Bis

Front matter

■ B I S B I S "BE WELL ADVISED, TELL O'ER THY TALE AGAIN " — Shakespeare by E. GERARD AUTHOR OB' 1 THE LAND BEYOND THE FOREST*; JOINT-AUTHOR OF ' REATA,' ' BEGGAR MY NEIGHBOUR,' ' WATERS OF HERCULES,' ETC. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON JIDCCCXC All Rights reserved PREFATORY NOTE. The Stories "Elias of Blotatyn," "Magda's Cow," and " His Uncle and Her Grandmother," originally appeared in ' Blackwood's Magazine ' between the years 1884 and 1890. " Two Robbers " and " Grey Fur " were published respectively in 1884 and 1887 in 'Longman's Magazine/ with whose editor's kind permission they are now reproduced. E. GEEAED. Vienna, October 1890. CONTENTS. PAGE ELIAS OF BLOTATYN, 1 TWO EOBBEES: A LEGEND, .... 34 MAGDA'S COW, 72 GREY FUR, 186 HIS UNCLE AND HER GRANDMOTHER, . . .241

Chapter I

A N old white-bearded Jew was standing at the •£*- worm-eaten counter of his shop, measuring out coffee-beans into a twisted-up piece of newspaper. His wife, a somewhat bulky woman of forty or thereabouts, was seated near the window, with some needlework in her hands. She was not working at this moment, but, with her head slightly on one side, was critically watching her husband's operations. " Mendele," she said at last, when she had con templated him for some minutes in silence, and had noted how some of the fragrant berries had escaped from their receptacle and were rolling about the dirty brick floor — " Mendele, thou art spilling all the coffee-beans. Thy hand is not as steady as it used to be." In truth, not above a dozen berries had gone astray in the process ; but there was a censorious A emphasis on the word all which caused the old man to start apprehensively.

" Where ? where ? " he inquired nervously, peer ing down through his dingy spectacles. But his eyes had no longer the ferret-like sharpness of youth, and he had some difficulty in distinguishing the tiny truants from the general dust that surrounded them ; and the operation of picking them up was tedious and irksome exceedingly, for his back, like the hand and the eyes, was no longer what it once used to be. Rebecca Bluhdorn made no attempt to assist her husband in his tedious search. With discontented expression she surveyed his proceedings, and as she noted how stiff and how languid his movements had become of late, how torpid his eye, and how unsteady his hand, she shook her head more than once. A very attentive observer might have thought that she was drawing mental comparisons between her aged spouse, and some other member of the male sex, who had sharper eyes, a steadier hand, and a more elastic backbone.

Her reflections, whatever they may have been, were interrupted by the entrance of another cus tomer, a fur-coated peasant, who asked for brandy. The peasant in question had already partaken of considerably more alcohol than was good for him ; for his gait was unsteady, and his utterance was thick and indistinct. It was therefore not surpris ing that Mendele should have mistaken his wishes. " Sugar-candy ? " he repeated, with benevolent alacrity. " Directly — directly." " Brandy ! " screamed Rebecca into his ear. " Mendele, thou art growing stone-deaf." Soon after this two young ladies appeared 011 the scene, with a request for blue sarcenet ribbons ; for Mendele Bliihdorn's trade did not consist merely in spirits and groceries, but his business comprised a draper's department as well, alias a shelf in the back shop, where such luxuries as coarse printed calicoes, faded silk ribbons, flimsy cotton laces, and occasionally a few soiled remnants of real satin or velvet, might be found.

Of late this particular de partment had not been very flourishing, for custom ers rarely found what they wanted, and often went off grumbling to the new shop opposite, kept by a more enterprising Hebrew, whose prices were rather higher to be sure, but who was always able to pro duce stuffs and trimmings exactly like those worn in the capital — two years previously. On this occasion also, Mendele failed to satisfy the fair daughters of the Blotatyn postmaster, who had come to him in quest of azure ribbons wherewith to bind their frizzy curls. First he brought out the box of green ribbons by mistake, and when he did find the right colour at last, the stock proved to have run very low, and of what remained, some ribbons were too broad and others were too narrow, and none of them hit off precisely the exact hue necessary to contrast favour ably with tawny locks, and thereby attract the admiring; attention of the other sex.

