Chapter VIII: A Handful of Curiosities (2)

Here, in the days of the saints of old, in the concourse of elders of age
untold, there lived a man upright and true, in all his doings good
fortune he knew. Rich was he and great, his eyes looked ever straight:
Tobiah, the son of Ahiah, a man of Dan, helped the poor, to each gave of
his store; whene'er one friendless died, the shroud he supplied, bore the
corpse to the grave, nor thought his money to save. The men of the place,
a sin-ruled race, slandering, cried, "O King, these Jewish knaves open
our graves! Our bones they burn, into charms to turn, health to earn."
The king angrily spoke: "I will weighten their yoke, and their villainy
repay; all the Jews who, from to-day, die in this town, to the pit take
down, to the pit hurry all, without burial. Who buries a Jew, the hour
shall rue; bitter his pang, on the gallows shall he hang." Soon a
sojourner did die, and no friends were by; but good Tobiah the corpse did
lave, and dress it for the grave. Some sinners saw the deed, to the judge
the word they gave, who Tobiah's death decreed. Forth the saint they
draw, to hang him as by law. But now they near the tree, lo! no man can
see, a blindness falls on all, and Tobiah flies their thrall. Many
friends his loss do weep, but homewards he doth creep, God's mercies to
narrate, and his own surprising fate, "Praise ye the Lord, dear friends,
for His mercy never ends, and to His servants good intends." Fear the
king distressed, his heart beat at his breast, new decrees his fear
expressed. "Whoe'er a Jew shall harm," the king cried in alarm, "touching
his person or personalty, touches the apple of my eye; let no man do this
wrong, or I'll hang him 'mid the throng, high though his rank, and his
lineage long." And well he kept his word, he punished those who erred;
but on the Jews his mercies shone, the while he rilled the throne.

Once lay the saint at rest, and glanced upon the nest of a bird within
his room. Ah! cruel was his doom! Into his eye there went the sparrow's
excrement. Tobiah's sight was gone! He had an only son, whom thus he now
addressed: "When business ventures pressed, I passed from clime to clime.
Well I recall the time, when long I dwelt in Ind, of wealth full stores
to find. But perilous was the road, and entrusted I my load with one of
honest fame, Peer Hazeman his name. And now list, beloved son, go out and
hire thee one, thy steps forthwith to guide unto my old friend's side. I
know his love's full stream, his trust he will redeem; when heareth he my
plight, when seeth he thy sight, then will he do the right." The youth
found whom he sought, a man by travel taught, the ways of Ind he knew; he
knew them through and through, he knew them up and down, as a townsman
knows his town. He brought him to his sire, who straightway did inquire,
"Knowest thou an Indian spot, a city named Tobot?"--"Full well I know the
place, I spent a two years' space in various enterprise; its people all
are wise, and honest men and true."--"What must I give to you," asked
Tobiah of his guest," to take my son in quest?"--"Of pieces pure of
gold, full fifty must be told."--"I'll pay you that with joy; start forth
now with my boy." A script the son did write, which Tobiah did indite,
and on his son bestow a sign his friend would know. The father kissed his
son, "In peace," said he, "get gone; may God my life maintain till thou
art come again." The youth and guide to Tobot hied, and reached anon Peer
Hazeman. "Why askest thou my name?" Straight the answer came, "Tobiah is
my sire, and he doth inquire of thy health and thy household's." Then the
letter he unfolds. The contents Peer espies, every doubt flies, he
regards the token with no word spoken. "'Tis the son of my friend, who
greeting thus doth send. Is it well with him? Say."--"Well, well with him
alway."--"Then dwell thou here a while, and hours sweet beguile with the
tales which thou wilt tell of him I loved so well."--"Nay, I must
forthwith part to soothe my father's heart. I am his only trust, return
at once I must." Peer Hazeman agrees the lad to release; gives him all
his father's loan, and gifts adds of his own, raiment and two slaves. To
music's pleasant staves, the son doth homeward wend. By the shore of the
sea went the lad full of glee, and the wind blew a blast, and a fish was
upward cast. Then hastened the guide to ope the fish's side, took the
liver and the gall, for cure of evil's thrall: liver to give demons
flight, gall to restore men's sight. The youth begged his friend these
specifics to lend, then went he on his way to where his sick sire lay.
Then spake the youth to his father all the truth. "Send not away the
guide without pay." The son sought the man, through the city he ran, but
the man had disappeared. Said Tobiah, "Be not afeared, 'twas Elijah the
seer, whom God sent here to stand by our side, our needs to provide." He
bathed both his eyes with the gall of the prize, and his sight was
restored by the grace of the Lord.

Then said he to his son, "Now God His grace has shown, dost thou not
yearn to do a deed in turn? My niece forthwith wed."--"But her husbands
three are dead, each gave up his life as each made her his wife; to her
shame and to her sorrow, they survived not to the morrow."--"Nay, a demon
is the doer of this harm to every wooer. My son, obey my wish, take the
liver of the fish, and burn it in full fume, at the door of her
room,'twill give the demon his doom." At his father's command, with his
life in his hand, the youth sought the maid, and wedded her unafraid. For
long timid hours his prayer Tobiah pours; but the incense was alight, the
demon took to flight, and safe was all the night. Long and happily wed,
their lives sweetly sped.

