The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-05-24
Curious Legends.

Rev. s, Barring Gould. the young
English clergyman whose researches
among the literature of neurological
such wide fields of thought and discov-
cry, has compiled a volume which pos
sesses great interest to the general
reader as well as the student, collating
and reproducing the legends of the
Rabbis and the Cabalists and the Nus.
sulmans in form which is serviceab lie
as we'll as entertaining. The number of
these legends is impossible Of estima.
ton.
Solomon is the great kind of legend
as well as of Scripture, and the rich
Oriental tinge of his gorgeous reign,
which is not without its magnifcence
in the Old Testament books, appears
dressed out in wonderful imagngs in
the traditions of the East. Both the
Rabbis and Mussulmans preserve the
same general features in the stories of
this monarch, and not even the diver
sions of the Thousand and One Nights
surpass them in ingenious and grotesque
narration. The story of the building of
the Temple includes the well-known
myth of Schamir, and is as follows:
When Solomon returned from the
sea shore to Jerusalem he heard the
noise Of the hammers and saws and
axes of the Jinns who were engaged in
the building Of the Temple; and the
noise was so great that the inhabitants
of Jerusalem could not hear one an
other speak. Therefore he commanded
the Jinns TO cease from their work, and
he asked them if there was no means
whereby the metals and stones could be
shaped and cut without making so
much noise. Then one of the spirits
stepped forth and said: 1.-The means
is known only to the mighty Sachr, who
has hitherto escaped your authority"
- Is it impossible to capture this Sachr?"
asked Solomon. "Sachr," replied the
Jim, 4" is stronger than all the rest of
us together, and he excels us in speed
as he does in strength. However. !
know that once every month he goes
to drink of a fountain in the land of
Hidjr; by this, o King, thou mayest ~
able TO bring him under thy scepter."
Solomon thereupon commanded Jim
to fly to Hidjr, and to empty the we'll
of water and to fill it up with strong
wi,e. He babe the other Jim remain
in ambush beside the we'll and watch
the result. After some weeks, when
Solomon was pacing his terrace before
his palace, he saw the Jim flying,
swifter than the wind, from the direc
ton of Hidjr, and he asked, What
news of Sachr?" "Sachr lies drunk on
the edge of the fountain" said the
Jim and we have bound him with
chains as thick as the pillars of the
Temple; nevertheless, he will snap
them as the hair Of the maiden, when
he wakes from his drunken Sleep"
Solomon instantly mounted the winged
Jim, and babe him transport him TO
the well at Hidjr. In less than an hour
he stood beside the intoxicated demon.
He was not moment too soon, for the
fumes OF the wine were passing off, and
if Sachr had opened his eyes Solomon
would have been unable TO constrain
him. But now he pressed his signet
upon the nape of his neck Sachr
uttered cry so that the earth rocked
on its foundations. Fear not" said
Solomon, mighty Jim; will restore
thee to liberty if thou wilt tell me how
may without noise cut and shape the
hardest metals" 81 myself know no
MEANS" answered the demon "but
the raven can tell how to do this. Take
the eggs out of the ravens nest, and
place a crystal over them, and thou
shalt see how the raven will break it."
Solomon followed the advice of Sachr.
A raven came and futtered some time
around the cover, and, seeing that she
could not reach her eggs, she vanished
and returned shortly with stone in her
beak named Samus or Schamir; and DO
sooner had she touched the crystal \
Herewith than it clave asunder.