In high dudgeon the two damsels flounced out of the shop, only to make place to an incensed cook, who was returning the butter purchased half an hour previously. " Her mistress would have none of it," she roughly explained ; " it was positively rancid — stinking; and he would just be pleased to return the money on the spot." " Mendele," said Rebecca, as soon as the shop was again empty, putting down her work and approach ing her husband, " thou hast not made a single good Gcschclft (bargain) this day ; the trade is going ill." " Not more than usual," said the old man peevish ly. " GescMifts are not to be made every day ; and butter gets rancid from time to time when there are not enough buyers, for March is always a slack sea son with us " " It need not be slack," said Rebecca, persistently ; " nor would the butter be allowed to get rancid, if there were some one who understood how to praise his wares, and knew how to keep a customer from reaching the shop-door.

But it all comes because thou art no longer young, Mendele." " Did I ever say that I was young ? " exclaimed the husband ; and as he said it, the word " young " had a strange foreign sound in his ears, and there came over him a sort of indistinct feeling that he never had known what it was to be young. In truth, Mendele Bluhdorn never had been young : there had not been either time or oppor tunity for his youth to develop. His whole life from thirteen to sixty-nine had been lived out within the grimy walls of his dingy shop, where strings of dried figs and of toadstools, smoked fish, and tallow candles in bunches, hung in picturesque medley from the rafters, and where jars of salted butter, sugar-candy, and lollipops stood ranged beside bottles containing various-coloured and various-flavoured wddki or spirits.

This shop was Mendele Bliihdorn's whole world ; and looking back now upon his long life, he could scarcely have found a reminiscence that was uncon nected, or so to say unflavoured, with rancid butter or tallow-dips. At the age when eyes are usually bright and cheeks are rosy, Mendele's eyes had long since become as dull as those of the pickled herrings in the barrel, and his complexion as pasty as the tal low candles which he sold. He hardly seemed aware that there was another world outside his world, or that there were other perfumes beyond the aromas of salt fish and potent cheeses. For the last twenty years of his life Mendele Bluhdorn had never quitted his dwelling, save to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath ; and as this build ing stood but a few doors off from his own, the circle in which he moved was very narrow indeed.

Rebecca was his second wife ; and the children she had brought him, as well as those of his first marriage, were all suitably provided for — some by matrimony, others by death. Rebecca was twenty-seven years younger than her husband ; and she had of late often reminded him of this circumstance. To-day she was more than usually persistent in harping upon the subject. " In fact," she went on, after a pause, " thou art getting old, Mendele ; it is time to be thinking of thine age at last." " Everybody gets old some time or other," replied Mendele, wearily ; " and thinking about it will not mend the matter anywise." The old Jew would fain have closed the subject by absorbing himself in the rearrangement of a drawer of washing-starch ; but his Rebecca had resolved that he should both speak and think further of the matter to-day, for she was of opinion that very much indeed could be mended thereby, so she said — "Thou wast sixty-nine last November, Mendele; remember what the Prophet says ?

" " There have been a sight of prophets, and they have all of them said many things one way and another," said Mendele, rather testily. " How should I know which of them thou art meaning just now ? " " ' Thy days shall be threescore and ten,' " pro nounced Rebecca, in an oracular tone of voice. There being no answer to this encouraging state ment, she repeated still more emphatically — " Three score and ten." " Well ? " said Mendele, as nothing in the way of repartee occurred to him. " And so it is time to detach thyself from this nether earth, where thou art no longer needed, and proceed to prepare thyself for a better world." " I am never missing from the synagogue on the Sabbath," said the husband, in surprise, " and I keep all the feasts as directed ; how else should I prepare ? " But Rebecca evidently took a much higher view of the septuagenarian's duties.

" That is not sufficient," she explained. " When a man has almost reached the prescribed term of life, every day, every hour should be a preparation for what must then be close at hand. Remember that it is said, ' Man knoweth not the day of his departure.' " " But I cannot sit with folded hands till the Malacli Hamoves (Angel of Death) appears to sum mon me," he answered. " How should I ? I have the shop to mind." " That is just it : thou shouldst give up the .shop, shake thyself free from all such sordid cares un worthy of a man who will shortly repose in Abraham's bosom." " Give up the shop ! " gasped Mendele. " Gird up thy loins, anoint thy brow, and take thy staff in thy hand," went on Rebecca, developing the plan she had conceived, with inspired pathos ; " and pilger thus to the hallowed land where our forefathers rest.

Near to the valley of Jehoshaphat, where on the great day all men shall be called to gether, await the sounding of the angel's trumpet. There, at the place where Solomon once dwelt in all his splendour, what more fitting employment can be found for thy few remaining clays than in weeping over the departed glory of Israel ? " " To Jerusalem ! " exclaimed Mendele, aghast at the boldness of his wife's suggestion. " I should go to Jerusalem ? " " Yes, to Jerusalem," said Eebecca, relieved that the decisive word which had so long been hovering on her lips was spoken at last. " Why not go to Jerusalem ? Scores of holy men have gone thither to end their days, and have found there consolation and peace." " But the shop ? " objected Mendele, still very much bewildered. " How can I leave the shop ? " " It will have to be left at any rate before long ; what matters doing so a few days sooner 1 " said his persistent consort.