Their entertainer tells Joseph and Enan another story of piety connected with the burial of the dead:

THE PARALYTICS TOUCHSTONE OF VIRTUE

Once upon a time there lived a saintly man, whose abode was on the way to
the graveyard. Every funeral passed his door, and he would ever rise and
join in the procession, and assist those engaged in the burial. In his
old age his feet were paralyzed, and he could not leave his bed; the dead
passed his doors, and he sighed that he could not rise to display his
wonted respect. Then prayed he to the Lord: "O Lord, who givest eyes to
the blind and feet to the lame, hear me from the corner of my sorrowful
bed. Grant that when a pious man is borne to his grave, I may be able to
rise to my feet." An angel's voice in a vision answered him, "Lo, thy
prayer is heard." And so, whenever a pious man was buried, he rose and
prayed for his soul. On a day, there died one who had grown old in the
world's repute, a man of excellent piety, yet the lame man could not rise
as his funeral passed. Next day died a quarrelsome fellow of ill fame for
his notorious sins, and when his body was carried past the lame man's
door, the paralytic was able to stand. Every one was amazed, for hitherto
the lame man's rising or resting had been a gauge of the departed's
virtue. Two sage men resolved to get to the bottom of the mystery. They
interviewed the wife of the fellow who had died second. The wife
confirmed the worst account of him, but added: "He had an old father,
aged one hundred years, and he honored and served him. Every day he
kissed his hand, gave him drink, stripped and dressed him when, from old
age, he could not turn himself on his couch; daily he brought ox and lamb
bones, from which he drew the marrow, and made dainty foods of it." And
the people knew that honoring his father had atoned for his
transgressions. Then the two inquisitors went to the house of the pious
man, before whom the paralytic had been unable to rise. His widow gave
him an excellent character; he was gentle and pious; prayed three times a
day, and at midnight rose and went to a special chamber to say his
prayers. No one had ever seen the room but himself, as he ever kept the
key in his bosom. The two inquisitors opened the door of this chamber,
and found a small box hidden in the window-sill; they opened the box, and
found in it a golden figure bearing a crucifix. Thus the man had been one
of those who do the deeds of Zimri, and expect the reward of Phineas.

TABLE TALK

Joseph and Enan then retire to rest, and their sleep is sweet and long. By strange and devious ways they continue their journey on the morrow, starting at dawn. Again they pass the night at the house of one of Enan's friends, Rabbi Judah, a ripe old sage and hospitable, who welcomes them cordially, feeds them bountifully, gives them spiced dishes, wine of the grape and the pomegranate, and then tells stories and proverbs "from the books of the Arabs."

A man said to a sage, "Thou braggest of thy wisdom, but it came from me."
"Yes," replied the sage, "and it forgot its way back."--Who is the worst
of men? He who is good in his own esteem.--Said a king to a sage, "Sweet
would be a king's reign if it lasted forever." "Had such been your
predecessor's lot," replied the wise man, "how would you have reached the
throne?"--A man laid a complaint before the king; the latter drove the
suppliant out with violence. "I entered with one complaint," sighed the
man, "I leave with two."--What is style? Be brief and do not repeat
yourself.--The king once visited a nobleman's house, and asked the
latter's son, "Whose house is better, your father's or mine?" "My
father's," said the boy, "while the king is in it."--A king put on a new
robe, which did not become him. "It is not good to wear," said a
courtier, "but it is good to put on." The king put the robe on him.--A
bore visited a sick man. "What ails thee?" he asked. "Thy presence," said
the sufferer.--A man of high lineage abused a wise man of lowly birth.
"My lineage is a blot on me," retorted a sage, "thou art a blot on thy
lineage."--To another who reviled him for his lack of noble ancestry, he
retorted, "Thy noble line ends with thee, with me mine begins."--Diogenes
and Dives were attacked by robbers. "Woe is me," said Dives, "if they
recognize me." "Woe is me," said Diogenes, "if they do not recognize
me."--A philosopher sat by the target at which the archers were shooting.
"'Tis the safest spot," said he.--An Arab's brother died. "Why did he
die?" one asked. "Because he lived," was the answer.--"What hast thou
laid up for the cold weather?" they asked a poor fellow. "Shivering," he
answered.--Death is the dread of the rich and the hope of the
poor.--Which is the best of the beasts? Woman.--Hide thy virtues as thou
hidest thy faults.--A dwarf brought a complaint to his king. "No one,"
said the king, "would hurt such a pigmy." "But," retorted the dwarf, "my
injurer is smaller than I am."--A dolt sat on a stone. "Lo, a blockhead
on a block," said the passers-by.--"What prayer make you by night?" they
asked a sage. "Fear God by day, and by night you will sleep, not
pray."--Rather a wise enemy than a foolish friend.--Not everyone who
flees escapes, not everyone who begs has need.--A sage had weak eyes.
"Heal them," said they. "To see what?" he rejoined.--A fool quarrelled
with a sage. Said the former, "For every word of abuse I hear from thee,
I will retort ten." "Nay," replied the other, "for every ten words of
abuse I hear from thee, I will not retort one."--An honest man cannot
catch a thief.--All things grow with time except grief.--The character of
the sent tells the character of the sender.--What is man's best means of
concealment? Speech.--"Why walkest thou so slowly?" asked the lad of the
greybeard. "My years are a chain to my feet: and thy years are preparing
thy chain."--Do not swallow poison because you know an antidote.--The
king heard a woman at prayer. "O God," she said, "remove this king from
us." "And put a better in his stead," added the eavesdropping
monarch.--Take measure for this life as though thou wilt live forever;
prepare for the next world as though thou diest to-morrow.--"He will
die," said the doctor, but the patient recovered. "You have returned from
the other world," said the doctor when he met the man. "Yes," said the
latter, "and the doctors have a bad time there. But fear not. Thou art no
doctor."--Three things weary: a lamp that will not burn, a messenger that
dawdles, a table spread and waiting.

