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dismay the bird flew swiftly across the sea; and toward evening Bar Shalmon discerned land beneath hirn, and even distinguished the voices of children declaiming the verse of Exodus, " If thou buy a Hebrew servant," etc. (xxi. 2). Firmly believing that the country was inhabited by Jews, Bar Shalmon plunged from his great height to the ground. Bruised in all his limbs and exhausted by hunger, he crept to the synagogue, which he found locked. Introducing himself to a boy, with the words of Jonah, " I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven" (Jonah i. 9), the latter conducted him to the rabbi. To Bar Shalmon's Falls into dismay, he learned that certain death the Land of now awaited him for he had fallen Demons, into the realm of the demons (see Demonologt), who would surely kill him at sight. His prayers and lamentations, how;



aroused the compassion of the rabbi, who promised to exert his influence in the wanderer's behalf. Concealing him in his house for the night, on the following morning he conducted him to the synagogue. With a noise like thunder and with the rapidity of lightning, thousands of demons flew into the synagogue but, although conscious of the presence of a man, they remained quiet out of respect to their rabbi. When the hazan had completed the introductory psalms (" pesuke de-zimrah ") the rabbi directed him to pause (this presupposes the Sephardic ritual; for according to the German minhag these psalms are an integral part of the regular prayers), and requested the congregation not to ever,



harm

Bar Mizwah Bar Shalmon

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

his charge.

After a long debate, during which the fact was emphasized that Bar Shalmon, the perjurer, was deserving of death, it was decided to bring the matter before King Ashmedai whereupon the hazan declared that none should harm Bar Shalmon under penalty of excommunication. Ashmedai summoned

a tribunal, the members of which were to decide whether, according to the Torah, Bar Shalmon was deserving of death. The judges found him guilty, and did not consider the death-penalty Saved from too severe for the perjurer. AshmeDeath by dai recommended, however, that exeAshmedai. cution be postponed for a day and he kept Bar Shalmon at his house in order Meanwhile the more effectually to protect him. Ashmedai found an opportunity of making the closer acquaintance of Bar Shalmon, in whom he recognized a great scholar. The king promised to save him from death provided he would pledge himself on oath to impart all his wisdom to Ashmedai "s son. Bar Shalmon agreed to this; and it was arranged that, before the execution, he should express the desire to be brought before the king, in order that the latter might as a scholar pass judgment on a point in Bar Shalmon's favor (compare Ashmedai). The arrangement was carried out; and Ashmedai announced publicly that Bar Shalmon had not broken his oath, inasmuch as he had believed that

his father

was mentally incompetent

at the time of

its exaction.

Bar Shalmon was now exonerated, and he received the position of teacher in the house of Ashmedai. Three years later, when the latter undertook a

campaign against a country which had revolted, he left Bar Shalmon at home as his representative, entrusting him with the keys of all the apartments in his palace excepting one. Bar Shalmon was curious to learn what this secret chamber contained; and, opening the door, he discovered the beautiful daughter of the king seated upon a splendid throne. The princess informed him that her father had long intended to bestow her upon Bar Shalmon, and that he was only waiting for the latter to sue for her hand. She further counseled him to plead his love for her in defense of his intrusion into the Becomes secret apartment, in case her father Ashmedai's should reproach him for his breach of Sonfaith. Thus it came about that Bar in-Law. Shalmon soon afterward married the princess the wedding being attended

not only by demons, but also by numerous animals and birds. The bridegroom was compelled to take a solemn oath that he married the princess solely because of his love for her, and that he would never desert her.

Bar Shalmon, however, felt a yearning for his seaport home which constantly increased in intensity, so that once, when he beheld the little son with which the princess had presented him, he sighed deeply, and his thoughts reverted to his other children. The princess questioned him as to the cause of his sadness, asking whether he had tired of her beauty or whether there was anything lacking to his happiness a situation that vividly recalls the interview between Venus and Tannhauser. When she found that his yearning for home could not be appeased, she granted him a year's leave of absence, after he had made both a verbal and a written oath to return within the appointed time. demon transported him to his former home in a single day, and upon his arrival there Bar Shalmon told his escort to inform the princess that he would never return to her. The princess at first refused to believe this report, and waited until the expiration of the year, when she despatched the same demon to Bar Shalmon to bring him back. Neither he nor the many other distinguished demons who were sent could prevail upon Bar Shalmon to keep his promise and all the threats and exhortations of the princess were unheeded. Ashmedai now became enraged, and declared his intention of going in per-

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son to compel Bar Shalmon to return. The princess, however, pacified her father, and, acHe Deserts companied by a great army of demons, proceeded herself in quest of her recrethe Princess. ant husband. Arrived at her destination, she at first despatched her son

Solomon to his father but his efforts were fruitless, Bar Shalmon refusing to return to the demons. The

princess thereupon summoned him before the court, had rejected proposals of her followers to put her husband to death. The court decided that Bar Shalmon must either return with the princess or after she

become divorced from her, in which latter case he must return her dowry (Ketubah). Bar Shalmon thereupon disdainfully agreed to return all the wealth of the princess, so long as he should not be compelled to follow her. This so enraged the princess that she forthwith renounced her husband;