When King Solomon was about to build the temple, he was forbidden to use iron in the building thereof. Not knowing how to break the stones, he sent for the sages and asked for their advice.

The sages replied, "We will tell you. In the days of creation a worm was formed which is called shamir. This worm was used by our master Moses when he cut the stones for the breastplate. There is nothing in the world so hard but this worm cuts it in twain."

Then King Solomon said, "But how can I get this worm?"

The sages replied, "We will tell you how to get It. Capture a he-demon and a she-demon and torture them, and they will tell you how to get the shamir."

The demons were brought before King Solomon and he asked them about the Shamir.

They replied, "We do not know, but Ashmedai the king of the demons – may God be with us! – he knows where the shamir is to be found."

King Solomon replied, "I will torture you until you tell me where I can find Ashmedai."

They replied, "We will tell you. Yonder in that mountain Ashmedai dug a deep pit, which is filled with water. It is covered with a stone called tinra, and the stone is sealed with the seal of Ashmedai. Every day he goes up to heaven and studies in the heavenly college. Then he comes down again, feeling very warm, and drinks of the water, but he does not drink wine, But before he begins to drink, he examines the seal to make sure that no one has been there and put wine into the well. When he is satisfied that the seal has not been touched, he drinks his fill, puts his seal again on the stone and goes his way."

Then King Solomon sent for his counselor, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and gave him a chain, on which the divine name was engraved, and a packet of wool big enough to stop up a hole, and a

cask full of wine. The counselor journeyed until he came to the well of Ashmedai, from which he

drank. Then Benaiah dug another well under the ground, so that the water of the well could

drain itself into it, without breaking the seal. Then he stopped up the hole with the wool. Then

he dug another well above the level of Ashmedai's well and poured wine in to it, and it emptied

itself into Ashmedai's well. The purpose was that, as soon as he drank the wine, he should fall asleep and could be bound. When he had done all this, the counselor climbed up upon a tree and hid himself, waiting for the return of Ashmedai from heaven.

As soon as Ashmedai came down from heaven, he ran over to the well and, seeing his seal, opened the well and wanted to drink. But as he smelled the wine, he refrained from drinking, for he said: "Whoever drinks wine loses his wit, therefore I will not drink."

But he was so thirsty that he finally had to drink. And after he had drunk the wine, he felt heavy

and laid himself down to sleep. As soon as he fell asleep, Benaiah came down from the tree and put the chain which had the divine name engraved upon it round his neck.

When Ashmedai awoke, he tried to break the chain in two

But the counselor said, "You cannot break the chain, for the name of God is written upon it."

When he saw that, he went with him willingly. After they had walked some distance Ashmedai went up to a tree, rubbed against it, and it fell. Further along they came to the house of a widow. Ashmedai wanted to rub his back against the wall, but the widow came out and with words of flattery she begged him not to do it. As he tried to bend the other way, he broke a bone. Then Ashmedai quoted the verse: "A soft tongue breaketh the bone" (Prov. 25.15), which means that a man who allows himself to be flattered by fine words breaks a bone.

They went further and met a blind man who had gone astray. Ashmedai led him into the right way. Then the counselor asked him: "My dear man, why did you lead the blind man into the right way?"

Ashmedai replied: "The blind man is very pious and they proclaim in heaven that whosoever does him a kindness will have a share in the world to come. This is why I led him into the right way."

As they went further, they met a wedding party and the people were making merry. Ashmedai began to weep.

The counselor asked him, "Why are you weeping?" And he replied: "I weep because I know that the groom will die tomorrow, and the bride will have to wait thirteen years for halizah:"

Then they came to a shoemaker's house, and they heard a man saying: "Make me a pair of shoes to last seven years."

The shoemaker replied, "Very well, I will."

Then Ashmedai laughed and said, "He is ordering a pair of shoes to last seven years, and I doubt whether he will live seven days, not to speak of seven years."

They went on further and Ashmedai saw a drunken man who had lost his way. So he took him by the hand and brought him back to the right way.

The counselor asked him: "Why do you show him the right way?"

Ashmedai replied: "They proclaim in heaven that he is a very wicked man, therefore I showed him the right way that he may obtain his reward in this world."