" But thou canst not keep it alone," said the husband, helplessly. " How should I leave thee alone, Rebecca, my soul ? " But his " soul " answered drily that Jehovah cared for the widows and orphans, and that her faith was strong, and she was willing to put her trust in Providence. " Besides," she added, as an after-thought, " I know of a young man who would be willing to take the place of shopman." The entrance of fresh customers put an end to the discussion for the moment ; but while serving out lump-sugar, or measuring yards of calico, the old Jew felt as though he were in a dream. It seemed as though a large bell had got into his head and was ringing incessantly, " Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! go to Jerusalem ! "

Chapter II

The subject once broached bjr the enterprising Rebecca, was not allowed to be dropped again. She returned to the charge so often and so persistently that she gradually accustomed her submissive spouse to accept her suggestion as an irrevocable decision. Soon it became no longer a question of " Wilt thou go to Jerusalem ? " but of " When art thou going to start ? " And so it came to be decided that, as soon as winter was quite over and spring had set in, Mendele Bluhdorn was to start off on his long journey. When he had once signified his assent to the proposed arrangement, and when his resolution had been made public, Mendele began to experience a sort of foretaste of the celestial joys in store for him. Hitherto he had played no particular part in his native place, nor even in his own family.

Both his wives had been stronger-minded than himself, and had henpecked him accordingly. Also, although a fairly intelligent shopman and more than a match for any Christian customer, he had never shone in any particular capacity. There were wiser Jews, and wittier Jews, and Jews who cheated better, and others who had a greater reputation of sanotity in the place ; whereas Mendele had always been con sidered to be just a commonplace, average Jew. It was true that his trade had not improved of late, and Rebecca's insinuations that he had made better bargains at forty than at sixty-nine were not absolutely without foundation. Perhaps it was that his faculties, along with some of his wares, had gathered mildew in all these long years. He had grown accustomed to hear himself called Bchcimo (stupid-head) by his sharper-witted wife, and scarcely resented this epithet.

Now, however, all this was altered. Mendele was changed, or perhaps the change was in the inhabit ants of Blotatyn, for they looked at him with different eyes. What had been slowness before had now become dignity, and what had seemed to them like stupidity was but the lofty indifference of an immortal soul on the edge of the grave ; in fact, though still actually clothed in ragged lea/tan and slipshod slippers, Men dele Bluhdorn was already invested in the supernat ural glory of halo and wings, and regarded in the light of a disembodied spirit. Virtues which no one had hitherto discovered in him were now brought to light, and lament was made over the decease of so just a man. The widow in spe received visits of condo lence from the best Hebrew families of the place. All this was naturally very sweet to Mendele Bliihdorn, for he was enjoying a privilege which is given to few mortals — namely, to stand beside their open graves and hear all the fine things which are said of them.

He therefore soon fell gracefully into his part of disembodied spirit, and admiringly thought what a clever woman was his Rebecca to have had such a grand idea. It almost made him forget the many years in which she had had nothing but sour faces and sharp words for him. Now her words were like sugar and honey, and her face like a smiling full moon. On one occasion, however, she thought it seemly to drop a few tears over the approaching separation ; but she never repeated this experiment, for the soft-hearted Mendele, overcome by the sight of her distress, was nearly relinquishing his pious project, which had the effect of instantly drying her tears and causing her to exclaim — " No, no, Mendele ; far be it from me to oppose thy holy wish. Go in peace, and the God of Abra ham will console me in my lonely widowhood."

The young man who had so obligingly signified his willingness to step into Mendele Bliihdorn's shoes was already installed as a member of the household, in order to be initiated into the mysteries of the trade before the old man's departure. His name was Golde Safran, and he had a fresh colour and flaming red curls. From the very outset he displayed an extraordinary genius for shopkeeping. He rearranged the little window in a totally new fashion, with a most effective pattern of raisins and almonds in the centre, framed in by alternate bars of white and brown soap ; and he bullied the peasants and flattered the town damsels with equal success. No peasant was ever allowed to leave the shop with out having purchased at least twice as much wddki as he had originally intended to do ; and when the ladies did not find what they came to seek, Golde Safran was sure to make them take something else in its stead.