Then follows a string of sayings about _threes_:

Reason rules the body, wisdom is the pilot, law is its light. Might is
the lion's, burdens are the ox's, wisdom is man's; spinning the spider's,
building the bee's, making stores the ant's. In three cases lying is
permissible: in war, in reconciling man to man, in appeasing one's wife.

Their host concludes his lengthy list of sententious remarks thus:

A king had a signet ring, on which were engraved the words, "Thou hast
bored me: rise!" and when a guest stayed too long, he showed the visitor
the ring.-The heir of a wealthy man squandered his money, and a sage saw
him eating bread and salted olives. "Hadst thou thought that this would
be thy food, this would not be thy food."-Marry no widow. She will lament
her first husband's death.

THE CITY OF ENAN

This was the signal for the party to retire to rest.

Next day the wayfarers reach Enan's own city, the place he had all along desired Joseph to see. He shows Joseph his house; but the latter replies, "I crave food, not sight-seeing." "Surely," says Enan, "the more hurry the less speed." At last the table is spread; the cloth is ragged, the dishes contain unleavened bread, such as there is no pleasure in eating, and there is a dish of herbs and vinegar. Then ensues a long wrangle, displaying much medical knowledge, on the physiology of herbs and vegetables, on the eating of flesh, much and fast. Enan makes sarcastic remarks on Joseph's rapacious appetite. He tells Joseph, he must not eat this or that. A joint of lamb is brought on the table, Enan says the head is bad, and the feet, and the flesh, and the fat; so that Joseph has no alternative but to eat it all. "I fear that what happened to the king, will befall thee," said Enan. "Let me feed first," said Joseph; "then you can tell me what happened to the king."

THE PRINCESS AND THE ROSE

A gardener came to his garden in the winter. It was the month of Tebet,
and he found some roses in flower. He rejoiced at seeing them; and he
plucked them, and put them on a precious dish, carried them to the king,
and placed them before him. The king was surprised, and the flowers were
goodly in his sight; and he gave the gardener one hundred pieces of gold.
Then said the king in his heart, "To-day we will make merry, and have a
feast." All his servants and faithful ministers were invited to rejoice
over the joy of the roses. And he sent for his only daughter, then with
child; and she stretched forth her hand to take a rose, and a serpent
that lay in the dish leapt at her and startled her, and she died before
night.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

But Joseph's appetite was not to be stayed by such tales as this. So Enan tells him of the "Lean Fox and the Hole"; but in vain. "Open not thy mouth to Satan," says Joseph. "I fear for my appetite, that it become smaller"; and goes on eating.

Now Enan tries another tack: he will question him, and put him through his paces. But Joseph yawns and protests that he has eaten too much to keep his eyes open.

"How canst thou sleep," said Enan, "when thou hast eaten everything,
fresh and stale? As I live, thou shalt not seek thy bed until I test thy
wisdom-until I prove whether all this provender has entered the stomach
of a wise man or a fool."

Then follows an extraordinary string of anatomical, medical, scientific, and Talmudic questions about the optic nerves; the teeth; why a man lowers his head when thinking over things he has never known, but raises his head when thinking over what he once knew but has forgotten; the physiology of the digestive organs, the physiology of laughter; why a boy eats more than a man; why it is harder to ascend a hill than to go down; why snow is white; why babies have no teeth; why children's first set of teeth fall out; why saddest tears are saltest; why sea water is heavier than fresh; why hail descends in summer; why the sages said that bastards are mostly clever. To these questions, which Enan pours out in a stream, Joseph readily gives answers. But now Enan is hoist with his own petard.

"I looked at him," continues the poet, "and sleep entrapped his eyes, and
his eyelids kissed the irides. Ah! I laughed in my heart. Now I will talk
to him, and puzzle him as he has been puzzling me. He shall not sleep, as
he would not let me sleep. 'My lord,' said I, 'let me now question thee.'
'I am sleepy,' said he, 'but ask on.' 'What subject shall I choose?' I
said. 'Any subject,' he replied; 'of all knowledge I know the half.'"
Joseph asks him astronomical, musical, logical, arithmetical questions;
to all of which Enan replies, "I do not know." "But," protests Joseph,
"how couldst thou assert that thou knewest half of every subject, when it
is clear thou knowest nothing?" "Exactly," says Enan, "for Aristotle
says, 'He who says, I do not know, has already attained the half of
knowledge.'"

But he says he knows medicine; so Joseph proceeds to question him. Soon he discovers that Enan is again deceiving him; and he abuses Enan roundly for his duplicity.

Enan at length is moved to retort.

