through my power to create.
âSolomonâs appetite for women was infamous. I offered to bring him the most beautiful woman he had ever seen if he would allow me to remain on Earth. He agreed.
âI retreated to my quarters and contemplated what sort of woman might most please the idiot king. I had seen his thousand wives and found no common thread among their charms that revealed Solomonâs preferences. In the end I was left to my own creativity.
âI gave her fair hair and blue eyes and skin as white and smooth as marble. She was all things that men wish of women in body and mind. She was a virgin with a courtesanâs knowledge in the ways of pleasure. She was kind, intelligent, forgiving, and warm with humor.
âSolomon fell in love with the woman as soon as I presented her to him. âShe shines like a jewelâ, he said. âJewel shall be her name.â He spent an hour or more just staring at her, captivated with her beauty. When finally his senses returned, he said, âWe will talk later of your reward, Gian Hen Gian.â Then he took Jewel by the hand and led her to his bedchamber.
âI felt a strength return to me the moment I presented Jewel to the king. I was not free to escape, but for the first time I was able to leave the city without being compelled by some invisible bond to return to Solomon. I went into the desert and spent the nightenjoying the freedom I had gained. It was not until I returned the next morning that I realized that Solomonâs control over me and the demon depended upon the concentration of his will, as well as the invocations and the seal given to him by Jehovah. The woman, Jewel, had broken his will.
âI found Solomon in his palace weeping one moment, then screaming with rage the next. While I had been away Catch had come to Solomonâs bedchamber, not in the form that Solomon recognized, but in the form of a huge monster, taller than two men and as wide as a team of horses, and the slaves could see him as well. While Solomon watched in horror, the demon snatched Jewel from the bed with a single, talonlike hand and bit her head off. Then the monster swallowed the girlâs body and reached for Solomon. But some force protected the king, and Solomon commanded the demon to return to his smaller form. Catch laughed in his face and skulked off to the wivesâ quarters.
âThrough the night the palace was filled with the screams of terrified women. Solomon ordered his guards to attack the demon. Catch swatted them away as if they were flies. By dawn the palace was littered with the crushed bodies of the guards. Of Solomonâs thousand wives only two hundred remained alive. Catch was gone.
âDuring the attack Solomon had called upon the power of the seal and prayed to Jehovah to stop the demon. But the kingâs will was broken, and so it did no good.
âI sensed then that I might escape Solomonâs control altogether, and live free, but even the idiot king would eventually make the connection and my fate would lie in the netherworld.
âI bade Solomon allow me to bring Catch to justice. I knew my power to be much greater than the demonâs. But Solomon had only the building of the temple by which to judge my powers, and in that example the demon appeared superior. âDo what you can,â he said. âIf you capture the demon, you may remain on Earth.â
âI found Catch in the great desert, wantonly slaughtering tribes of nomads. When I bound him with my magic, he protested that he had planned to return, for he was enslaved to Solomon by the invocation and could never really escape. He was only having alittle sport with the humans, he said. To quiet him, I filled his mouth with sand for the journey back to Jerusalem.
âWhen I brought Catch to Solomon, the king commanded me to devise a punishment to torment the demon, so that the people of Jerusalem might watch him suffer. I chained Catch to a
âSolomonâs appetite for women was infamous. I offered to bring him the most beautiful woman he had ever seen if he would allow me to remain on Earth. He agreed.
âI retreated to my quarters and contemplated what sort of woman might most please the idiot king. I had seen his thousand wives and found no common thread among their charms that revealed Solomonâs preferences. In the end I was left to my own creativity.
âI gave her fair hair and blue eyes and skin as white and smooth as marble. She was all things that men wish of women in body and mind. She was a virgin with a courtesanâs knowledge in the ways of pleasure. She was kind, intelligent, forgiving, and warm with humor.
âSolomon fell in love with the woman as soon as I presented her to him. âShe shines like a jewelâ, he said. âJewel shall be her name.â He spent an hour or more just staring at her, captivated with her beauty. When finally his senses returned, he said, âWe will talk later of your reward, Gian Hen Gian.â Then he took Jewel by the hand and led her to his bedchamber.
âI felt a strength return to me the moment I presented Jewel to the king. I was not free to escape, but for the first time I was able to leave the city without being compelled by some invisible bond to return to Solomon. I went into the desert and spent the nightenjoying the freedom I had gained. It was not until I returned the next morning that I realized that Solomonâs control over me and the demon depended upon the concentration of his will, as well as the invocations and the seal given to him by Jehovah. The woman, Jewel, had broken his will.
âI found Solomon in his palace weeping one moment, then screaming with rage the next. While I had been away Catch had come to Solomonâs bedchamber, not in the form that Solomon recognized, but in the form of a huge monster, taller than two men and as wide as a team of horses, and the slaves could see him as well. While Solomon watched in horror, the demon snatched Jewel from the bed with a single, talonlike hand and bit her head off. Then the monster swallowed the girlâs body and reached for Solomon. But some force protected the king, and Solomon commanded the demon to return to his smaller form. Catch laughed in his face and skulked off to the wivesâ quarters.
âThrough the night the palace was filled with the screams of terrified women. Solomon ordered his guards to attack the demon. Catch swatted them away as if they were flies. By dawn the palace was littered with the crushed bodies of the guards. Of Solomonâs thousand wives only two hundred remained alive. Catch was gone.
âDuring the attack Solomon had called upon the power of the seal and prayed to Jehovah to stop the demon. But the kingâs will was broken, and so it did no good.
âI sensed then that I might escape Solomonâs control altogether, and live free, but even the idiot king would eventually make the connection and my fate would lie in the netherworld.
âI bade Solomon allow me to bring Catch to justice. I knew my power to be much greater than the demonâs. But Solomon had only the building of the temple by which to judge my powers, and in that example the demon appeared superior. âDo what you can,â he said. âIf you capture the demon, you may remain on Earth.â
âI found Catch in the great desert, wantonly slaughtering tribes of nomads. When I bound him with my magic, he protested that he had planned to return, for he was enslaved to Solomon by the invocation and could never really escape. He was only having alittle sport with the humans, he said. To quiet him, I filled his mouth with sand for the journey back to Jerusalem.
âWhen I brought Catch to Solomon, the king commanded me to devise a punishment to torment the demon, so that the people of Jerusalem might watch him suffer. I chained Catch to a
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