His system was about as follows : If, for instance, a customer inquired for red pepper, he would answer briskly, " Red pepper, madam ? Well, not precisely red pepper, but we have first-rate French chocolate and the finest bottled capers ; with which shall I serve you ? " In the same way he sent away peasants in search of blue calico, furnished with scarlet knitting-wool, and shoe-blacking was made a successful substitute for tooth-brushes. Mendele Bliihdorn therefore saw that he could go to heaven with an easy mind, for his widow's pros pects were fairly secured. It was on a fine April afternoon that Mendele left his native town en route for Paradise, vid Jerusalem. When the hour of parting drew near, his heart al most failed him, and it wanted but the shadow of an excuse to make him draw back at the eleventh hour.

He looked round the dingy little shop where all his life had been spent, and he felt himself strangely moved as he thought that he should never see it again. That bunch of tallow-dips which he had hung up with his own hands, he would never take it down again ; he should not see the end of that large Swiss cheese. He looked down into the barrel con taining salt herrings. Only a few of them remained at the bottom of the cask, for the supply always ran low at this season. The flattened fish seemed to gaze up at him with a mournful expression in their salt encrusted eyes, and to say to him, "Never again, Mendele ! — never again ! " But his faltering resolution was not given the chance of a loophole of escape ; not for one moment was he allowed to forget that he already belonged to a better world.

With pious alacrity all the arrangements for his departure were pushed through. Even before the appointed hour he found all his friends assembled before his door, to give him their conduct as far as the nearest toll-bar ; for, like most fervent pilgrims, Mendele was to perform the greatest part of his journey on foot. It was now the end of April, and it was calculated that by midsummer he would be able without over-fatigue to reach his destination. The spring had been late in coming that year, and the roads were by no means dry as yet. The Jews, who had all donned their best kaftans in Mendele's honour, had to lift up their skirts, while with slip pered feet they sought to pick their way daintily through the mire. It was a stately procession thus assembled to cele brate the funeral of a living man.

All those who had been Mendele's friends during his life, were now anxious to give him a last mark of goodwill ; and most of those who had not been his friends before, wished to give expression to the sentiment that all former malice and bad-will must vanish like smoke in the presence of Death, As when engaged in their devotions, every Jew was muffled in his black and silver tales or death scarf, and foremost in the procession walked the chief rabbi, murmuring prayers for the dying as he dodged about the road from side to side in a zigzag fash ion, trying to avoid the worst pools and the deepest mud. As in the synagogue, too, women were excluded from the ceremony, not even the interesting widow was admitted to the ranks. She walked at a little distance behind the others, and the fresh-coloured young man with the flaming ringlets lent her the support of his arm.

In this manner the toll-bar was reached, and the last words of prayer, blessing, and farewell were spoken. All crowded round Mendele to wish him a long farewell, and many of them kissed his hand or the hem of his garment. All were anxious to do honour to this holy man who was shortly to repose in Abraham's bosom. It was decidedly the most triumphant moment in Mendele Bluhdorn's life ; he felt like Elias going up to heaven, and the soft muddy road seemed to his touch like clouds beneath his feet ! This ecstatic frame of mind lasted for some twenty minutes, during which Mendele Bliihdorn walked on alone slowly but steadily. The road led slightly uphill, and, unaccustomed as he was to walking, the progress he made was but slow. When he had reached the top of the incline, he was obliged to pause to recover breath ; and leaning on his oaken staff, Mendele turned and looked back a last time towards his native town.

Never, since he could remember, had he been thus far outside his birthplace, so that the sight of it seen collectively, made up as it were into a picture before his eyes, struck him with a sort of surprise. It was all at once strange and familiar to him. Down there on the road, which slanted away from where he stood, he could still descry the black-robed figures of the brethren who had assisted at his funeral procession : hardly larger than black beetles they appeared at this distance, but the silver stripes of their death-scarves still glittered in the rays of the setting sun. The peaceful lake looked vividly blue, and the brick walls of the soldiers' barracks gleamed burning red in the evening glow. The old Hebrew burying-ground, where five of his children reposed, he could also see as he stood ; it lay framed in a garland of pollard -willow trees, which shimmered with the tender green of early spring.

There, too, his father and grandfather lay buried : they had both died in the prime of life, before there could have been any question of going to Jerusalem. Then Mendele examined the streets and houses of the little town, and tried to make out his own little shop. But he failed to distinguish it, for the overtowering wall of the neighbouring synagogue had already hidden it from sight. Then Mendele Bliihdorn felt his blear old eyes grow suddenly dim, and the whole picture grew blurred and indistinct; and he turned and went down the hill on the other side, walking on and on and ever onward, with his face towards the east.