"I wonder at thy learning," says Enan, "but more at thy appetite." Then
the lamp goes out, the servant falls asleep, and they are left in
darkness till the morning. Then Joseph demands his breakfast, and goes
out to see his ass. The ass attempts to bite Joseph, who strikes it, and
the ass speaks. "I am one of the family of Balaam's ass," says the
animal. "But I am not Balaam," says Joseph, "to divine that thou hast
eaten nothing all night." The servant asserts that he fed the ass, but
the animal had gobbled up everything, his appetite being equal to his
owner's. But Joseph will not believe this, and Enan is deeply hurt.
"Peace!" he shouts, and his eyes shoot flames, and his nostrils distil
smoke. "Peace, cease thy folly, or, as I live, and my ancestor Asmodeus,
I will seize thee with my little finger, and will show thee the city of
David."

In timid tones Joseph asks him, "Who is this Asmodeus, thy kinsman?"

ENAN REVEALS HIMSELF

"Asmodeus," said Enan, "the great prince who, on his wing, bore Solomon
from his kingdom to a distant strand." "Woe is me," I moaned, "I thought
thee a friend; now thou art a fiend. Why didst thou hide thy nature? Why
didst thou conceal thy descent? Why hast thou taken me from my home in
guile?" "Nay," said Enan, "where was thy understanding? I gave thee my
name, thou shouldst have inverted it" [i.e., transpose _Desh_ to _Shed_.
Enan at the beginning of the tale had announced himself as _ha-Desh_, he
now explains that meant _ha-Shed_ = the demon]. Then Enan gives his
pedigree: "I am Enan, the Satan, son of Arnan the Demon, son of the Place
of Death, son of Rage, son of Death's Shadow, son of Terror, son of
Trembling, son of Destruction, son of Extinction, son of Evil-name, son
of Mocking, son of Plague, son of Deceit, son of Injury, son of
Asmodeus."

Nevertheless Enan quiets Joseph's fears, and promises that no harm shall befall him. He goes through Enan's city, sees wizards and sorcerers, and sinners and fools, all giants.

ENAN'S FRIEND AND HIS DAUGHTER

Then Enan introduces his own especial friend. "He is good and wise," said
Enan, "despite his tall stature. He shows his goodness in hating the wise
and loving fools; he is generous, for he will give a beggar a crust of
dry bread, and make him pay for it; he knows medicine, for he can tell
that if a man is buried, he either has been sick, or has had an accident;
he knows astronomy, for he can tell that it is day when the sun shines,
and night when the stars appear; he knows arithmetic, for he can tell
that one and one make two; he knows mensuration, for he can tell how many
handbreadths his belly measures; he knows music, for he can tell the
difference between the barking of a dog and the braying of an ass." "But,
said I," continues Joseph, "how canst thou be the friend of such a one?
Accursed is he, accursed his master." "Nay," answered Enan, "I love him
not; I know his vile nature: 'tis his daughter that binds me to him, for
she, with her raven locks and dove's eyes and lily cheeks, is fair beyond
my power to praise." Yet I warned him against marrying the daughter of an
uneducated man, an Am ha-Arez. Then follows a compilation of passages
directed against ignorance. "Ah!" cries Enan, "your warning moves me. My
love for her is fled. Thou fearest God and lovest me, my friend. What is
a friend? One heart in two bodies. Then find me another wife, one who is
beautiful and good. Worse than a plague is a bad woman. Listen to what
once befell me with such a one."

Thereupon Enan introduces the last of the stories incorporated into the book:

THE WASHERWOMAN WHO DID THE DEVIL'S WORK

Once upon a time, in my wanderings to and fro upon the earth, I came to a
city whose inhabitants dwelt together, happy, prosperous, and secure. I
made myself well acquainted with the place and the people, but, despite
all my efforts, I was unable to entrap a single one. "This is no place
for me," I said, "I had better return to my own country." I left the
city, and, journeying on, came across a river, at the brink of which I
seated myself. Scarcely had I done so, when a woman appeared bearing her
garments to be washed in the river. She looked at me, and asked, "Art
thou of the children of men or of demons?" "Well," said I, "I have grown
up among men, but I was born among demons." "But what art thou after
here?" "Ah," I replied, "I have spent a whole month in yonder city. And
what have I found? A city full of friends, enjoying every happiness in
common. In vain have I tried to put a little of wickedness among them."
Then the woman, with a supercilious air: "If I am to take thee for a
specimen, I must have a very poor opinion of the whole tribe of demons.
You seem mighty enough, but you haven't the strength of women. Stop here
and keep an eye on the wash; but mind, play me no tricks. I will go back
to the city and kindle therein fire and fury, and pour over it a spirit
of mischief, and thou shalt see how I can manage things." "Agreed!" said
I, "I will stay here and await thy coming, and watch how affairs turn out
in thy hands."

The washerwoman departed, went into the city, called upon one of the
great families there residing, and requested to see the lady of the
house. She asked for a washing order, which she promised to execute to
the most perfect satisfaction. While the housemaid was collecting the
linen, the washerwoman lifted her eyes to the beautiful face of the
mistress, and exclaimed: "Yes, they are a dreadful lot, the men; they are
all alike, a malediction on them! The best of them is not to be trusted.
They love all women but their own wives." "What dost thou mean?" asked
the lady. "Merely this," she answered. "Coming hither from my house, whom
should I meet but thy husband making love to another woman, and such a
hideous creature, too! How he could forsake beauty so rare and exquisite
as thine for such disgusting ugliness, passes my understanding. But do
not weep, dear lady, don't distress thyself and give way. I know a means
by which I shall bring that husband of thine to his senses, so that thou
shalt suffer no reproach, and he shall never love any other woman than
thee. This is what thou must do. When thy husband comes home, speak
softly and sweetly to him; let him suspect nothing; and when he has
fallen asleep, take a sharp razor and cut off three hairs from his beard;
black or white hairs, it matters not. These thou must afterwards give to
me, and with them I will compound such a remedy that his eyes shall be
darkened in their sockets, so that he will look no more upon other lovely
women, but cling to thee alone in mighty and manifest and enduring love."
All this the lady promised, and gifts besides for the washerwoman, should
her plan prosper.

