in Germany, and one just like it stood in
Persia, in the golden prime of Haroun Alraschid. In the story of the
Forty Thieves, the mere name of the plant sesame serves as a talisman to
open and shut the secret door which leads into the robbers' cavern; and
when the avaricious Cassim Baba, absorbed in the contemplation of the
bags of gold and bales of rich merchandise, forgets the magic formula,
he meets no better fate than the shepherd of the Ilsenstein. In the
story of Prince Ahmed, it is an enchanted arrow which guides the young
adventurer through the hillside to the grotto of the Peri Banou. In
the tale of Baba Abdallah, it is an ointment rubbed on the eyelid which
reveals at a single glance all the treasures hidden in the bowels of the
earth.

The ancient Romans also had their rock-breaking plant, called Saxifraga,
or "sassafras." And the further we penetrate into this charmed circle
of traditions the more evident does it appear that the power of cleaving
rocks or shattering hard substances enters, as a primitive element, into
the conception of these treasure-showing talismans. Mr. Baring-Gould
has given an excellent account of the rabbinical legends concerning the
wonderful schamir, by the aid of which Solomon was said to have built
his temple. From Asmodeus, prince of the Jann, Benaiah, the son of
Jehoiada, wrested the secret of a worm no bigger than a barley-corn,
which could split the hardest substance. This worm was called schamir.
"If Solomon desired to possess himself of the worm, he must find the
nest of the moor-hen, and cover it with a plate of glass, so that the
mother bird could not get at her young without breaking the glass. She
would seek schamir for the purpose, and the worm must be obtained from
her." As the Jewish king did need the worm in order to hew the stones
for that temple which was to be built without sound of hammer, or axe,
or any tool of iron, [28] he sent Benaiah to obtain it. According to
another account, schamir was a mystic stone which enabled Solomon to
penetrate the earth in search of mineral wealth. Directed by a Jinni,
the wise king covered a raven's eggs with a plate of crystal, and thus
obtained schamir which the bird brought in order to break the plate.
[29]

In these traditions, which may possibly be of Aryan descent, due to the
prolonged intercourse between the Jews and the Persians, a new feature
is added to those before enumerated: the rock-splitting talisman is
always fou