1)

(a)The servants of the Reish Galusa insinuated that Rav Sheshes might have stolen a silver goblet that had gone 'missing' because they saw him wrapping up his portion of meat, and they wanted an excuse to discover it and accuse him of coming to make trouble.

(b)When they found it and did just that he replied that he had declined to eat the meat because it came from a leprous animal.

(c)When Rav Sheshes told them to examine the animal (despite their insistence that they had not Shechted a leprous animal that day), they discovered a leprous mark on its skin (either a pale mark on a dark animal, or a dark mark on a pale one).

(d)The servants made one last effort to get rid of Rav Sheshes by digging a deep pit which they covered with a mat (for him to fall into), en route to his bedroom, before suggesting that he retires.

2)

(a)What made Rav Sheshes ask a child to quote his Pasuk before retiring was Rav Chisda's warning cough.

(b)The child quoted him the Pasuk in Shmuel "Netei Lach Al Yeminech O Al Semolech" (a Divine hint that he make a detour round the pit that the servants had dug).

3)

(a)When Shlomo ha'Melech said "Asisi Li ...

1. ... Sharim v'Sharos" he was referring to a variety of musical instruments on which players used to play for him.

2. ... v'Ta'anugos Bnei Adam" to pools and bath-houses.

(b)In Bavel, they translated "Shidah v'Shidos" as male and female demons. In Eretz Yisrael, they explained "v'Shidos" as luxurious wagons in which women and princes would ride.

(c)Rebbi Yochanan did not know what 'Shidah' was (or he knew that it referred to the mother of the demons, but did not know what she looked like). According to Rebbi Yochanan's testimony there were three hundred different kinds of demons in Shichin.

4)

(a)Shlomo ha'Melech gathered the demons following the advice of the Chachamim who, after telling him that he would require the Shamir worm to cut the stones of the Beis ha'Mikdash without tools, and that the demons might be able to help him locate it.

(b)The demons themselves were unable to tell him what he wanted to know. The information he 'forced' out of them was that Ashmedai their king was likely to know more than they did, as well as showing him where he lived.

5)

(a)Ashmedai used to protect himself from being poisoned or taken captive by drinking water only from a pool in a cave which he kept locked and sealed.

(b)During the day he would study in the Yeshivah shel Ma'alah. Upon his return to earth each evening, he would first inspect the seal to his cave before entering. Then he would enter and drink from the pool.

(c)Benayahu ben Yehoyada, Shlomo ha'Melech's Shali'ach in this matter ...

(d)... outwitted Ashmedai by drilling a hole underneath the pool and draining the water. Then, after stopping up the hole with shearings of wool that Shlomo had supplied him with, he drilled a hole in the rock above the pool, into which he poured wine from the flasks that the King had provided. Ashmedai, although at first suspicious of the potent taste of the 'water' in the pool, eventually drank the wine and became drunk, upon which, Benayahu entered the cave, placed the chain around his neck and attached the ring with Name of Hash-m on it (which prevented Ashmedai from struggling to free himself).

6)

(a)A widow implored Ashmedai to move away from her hut after having seen how he had just knocked down a tree and a house, merely by touching them.

(b)The significance of the Pasuk "v'Lashon Rakah Teshaber Garem" is that the widow's soft words caused Ashmedai to comply, and ...

(c)... as he bent to try and avoid touching her hut, he broke one of his bones.

(d)Ashmedai ...

1. ... helped first a blind man and then a drunken man, to find his way because in heaven, they announced that the first was a complete Tzadik, and that whoever helped him would merit reward in the World to Come, and the second one, was a complete Rasha, who had to receive all the reward for his good deeds in this world, in order to deprive him of reward in the World to Come.

2. ... cried when he saw the revelers at a wedding in progress because he knew that the Chasan was destined to die within thirty days, and the poor widow would have to wait thirteen for her new-born brother-in-law to grow-up before he would be able to perform Yibum.

3. ... laughed when he heard a man ask a cobbler for shoes that would last for seven years because it was absurd for a man who does not know whether he will survive seven days, to order shoes that will last for seven years.

4. ... laughed when he saw a sorcerer in action because here was a man purportedly foretelling what would happen far and wide, and he did not even know that he was sitting on top of a vast treasure.

7)

(a)Ashmedai had to wait three days before he was brought before Shlomo ha'Melech.

(b)Shlomo did not see him on the first day because he had drunk too much wine.

(c)He was hinting, when ...

1. ... on the first day, he took one brick and placed it on top of another one that they should give the king more wine.

2. ... on the second day, he removed the top brick and placed it on the floor that, seeing as the king was unable to see him because he had had too much to eat, they should withhold food from him.

3. ... on the third day, when he finally stood before the king, he placed a cane four Amos long, in front of him that, considering that ultimately, a person only ends up with four Amos of earth in this world, why was Shlomo not satisfied with the fact that he had captured the entire world? Why did he see fit to capture him, too?