Carrying the garments with her, the woman now sought out the lady's
husband. With every sign of distress in her voice and manner, she told
him that she had a frightful secret to divulge to him. She knew not if
she would have the strength to do so. She would rather die first The
husband was all the more eager to know, and would not be refused. "Well,
then," she said, "I have just been to thy house, where my lady, thy wife,
gave me these garments to wash; and, while I was yet standing there, a
youth, of handsome mien and nobly attired, arrived, and the two withdrew
into an adjoining room: so I inclined mine ear to listen to their speech,
and this is what I overheard: The young man said to thy wife, 'Kill thy
husband, and I will marry thee,' She, however, declared that she was
afraid to do such a dreadful deed. 'O,' answered he, 'with a little
courage it is quite easy. When thy husband is asleep, take a sharp razor
and cut his throat.'" In fierce rage, but suppressing all outward
indication of it, the husband returned home. Pretending to fall asleep,
he watched his wife closely, saw her take a razor to sever the three
hairs for the washerwoman's spell, darted up suddenly, wrested the razor
from her hands, and with it slew his wife on the spot.

The news spread; the relations of the wife united to avenge her death,
and kill the husband. In their turn his relatives resolved to avenge him;
both houses were embroiled, and before the feud was at an end, two
hundred and thirty lives were sacrificed. The city resounded with a great
cry, the like of which had never been heard. "From that day," concluded
Enan, "I decided to injure no man more. Yet for this very reason I fear
to wed an evil woman." "Fear not," returned Joseph, "the girl I recommend
is beautiful and good." And Enan married her, and loved her.

Thus Enan is metamorphosed from a public demon into something of a domestic saint. Zabara gives us an inverted Faust.

JOSEPH RETURNS HOME TO BARCELONA

"After a while," concludes Joseph, "I said to him, 'I have sojourned long enough in this city, the ways of which please me not. Ignorance prevails, and poetry is unknown; the law is despised; the young are set over the old; they slander and are impudent. Let me go home after my many years of wandering in a strange land. Fain would I seek the place where dwells the great prince, Rabbi Sheshet Benveniste, of whom Wisdom says, Thou art my teacher, and Faith, Thou art my friend.' 'What qualitie,' asked Enan, 'brought him to this lofty place of righteousness and power?' 'His simplicity and humility, his uprightness and saintliness.'"

And with this eulogy of the aged Rabbi of Barcelona, the poem somewhat inconsequently ends. It may be that the author left the work without putting in the finishing touches. This would account for the extra stories, which, as was seen above, may belong to the book, though not incorporated into it.

It will be thought, from the summary mode in which I have rendered these stories, that I take Zabara to be rather a literary curiosity than a poet. But Zabara's poetical merits are considerable. If I have refrained from attempting a literal rendering, it is mainly because the rhymed-prose _genre_ is so characteristically Oriental that its charm is incommunicable in a Western language. Hence, to those who do not read Zabara in the original, he is more easily appreciated as a _conteur_ than as an imaginative writer. To the Hebraist, too, something of the same remark applies. Rhymed prose is not much more consistent with the genius of Hebrew than it is with the genius of English. Arabic and Persian seem the only languages in which rhymed prose assumes a natural and melodious shape. In the new-Hebrew, rhymed prose has always been an exotic, never quite a native flower. The most skilful gardeners failed to acclimatize it thoroughly in European soil. Yet Zabara's humor, his fluent simplicity, his easy mastery over Hebrew, his invention, his occasional gleams of fancy, his gift of satire, his unfailing charm, combine to give his poem some right to the title by which he called it--"The Book of Delight."

A VISIT TO HEBRON

Of a land where every stone has its story, it can hardly be asserted that any one place has a fuller tale to tell than another. But Hebron has a peculiar old-world charm as the home of the founder of the Hebrew race. Moreover, one's youthful imagination associates Hebron with the giants, the sons of Anak, sons, that is, of the long neck; men of Arba, with broad, square shoulders. A sight of the place itself revives this memory. Ancient Hebron stood higher than the present city, but as things now are, though the hills of Judea reach their greatest elevation in the neighborhood, Hebron itself rests in a valley. Most towns in Palestine are built on hills, but Hebron lies low. Yet the surrounding hills are thirty-two hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and five hundred feet higher than Mount Olivet. For this reason Hebron is ideally placed for conveying an impression of the mountainous character of Judea. In Jerusalem you are twenty-six hundred feet above the sea, but, being high up, you scarcely realize that you are in a mountain city. The hills about Hebron tower loftily above you, and seem a fitting abode for the giants whom Joshua and Caleb overthrew.

