Bar Shalmon was startled. He had forgotten that the year was up. He felt that he was lost, but as the demon did not seize him by force, he saw that there was a possibility of escape.
"Return and tell thy mistress I refuse," he said.
"I will take thee by force," said the demon.
"Thou canst not," Bar Shalmon said, "for I am the son-in-law of the king."
The demon was helpless and returned to Ergetz alone.
King Ashmedai was very angry, but the princess counseled patience.
"I will devise means to bring my husband back," she said. "I will send other messengers."
Thus it was that Bar Shalmon found a troupe of beautiful fairies in the garden the next evening. They tried their utmost to induce him to return with them, but he would not listen. Every day different messengers came—big, ugly demons who threatened, pretty fairies who tried to coax him, and troublesome sprites and goblins who only annoyed him. Bar Shalmon could not move without encountering messengers from the princess in all manner of queer places. Nobody else could see them, and often he was heard talking to invisible people. His friends began to regard him as strange in his behavior.
King Ashmedai grew angrier every day, and he threatened to go for Bar Shalmon himself.
"Nay, I will go," said the princess; "it will be impossible for my husband to resist me."