So Ornias took the finger-ring, and went off to Beelzeboul,
who has kingship over the demons. He said to him: "Come! Solomon calls thee."
But Beelzeboul, having heard him, said to him: "Tell me, who is this Solomon of whom you speak
to me?" Then Ornias threw the ring at the chest of Beelzeboul, saying: "Solomon the king calls
thee." Beelzeboul cried aloud with a mighty voice, and shot out a great burning flame of fire;
and he arose, and followed Ornias, and came to Solomon. When Solomon saw the prince of demons,
he praised the Lord God, saying: "Blessed are you, Lord God Almighty, who has given to Solomon your
servant, wisdom, the assessor of the wise, and has subjected unto me all the power of he devil." Then
he questioned Beelzeboul, and said: "Who art thou?" The demon replied: "I am Beelzebub,
the ruler of the demons. Solomon demanded that without interruption, the chief of the demons
seat close to him, and explain the manifestations of the demons. And Beelzebub sat next to the king,
and promised to bring him all the spirits under his rule. solomon asked of the demon if there
were any females among them. And when he told me that there were, the king desired to see them.
So Beelzeboul went off at high speed, and brought unto him a female demon called Onoskelis,
who had a very pretty shape, and skin so fair, but her legs were those of a mule,
and she tossed her head from time to time. The name Onoskelis means she who has ass legs.
As she stood before the throne, Solomon said to her: "Tell me who are you?" And he said to him:
"I am called Onoskelis, a spirit which has been made into a body, and lurks upon the earth,
There is a golden cave where I lie, But my most frequent dwelling-places are the precipices,
caves, and ravines. I have a many sided character, and I pervert men from their true natures.
I creep up from nature into the arms of men and strangle them with a noose. But sometimes
I do consort with them in the semblance of a woman, especially with those of a darker skin.
They who share my star with me, they who privately or openly worship my star, know not
that they harm themselves, and fuel my appetite for further mischief. They wish to obtain money
by the worship and commemoration of me, however, I supply a little to those who worship me fairly."
Solomon questioned her about her birth, and she replied:
"I was born of an untimely voice, born from an echo of the utterance of a man, made in the woods.
This spirit is similar to the hebrew spirit and daughter of the voice
named Bath kol, as well as the Greek spirit named Echo. Solomon said to her: "Under what star do you
pass?" And she answered him: "Under the star of the full moon, for the reason that the moon
travels over most things." Then he said to her: "And what angel is it that frustrates you?"
And she said to him: "It is he that lives in you." By this, she probably mean't the spirit
of god in Solomon, but Solomon thought that she mocked him, and had his soldier strike her.
Onoskelis cried aloud, and said: "I am subject to you, O king, by the wisdom of God given to you,
and by the angel Joel." So Solomon commanded her to spin the hemp for the ropes used
in the building of the house of God; and accordingly, when he had sealed and bound her,
she was overcome and made powerless and to do nothing night and day
spinning the hemp.