Hebron, from yet another point of view, recalls its old-world associations. Not only is Hebron one of the oldest cities in the world still inhabited, but it has been far less changed by Western influences than other famous places. Hebron is almost entirely unaffected by Christian influence. In the East, Christian influence more or less means European influence, but Hebron is still completely Oriental. It is a pity that modern travellers no longer follow the ancient route which passed from Egypt along the coast to Gaza, and then struck eastwards to Hebron. By this route, the traveller would come upon Judea in its least modernized aspect. He would find in Hebron a city without a hotel, and unblessed by an office of the Monarch of the East, Mr. Cook. There are no modern schools in Hebron; the only institution of the kind, the Mildmay Mission School, had scarcely any pupils at the time of my visit. This is but another indication of the slight effect that European forces are producing; the most useful, so far, has been the medical mission of the United Free Church of Scotland. But Hebron has been little receptive of the educational and sanitary boons that are the chief good--and it is a great good--derived from the European missions in the East. I am almost reluctant to tell the truth, as I must, of Hebron, and point out the pitiful plight of our brethren there, lest, perchance, some philanthropists set about mending the evil, to the loss of the primitiveness in which Hebron at present revels. This is the pity of it. When you employ a modern broom to sweep away the dirt of an ancient city, your are apt to remove something else as well as the dirt.

Besides its low situation and its primitiveness, Hebron has a third peculiarity. Go where one may in Judea, the ancient places, even when still inhabited, wear a ruined look. Zion itself is scarcely an exception. Despite its fifty thousand inhabitants, Jerusalem has a decayed appearance, for the newest buildings often look like ruins. The cause of this is that many structures are planned on a bigger scale than can be executed, and thus are left permanently unfinished, or like the windmill of Sir Moses are disused from their very birth. Hebron, in this respect again, is unlike the other cities of Judea. It had few big buildings, hence it has few big ruins. There are some houses of two stories in which the upper part has never been completed, but the houses are mostly of one story, with partially flat and partially domed roofs. The domes are the result both of necessity and design; of necessity, because of the scarcity of large beams for rafters; of design, because the dome enables the rain to collect in a groove, or channel, whence it sinks into a reservoir.

Hebron, then, produces a favorable impression on the whole. It is green and living, its hills are clad with vines, with plantations of olives, pomegranates, figs, quinces, and apricots. Nowhere in Judea, except in the Jordan valley, is there such an abundance of water. In the neighborhood of Hebron, there are twenty-five springs, ten large perennial wells, and several splendid pools. Still, as when the huge cluster was borne on two men's shoulders from Eshkol, the best vines of Palestine grow in and around Hebron. The only large structure in the city, the mosque which surmounts the Cave of Machpelah, is in excellent repair, especially since 1894-5, when the Jewish lads from the _Alliance_ school of Jerusalem renewed the iron gates within, and supplied fresh rails to the so-called sarcophagi of the Patriarchs. The ancient masonry built round the cave by King Herod, the stones of which exactly resemble the masonry of the Wailing Place in Jerusalem, still stands in its massive strength.

I have said that Hebron ought to be approached from the South or West. The modern traveller, however, reaches it from the North. You leave Jerusalem by the Jaffa gate, called by the Mohammedans Bab el-Khalil, _i.e._ Hebron gate. The Mohammedans call Hebron el-Khalil, City of the Friend of God, a title applied to Abraham both in Jewish and Mohammedan tradition. Some, indeed, derive the name Hebron from Chaber, comrade or friend; but Hebron may mean "confederation of cities," just as its other name, Kiriath-arba, may possibly mean Tetrapolis. The distance from Jerusalem to Hebron depends upon the views of the traveller. You can easily get to Hebron in four hours and a half by the new carriage road, but the distance, though less than twenty miles, took me fourteen hours, from five in the morning till seven at night. Most travellers turn aside to the left to see the Pools of Solomon, and the grave of Rachel lies on the right of the highroad itself. It is a modern building with a dome, and the most affecting thing is the rough-hewn block of stone worn smooth by the lips of weeping women. On the opposite side of the road is Tekoah, the birthplace of Amos; before you reach it, five miles more to the north, you get a fine glimpse also of Bethlehem, the White City, cleanest of Judean settlements. Travellers tell you that the rest of the road is uninteresting. I did not find it so. For the motive of my journey was just to see those "uninteresting" sites, Beth-zur, where Judas Maccabeus won such a victory that he was able to rededicate the Temple, and Beth-zacharias, through whose broad valley-roads the Syrian elephants wound their heavy way, to drive Judas back on his precarious base at the capital.

It is somewhat curious that this indifference to the Maccabean sites is not restricted to Christian tourists. For, though several Jewish travellers passed from Jerusalem to Hebron in the Middle Ages, none of them mentions the Maccabean sites, none of them spares a tear or a cheer for Judas Maccabeus. They were probably absorbed in the memory of the Patriarchs and of King David, the other and older names identified with this district. Medieval fancy, besides, was too busy with peopling Hebron with myths to waste itself on sober facts. Hebron, according to a very old notion, was the place where Adam and Eve lived after their expulsion from Eden; it was from Hebron's red earth that the first man was made. The _Pirke di Rabbi Eliezer_ relate, that when the three angels visited Abraham, and he went to get a lamb for their meal, the animal fled into a cave. Abraham followed it, and saw Adam and Eve lying asleep, with lamps burning by their tombs, and a sweet savor, as of incense, emanating from the dead father and mother of human-kind. Abraham conceived a love for the Cave, and hence desired it for Sarah's resting-place.