(d)When the Shlomo ha'Melech's servants informed him what Ashmedai had told them to do, it was the King himself who interpreted what Ashmedai meant.

8)

(a)The Shamir was placed under the jurisdiction of the angel in charge of the sea, who in turn placed it in the charge of the Tarnegol ha'Bar (the hoopoe), who swore that he would return it to him intact.

(b)The hoopoe took the Shamir to mountainous, uninhabited country.

(c)The ...

1. ... hoopoe settled the Shamir there by holding it above a rock, and leaving it in the split after it had split it.

2. ... Shamir was able to survive in such country by virtue of the fact that as soon as the split was made, the hoopoe brought seeds and planted them there, turning it into a habitable area (presumably ensuring at the same time, that the Shamir would not (could not) run away.

(d)Following the above incident, the Shamir also became known as 'Nagar Tura' (the one who split a mountain).

9)

(a)Shlomo's emissaries captured the Shamir worm by placing a pane of glass over the hoopoe's nest, thereby preventing the hoopoe from gaining access to its young. Then, when it went to fetch the Shamir to split the glass, they frightened it away by making a noise. They had no problem with then taking it.

(b)The hoopoe committed suicide because it had broken its oath to the angel of the sea.

10)

(a)Shlomo retained Ashmedai until he had finished building the Beis ha'Mikdash.

(b)Describing Hash-m's supremacy over all the super-beings, Bilam said "k'So'afos Re'eim Lo". When he said ...

1. ... "k'So'afos" he was referring to the angels.

2. ... "Re'eim (Lo)" he was referring to the demons.

(c)Ashmedai tricked Shlomo into removing the chain and handing him the ring by responding to Shlomo's question 'In which way the demons were superior', by promising him a demonstration once he did that (since they limited his powers).

(d)He then proceeded to keep his word, by first swallowing Shlomo (some say the ring), and then, after placing one of his wings in the heaven and the other on earth, he spat him a distance of four hundred Parsah (sixteen hundred Mil [= kilometers]).

11)

(a)After losing his kingdom to Ashmedai, who now took over his throne, Shlomo quoted the Pasuk in Koheles "Mah Yisron la'Adam b'Chol Amalo ... ". He quoted the Pasuk ...

1. ... "v'Zeh Hayah Chelki mi'Kol Amali" in connection with his stick (others say to the clothes that he was wearing or to his earthenware drinking-cup), which is all that he retained from all his vast wealth.

2. ... "Ani Koheles Hayisi Melech Al Yisrael bi'Yerushalayim" wherever he went, in an effort to convince the people that he was really Shlomo ha'Melech, and that the current incumbent of the Throne was an impostor.

(b)The Sanhedrin tended to believe him because someone who is demented does not normally confine his madness to one area only (and Shlomo appeared perfectly normal in all other areas of human relations).

(c)Benayahu could do nothing to ascertain who was sitting on the throne, because the king was currently not calling him. The Sanhedrin initially asked the queens to examine whether he was Shlomo or Ashmedai by examining his feet whenever he was intimate with them [since demons have chicken's feet]), but they were unable to do this, because Ashmedai always made sure to keep them well-covered.

(d)The queens were however, able to report that the king was demanding to have relations with them even when they were Nidos, and that he had even accosted Bas-Sheva (Shlomo's mother)!

12)

(a)What caused Ashmedai to fly away and leave the throne for Shlomo to retake was the fact that the Sanhedrin returned Shlomo his chain and ring (see Agados Maharsha DH 'Amru lei li'Benayahu') See also b.

(b)The Pasuk "Hinei Mitaso shel Shlomo, Shishim Giborim Saviv Lah ... " demonstrates Shlomo's fear of Ashmedai, in spite of the fact that Ashmedai, himself terrified of the chain and the ring, flew away as soon as Shlomo entered the room.

(c)Rav and Shmuel argue whether Shlomo was 'Melech v'Hedyot' or 'Melech v'Hedyot u'Melech' over the upper worlds. He definitely returned to the throne to rule over this world.

13)

(a)To cure a headache caused by blood, one needs 'Shurbina' (a kind of cedar-wood), willow, wet myrtle, olive-wood and poplar, cloves and a herb called Yavla. After boiling them one places three hundred cupfuls of the mixture on either side of his head.

(b)The alternative is to take a white rose that grows in single stalks boil it, and place sixty cupfuls on one side of the head and sixty cupfuls on the other side.

14)

(a)For someone with half a headache, the cure begins with slaughtering a hoopoe with a Dinar made of pure silver, holding it above the side of the head that hurts, so that the blood drips on to it.

(b)During the Shechitah he must take great care that the blood does not drip into his eyes, because it causes blindness.

(c)One subsequently hangs the Shechted hoopoe at the entrance of his house, so that he knocks it when he enters and knocks it when he leaves.