l not break it. Permit me to
visit my home for a brief while, and I will return and prove myself
more devoted to thee than ever."

On these conditions, the princess agreed that he should take leave for
a whole year. A big, black demon flew swiftly with him to his native
city.

No sooner had Bar Shalmon placed his feet on the ground than he
determined not to return to the land of Ergetz.

"Tell thy royal mistress," he said to the demon, "that I shall never
return to her."

He tore his clothes to make himself look poor, but his wife was
overjoyed to see him. She had mourned him as dead. He did not tell of
his adventures, but merely said he had been ship-wrecked and had
worked his way back as a poor sailor. He was delighted to be among
human beings again, to hear his own language and to see solid
buildings that did not appear and disappear just when they pleased,
and as the days passed he began to think his adventures in fairyland
were but a dream.

Meanwhile, the princess waited patiently until the year was ended.

Then she sent the big, black demon to bring Bar Shalmon back.

Bar Shalmon met the messenger one night when walking alone in his
garden.

"I have come to take thee back," said the demon.

Bar Shalmon was startled. He had forgotten that the year was up. He
felt that he was lost, but as the demon did not seize him by force, he
saw that there was a possibility of escape.

"Return and tell thy mistress I refuse," he said.

"I will take thee by force," said the demon.

"Thou canst not," Bar Shalmon said, "for I am the son-in-law of the
king."

The demon was helpless and returned to Ergetz alone.

King Ashmedai was very angry, but the princess counseled patience.

"I will devise means to bring my husband back," she said. "I will send
other messengers."

Thus it was that Bar Shalmon found a troupe of beautiful fairies in
the garden the next evening. They tried their utmost to induce him to
return with them, but he would not listen. Every day different
messengers came--big, ugly demons who threatened, pretty fairies who
tried to coax him, and troublesome sprites and goblins who only
annoyed him. Bar Shalmon could not move without encountering
messengers from the princess in all manner of queer places. Nobody
else could see them, and often he was heard talking to invisible
people. His friends began to regard him as strange in his behavior.

King Ashmedai grew angrier every day, and he threatened t