I suppose that some will hold, that we are not on surer historical ground when we come to the Biblical statement that connects Abraham with Hebron. Before arguing whether Abraham lived in Hebron, and was buried in Machpelah, one ought to prove that Abraham ever lived at all, to be buried anywhere. But I shall venture to take Abraham's real existence for granted, as I am not one of those who think that a statement must be false because it is made in the Book of Genesis. That there was a very ancient shrine in Hebron, that the great Tree of Mamre was the abode of a local deity, may be conceded, but to my mind there is no more real figure in history than Abraham. Especially when one compares the modern legends with the Biblical story does the substantial truth of the narrative in Genesis manifest itself. The narrative may contain elements of folk poetry, but the hero Abraham is a genuine personality.

As I have mentioned the tree, it may be as well to add at once that Abraham's Oak is still shown at Hebron, and one can well imagine how it was thought that this magnificent terebinth dated from Bible times. A few years ago it was a fresh, vigorous giant, but now it is quite decayed. The ruin began in 1853, when a large branch was broken off by the weight of the snow. Twelve years ago the Russian Archimandrite of Jerusalem purchased the land on which the tree stands, and naturally he took much care of the relic. In fact, he took too much care, for some people think that the low wall which the Russians erected as a safeguard round the Oak, has been the cause of the rapid decay that has since set in. Year by year the branches have dropped off, the snow and the lightning have had their victims. It is said that only two or three years ago one branch towards the East was still living, but when I saw it, the trunk was bare and bark-less, full of little worm-holes, and quite without a spark of vitality. The last remaining fragment has since fallen, and now the site of the tree is only marked by the row of young cypresses which have been planted in a circle round the base of the Oak of Mamre. But who shall prophesy that, a century hence, a tree will not have acquired sufficient size and antiquity to be foisted upon uncritical pilgrims as the veritable tree under which Father Abraham dwelt!

The Jewish tradition does not quite agree with the view that identified this old tree with Mamre. According to Jewish tradition, the Tree is at the ruins of Ramet el-Khalil, the High Place of the Friend, _i.e._ of Abraham, about two miles nearer Jerusalem. Mr. Shaw Caldecott has propounded the theory that this site is Samuel's Ramah, and that the vast ruins of a stone-walled enclosure here represent the enclosure within which Samuel's altar stood. The Talmud has it that Abraham erected a guest-house for the entertainment of strangers near the Grove of Mamre. There were doors on every side, so that the traveller found a welcome from whichever direction he came. There our father made the name of God proclaimed at the mouth of all wayfarers. How? After they had eaten and refreshed themselves, they rose to thank him. Abraham answered, "Was the food mine? It is the bounty of the Creator of the Universe." Then they praised, glorified, and blessed Him who spake and the world was.

We are on the road now near Hebron, but, before entering, let us recall a few incidents in its history. After the Patriarchal age, Hebron was noted as the possession of Caleb. It also figures as a priestly city and as one of the cities of refuge. David passed much of his life here, and, after Saul's death, Hebron was the seat of David's rule over Judea. Abner was slain here by Joab, and was buried here--they still show Abner's tomb in the garden of a large house within the city. By the pool at Hebron were slain the murderers of Ishbosheth, and here Absalom assumed the throne. After his time we hear less of Hebron. Jerusalem overshadowed it in importance, yet we have one or two mentions. Rehoboam strengthened the town, and from a stray reference in Nehemiah, we gather that the place long continued to be called by its older name of Kiriath Arba. For a long period after the return from the Exile Hebron belonged to the Idumeans. It was the scene of warfare in the Maccabean period, and also during the rebellion against Rome. In the market-place at Hebron, Hadrian sold numbers of Jewish slaves after the fall of Bar-Cochba, in 135 C.E. In the twelfth century Hebron was in the hands of the Christian Crusaders. The fief of Hebron, or, as it was called, of Saint Abraham, extended southwards to Beer-sheba. A bishopric was founded there in 1169, but was abandoned twenty years later.

We hear of many pilgrims in the Middle Ages. The Christians used to eat some of the red earth of Hebron, the earth from which Adam was made. On Sunday the seventeenth of October, 1165, Maimonides was in Hebron, passing the city on his way from Jerusalem to Cairo. Obadiah of Bertinoro, in 1488, took Hebron on the reverse route. He went from Egypt across the desert to Gaza, and, though he travelled all day, did not reach Hebron from Gaza till the second morning. If the text is correct, David Reubeni was four days in traversing the same road, a distance of about thirty-three miles. To revert to an earlier time, Nachmanides very probably visited Hebron. Indeed, his grave is shown to the visitor. But this report is inaccurate. He wrote to his son, in 1267, from Jerusalem, "Now I intend to go to Hebron, to the sepulchre of our ancestors, to prostrate myself, and there to dig my grave." But he must have altered his mind in the last-named particular, for his tomb is most probably in Acre.

I need not go through the list of distinguished visitors to Hebron. Suffice it to say that in the fourteenth century there was a large and flourishing community of Jews in the town; they were weavers and dyers of cotton stuffs and glass-makers, and the Rabbi was often himself a shepherd in the literal sense, teaching the Torah while at work in the fields. He must have felt embarrassed sometimes between his devotion to his metaphorical and to his literal flock. When I was at Moza, I was talking over some Biblical texts with Mr. David Yellin, who was with me. The colonists endured this for a while, but at last they broke into open complaint. One of the colonists said to me: "It is true that the Mishnah forbids you to turn aside from the Torah to admire a tree, but you have come all the way from Europe to admire my trees. Leave the Torah alone for the present." I felt that he was right, and wondered how the Shepherd Rabbis of Hebron managed in similar circumstances.

