"What manner of mortal is he?" asked Ashmedai.
"Jump up here so I may see thee," commanded the king.
"Jump, jump," cried the crowd.
"I cannot," said Bar Shalmon, as he looked up at the balcony thirty feet above the ground.
"Try," said the rabbi.
Bar Shalmon did try, and found, the moment he lifted his feet from the ground, that he was standing on the balcony.
"Neatly done," said the king. "I see thou art quick at learning."
"So my teachers always said," replied Bar Shalmon.
"A proper answer," said the king. "Thou art, then, a scholar."