They went together further and he saw a man digging for treasures and performing magic in order to find where the treasures lay hidden.

Ashmedai laughed, and the counselor asked him why he was laughing.

Ashmedai replied, "How can I help laughing when this fellow is digging for treasures and performing magic, while the treasure with which Solomon will build the temple is directly under him and he does not know it? How then can he expect to find the other places?"

When they reached the king's palace, King Solomon kept him waiting three days before he allowed him to appear before him.

Then Ashmedai asked, "Why does King Solomon not allow me to appear before him?"

They replied, "The king is ill, having drunk too much."

Ashmedai said, "Give him a little more to drink."

The next day he again wished to appear before the king, and he was told again, "The king is ill;

he has drunk and eaten too much."

Then Ashmedai said, "Let him take a purgative."

The third day he came before King Solomon. As he entered, he took a yardstick and measured four cubits in front of the king. The king asked him what was the meaning of his act.

Ashmedai replied: "I will tell you. When you die you will not have more than the space of four cubits, and yet you have subdued the whole world and are not satisfied until you have conquered me too."

Then the king replied, "Do not fear, I do not desire anything of you except that you bring me the shamir. For I am about to build the temple and am not allowed to use any iron to break the stones. It can be done by means of the shamir, therefore I had you brought before me in order that you may help me get it."

Then Ashmedai replied, "My Lord king, be it known unto you that I have no power over it. It is in the power of the ruler of the sea, and he does not entrust it to anyone except the wild cock

(hoopoo), who must take an oath that he will restore it to him."

King Solomon then gave Benaiah a glass cover and ordered him to go and search for a nest of fledglings of the wild cock.

Benaiah searched far and wide until he came to a mountain where no man lived. There he found a nest. So he took the glass and covered the fledglings with it. When the cock came and wanted to get to the young, he found them closed in. So he flew to the prince of the sea and took from him

the shamir, which he laid on the glass, and the glass split in two. As he was about to fly away Benaiah frightened him, and he dropped the shamir. When Benaiah saw this, he picked up the shamir and went away. When the cock saw that he had lost the shamir, he strangled himself,

because he could not keep his oath to the ruler of the sea to return the shamir.

When Solomon got possession of the shamir, he built the temple. When he had finished the

building of the temple, he found himself one day alone in the chamber with Ashmedai.

He said to him: "What can you, demons, do more than human beings?"

Ashmedai replied, "Take off the chain with which you have bound me and give me the seal which you wear on your finger and I will show you many wonderful things."

King Solomon removed the chain and gave him his seal. Thereupon Ashmedai put one leg on the earth and the other on the sky and swallowed King Solomon and threw him out a distance of four hundred miles. Then Ashmedai sat down on the king's throne and pretended to be King Solomon.

It was then that King Solomon said, "What is left to man of all his work that he does in this world?" (Eccl. 1.3).

And he went about begging at the doors for a piece of bread, repeating at the same time, "I, Koheleth, have been a king over Israel in Jerusalem" (ib. 1.12). And he walked so long until he came back to Jerusalem and appeared before the Sanhedrin. And all along, as he was traveling, he kept saying, "I am Koheleth, king over Israel in Jerusalem."

When the Sanhedrin heard that he was constantly repeating the same words, they said, "A madman does not always repeat the same words. Let us see if he is really the king or not."

They called Benaiah and asked him whether he had been recently to see the king.

He replied, "No."

So they sent for the queen and asked her whether the king had been recently with her.

She said, "Yes, he was with me last night."

Then they asked her, "Did you notice his feet?"

She said, "No, he has socks on his feet when he comes to stay with me."

When the sages heard this, they understood that something was amiss, so they gave Solomon the chain with the name of God engraven on it, and the seal with the name of God engraved upon it, and led him to his throne.

As soon as Ashmedai saw him, he flew away.

King Solomon then sat on the throne, but he was always in fear of Ashmedai. So he wrote

charms over his bed, and at night he had guards to watch over him, as we find it in the verse of

the Bible, that every night sixty men stood guard over Solomon (Cant. 3.7), for he was afraid of Ashmedai, may God be with us and protect us!