Onoskelis

A demoness who assisted in the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. She had a "very pretty shape, and the skin of a fair-hued woman." When asked by Solomon what her purpose was, she replied:

I am called Onoskelis, a spirit wrought into a body, lurking upon the earth. There is a golden cave where I lie. But I have a place that ever shifts. At one time I strangle men with a noose; at another, I creep up from the nature to the arms. But my most frequent dwelling-places are the precipices, caves, ravines. Oftentimes, however, do I consort with men in the semblance of a woman, and above all with those of a dark skin. For they share my star with me; since they it is who privily or openly worship my star, without knowing that they harm themselves, and but whet my appetite for further mischief. For they wish to provide money by means of memory, but I supply a little to those who worship me fairly.

Solomon questioned her about her birth, and she replied:

I was born of a voice untimely, the so-called echo of a man's ordure dropped in a wood.

References

Source

  • Testament of Solomon, 16 ff.