In the century of which I am speaking, the Hebron community consisted entirely of Sefardim, and it was not till the sixteenth century that Ashkenazim settled there in large numbers. I have already mentioned the visit of David Reubeni. He was in Hebron in 1523, when he entered the Cave of Machpelah on March tenth, at noon. It is of interest to note that his account of the Cave agrees fully with that of Conder. It is now quite certain that he was really there in person, and his narrative was not made up at second hand. The visit of Reubeni, as well as Sabbatai Zebi's, gave new vogue to the place. When Sabbatai was there, a little before the year 1666, the Jews were awake and up all night, so as not to lose an instant of the sacred intercourse with the Messiah. But the journey to Hebron was not popular till our own days. It was too dangerous, the Hebron natives enjoying a fine reputation for ferocity and brigandage. An anonymous Hebrew writer writes from Jerusalem in 1495, that a few days before a Jew from Hebron had been waylaid and robbed. But he adds: "I hear that on Passover some Jews are coming here from Egypt and Damascus, with the intention of also visiting Hebron. I shall go with them, if I am still alive."

In Baedeker, Hebron is still given a bad character, the Muslims of the place being called fanatical and violent. I cannot confirm this verdict. The children throw stones at you, but they take good care not to hit. As I have already pointed out, Hebron is completely non-Christian, just as Bethlehem is completely non-Mohammedan. The Crescent is very disinclined to admit the Cross into Hebron, the abode of Abraham, a name far more honored by Jews and Mohammedans than by Christians.

It is not quite just to call the Hebronites fanatical and sullen; they really only desire to hold Hebron as their own. "Hebron for the Hebronites" is their cry. The road, at all events, is quite safe. One of the surprises of Palestine is the huge traffic along the main roads. Orientals not only make a great bustle about what they do, but they really are very busy people. Along the roads you meet masses of passengers, people on foot, on mules and horses, on camels, in wheeled vehicles. You come across groups of pilgrims, with one mule to the party, carrying the party's goods, the children always barefooted and bareheaded--the latter fact making you realize how the little boy in the Bible story falling sick in the field exclaimed "My head, my head!" Besides the pilgrims, there are the bearers of goods and produce. You see donkeys carrying large stones for building, one stone over each saddle. If you are as lucky as I was, you may see a runaway camel along the Hebron road, scouring alone at break-neck speed, with laughter-producing gait.

Of Hebron itself I saw little as I entered, because I arrived towards sunset, and only had time to notice that everyone in the streets carried a lantern. In Jerusalem only the women carry lights, but in Hebron men had them as well. I wondered where I was to pass the night. Three friends had accompanied me from Jerusalem, and they told me not to worry, as we could stay at the Jewish doctor's. It seemed to me a cool piece of impudence to billet a party on a man whose name had been previously unknown to me, but the result proved that they were right. The doctor welcomed us right heartily; he said that it was a joy to entertain us. Now it was that one saw the advantages of the Oriental architecture. The chief room in an Eastern house is surrounded on three sides by a wide stone or wooden divan, which, in wealthy houses, is richly upholstered. The Hebron doctor was not rich, but there was the same divan covered with a bit of chintz. On it one made one's bed, hard, it is true, but yet a bed. You always take your rugs with you for covering at night, you put your portmanteau under your head as a pillow, and there you are! You may rely upon one thing. People who, on their return from Palestine, tell you that they had a comfortable trip, have seen nothing of the real life of the country. To do that you must rough it, as I did both at Modin and at Hebron. To return to the latter. The rooms have stone floors and vaulted roofs, the children walk about with wooden shoes, and the pitter-patter makes a pleasant music. They throw off the shoes as they enter the room. My host had been in Hebron for six years, and he told me overnight what I observed for myself next day, that, considering the fearful conditions under which the children live, there is comparatively little sickness. As for providing meals, a genuine communism prevails. You produce your food, your host adds his store, and you partake in common of the feast to which both sides contribute. After a good long talk, I got to sleep easily, thinking, as I dozed off, that I should pass a pleasant night. I had become impervious to the mosquitoes, but there was something else which I had forgotten. Was it a dream, an awful nightmare, or had a sudden descent of Bedouins occurred? Gradually I was awakened by a noise as of wild beasts let loose, howls of rage and calls to battle. It was only the dogs. In Jerusalem I had never heard them, as the Jewish hotel was then well out of the town; it has since been moved nearer in. It is impossible to convey a sense of the terrifying effect produced by one's first experience of the night orgies of Oriental dogs, it curdles your blood to recall it. Seen by daytime, the dogs are harmless enough, as they go about their scavenger work among the heaps of refuse and filth. But by night they are howling demons, stampeding about the streets in mad groups, barking to and at each other, whining piteously one moment, roaring hoarsely and snapping fiercely another.

The dogs did me one service, they made me get up early. I walked through a bluish-gray atmosphere. Colors in Judea are bright, yet there is always an effect as of a thin gauze veil over them. I went, then, into the streets, and at five o'clock the sun was high, and the bustle of the place had begun. The air was keen and fresh, and many were already abroad. I saw some camels start for Jerusalem, laden with straw mats made in Hebron.