Meanwhile thou has conquered the world, yet
thou wert not satisfied until thou hadst overcome me also." To
this the king quietly replied, "I want nothing of thee, but I
wish to build the Temple and have need of the _Shameer_." To
which Ashmedai at once answered, "The Shameer is not committed
in charge to me, but to the Prince of the Sea, and he intrusts
it to no one except to the great wild cock, and that upon an
oath that he return it to him again." Whereupon Solomon asked,
"And what does the wild cock do with the Shameer?" To which the
demon replied, "He takes it to a barren rocky mountain, and by
means of it he cleaves the mountain asunder, into the cleft of
which, formed into a valley, he drops the seeds of various
plants and trees, and thus the place becomes clothed with
verdure and fit for habitation." This is the _Shameer_ (Lev. xi.
19), Nagger Tura, which the Targum renders Mountain Splitter.
They therefore searched for the nest of the wild cock, which
they found contained a young brood. This they covered with a
glass, that the bird might see its young, but not be able to get
at them. When accordingly the bird came and found his nest
impenetrably glazed over, he went and fetched the Shameer.
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