Chapter III

Mendele halted to rest the first night at a neighbouring village whose name was familiar to him, and there he found ready hospitality among his Hebrew brethren. The following night he rested at other villages whose names were less familiar, but where also, as soon as his errand was known, he was treated with every mark of deference and respect. Sometimes he got a lift in a cart a few miles along the road, but in general he walked, out of economical as well as pious reasons. At first his limbs were cramped from long disuse, and he advanced but slowly. Two hours was the utmost limit of what he could manage, and he was forced to rest frequently on the way. But hardly had he been a week on his journey, when he could accomplish twice that distance without any incon venience ; and the further he advanced, in the same proportion did he feel his pedestrian powers growing on him.

His appetite became voracious, and was no longer to be satisfied by a mere crust of bread sea soned with garlic ; and Mendele often thought that it was lucky that Eebecca was not there to control his rations. The wind which swept across the country, snapping off rotten twigs and blowing away last year's dead leaves, seemed likewise to be blowing all sorts of dust and cobwebs out of his brain, leaving his head clearer than it had ever been before. His eyesight, too, which had weakened so much of late in the stuffy atmosphere of the grocer's shop, now underwent a similar improvement, and long, long before Mendele had reached the gates of the holy city, he had put his spectacles in his pocket. Another man would probably have chucked his eye-glasses into the nearest river, in the excess of his joy at finding a lost sense suddenly restored to him ; but Mendele was a Jew — and no Jew, even when standing on the edge of the grave, ever throws anything away.

And his eyes saw many things which were new and strange to him, all of which came upon him like revelations. For several days his road lay through a mighty beech-forest, and Mendele had never been in a forest before. There were no woods round Blotatyn ; and even had there been, it was not likely that Mendele should ever have thought of visiting them. This forest was a very wonderful place indeed. It was just now waking up from its long winter sleep, and there was an exuberance of bursting life in every direction. Pink and blue hepaticas, anemones and violets, golden crocuses and pale snowdrops were sprouting on the forest carpet, pushing aside or pierc ing through the withered leaves in their impatience to reach the surface. Every tree and bush was covered with myriads of tender green buds, all swelling and bursting under the sun's warm kiss.

Delicately fretted lady-ferns and crimped hart's-tongues were uncoiling their dainty fronds in the forest glades, and the rich layers of moss which coated the granite rocks had passed from bronze to bright emerald green. Mendele bent down to test its quality between his fingers. He had never seen velvet of this sort before. " Four florins a yard, at the very least," he mur mured, in wondering admiration. " Ah, if I had only had velvet like this in the shop at home, what a splendid profit I might have made ! " He fell into a gentle reverie, till some new wonder claimed his attention. Not only the vegetable but also the animal world was waking up to life within the forest. Eed-coated squirrels were leaping from branch to branch, startled hares and timid roe-deer ran to and fro across the path, weasels and badgers peeped out at Mendele from their holes, spotted snakes and lizards were creeping out cautiously from their winter hiding places, pale-yellow butterflies had burst from their shrouding cocoons, bumble-bees and large blue-bottle flies buzzed noisily through the air.

Every bird and beast, every insect and reptile, was busy preparing its nest or its lair, and the joyful music which waked the forest echoes, all spoke of life and resurrection to this old man who was walking towards his grave. Now that he was on his way to leave the world, the old Jew began for the first time to realise what life really was, and how many different kinds of life there are. In bending aside a branch of flowery hawthorn which crossed his path, Mendele saw a tiny round nest containing four dazzling white eggs. " Just like the finest blanched almonds, eighty-five kreutzers a lb.," was his admiring verdict. And many other pictures he saw as his journey advanced ; for now his direction had changed, and led him southward through strange countries of B which he had not even heard. He passed through narrow mountain-gorges, where the rocks were piled up so high that he could hardly catch a glimpse of the blue sky above ; and then he came on to vast plains, whose monotony, as far as the eye could reach, was unbroken by either tree or stone, and where fierce-looking shepherds, with their large wolf-like dogs, were guarding their flocks of ragged sheep.

And stranger figures yet came in his way : men with gaudy turbans on their heads, and embroidered scarves round their waists ; and women whose faces were shrouded behind floating veils. And as he advanced still further, there were wild troops of horsemen, whose speed was like that of the whistling wind beside them, and who hurled their shining javelins through the air as they hunted the light - footed gazelle or the wild goat of the plains. As he approached his journey's end, Mendele Bliihdorn saw many things which bore familiar names, but whose appearance was strange to him. In the stately trees, laden with swelling fruit, be neath which he sometimes paused to rest, how could he recognise the tasteless figs which he had only seen, dry and dusty, strung upon cord, and hanging in musty festoons from the rafters of his little shop ?