had been joined together they would have desolated the whole world.
What then did the Holy One do? He enervated the male leviathan, and slew
the female, and salted her for the righteous in the time to come, for it
is said, 'And He shall slay the drag