end of the hall, and in Solomon's
presence abjured the worship of the sun. Solomon then
married Bilkis, but reinstated her as Queen of Saba, and
spent three days in every month with her."

The Arabians and Persians, who have many traditions regarding Solomon,
invariably represent him as adept in necromancy, and as being intimately
acquainted with the language of beasts and birds. Josephus, the great
Jewish historian, distinctly states that Solomon possessed the art of
expelling demons, that he composed such incantations also by which
distempers are alleviated, and that he left behind him the manner of
using exorcisms, by which they drive out demons, never to return. Of
course, Josephus merely reproduces rabbinical traditions, and there can
be no doubt but the Arabian stories regarding Solomon's magical powers
are derived from the same source. It appears that Solomon's signet-ring
was the chief instrument with which he performed his numerous magical
exploits.[77] By its wondrous power he imprisoned Ashmedai, the prince
of devils; and on one occasion the king's curiosity to increase his
store of magical knowledge cost him very dear--no less than the loss of
his kingdom for a time. Solomon was in the habit of daily plying
Ashmedai with questions, to all of which the fiend returned answers,
furnishing the desired information, until one day the king asked him a
particular question which the captive evil spirit flatly refused to
answer, except on condition that Solomon should lend him his
signet-ring. The king's passion for magical knowledge overcame his
prudence, and he handed his ring to the fiend, thereby depriving himself
of all power over his captive, who immediately swallowed the monarch,
and stretching out his wings, flew up into the air, and shot out his
"inside passenger" four hundred leagues distant from Jerusalem! Ashmedai
then assumed the form of Solomon, and sat on his throne. Meanwhile
Solomon was become a wanderer on the face of the earth, and it was then
that he said (as it is written in the book of Ecclesiasticus i, 3):
"This is the reward of all my labour"; which word _this_, one learned
Rabbi affirms to have reference to Solomon's walking-staff, and another
commentator, to his ragged coat; for the poor monarch went begging from
door to door, and in every town he entered he always cried aloud: "I,
the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem!" But the people all
thought him insane.