Zigzag journeys in the Levant, with a Talmudist storyteller

Front matter

J .

The Zigzag Series.

BY

Preface

T is one aim of this volume to amuse and entertain. But the writer has a deeper purpose in this book, and in all the books of this series. It is to interest young people in history and heroic records, and especially in the present political history of the countries to which the journeys are supposed to be made.

Young people should be made intelligent about the politics of other lands. The writer has endeavored to give, in this volume, as clear a view as possible of the present aspects of the Eastern questions, and of the governments of the countries of the Levant ; so that when a young reader of the book shall see telegrams from the East in regard to political movements, he may better understand them, and be able to follow current history as it shall be recorded by the telegraph.

A like aim underlies the stories and narratives of all this series of books, — to lay the foundation for better reading, for a broader political intelligence.

The writer is indebted to Mrs. Andrews, of Hamilton, N. Y., for the descriptive parts of the two chapters on Greece.

H. B.

Contents

Chapter Page

I, Old Ali Bedair 15

II. Some Curious Stories 31

Chapter I. Old Ali Bedair

The Jewish Interpreter.

"f

MM f^~X'^'''''"^lU THE autumn of i88- Charlie Leland, one of the M members of the Zigzag Club, was in London. ■ I He had gone there with his father, a Boston merj| chant, who had become a nervous sufferer byprolonged application to business. Physicians had recommended to Mr. Leland an immediate change of scene ; and he had suddenly left for London, taking Charlie with him.

Charlie greatly loved his father's companionship. The friendship between fathers and sons is a pleasing feature of Boston life. It is not an uncommon thing for a Boston boy to choose his own father for his confidential companion and most intimate friend.

Mr. Leland and his son might often have been seen taking arm-inarm walks into the beautiful suburbs of Boston, — over the Mill Dam road, or into the cool woods of the fenceless Roxbury Park, or making late summer excursions into that miniature Rocky Mountain region known as Middlesex Fells.

In London, the two were constantly together. In the mornings they visited the art galleries, and in the afternoons often went to Regent Park, or Hyde Park and Rotten Row, or, when the weather was warm, read the London journals on the hospitable benches of St. James's Park. Sometimes they went to Sydenham Palace, and often to suburban places made famous by history or poetry.

They often passed a part of the evening at the American Exchange, in reading the American journals, of which few reading-rooms in the United States have so large a supply.

One night, as they were sitting together here, an aged man entered the room in Oriental costume ; and his benevolent face and somewhat peculiar habits attracted the attention of both father and son. The Oriental visitor — for such he seemed to be — took no notice of the papers that covered the tables and walls of the room, but went to one of the windows and gazed abstractedly into the gas-lighted air, and towards the luminous windows of Charing Cross Hotel.

The streets, like rivers, were pouring a vast population into the Strand, — people seeking various halls, churches, and places of amusement. The old man watched the gay forms as they passed ever on and on, coming out of the night and vanishing into the night. The street was filled with cabs and hansoms, crowded 'buses and eleo^ant private vehicles. Near by the bells of St. Martin's were striking ; but the happy hearts on the street were only made lighter by the musical notes that marked the passing of time.

The entrance to the Strand on an autumn eveniuGf is a tide of

o

human life. The scene must have been strange to Oriental eyes ; all the overflow of gayety, prosperity, and splendor. The old man's gaze seemed riveted on the kaleidoscope ; a half-hour passed, the bell of St. Martin's struck again, but he did not move.

Mr. Leland, having finished his reading of the Boston papers received by the latest steamer, went to the windov*^ where the old ip»ll|ippppBpiIS!i f lllliiH^^^^^^^

OLD ALT BEDAIR.

man \Vas standing, and looked for a time at the hundreds of vehicles passing by Charing Cross.

" A beautiful night," said Mr. Leland.

" Night," answered the old man, in pure English, — " night ! There is no night here, — the people have banished the night of God, — no sky, no stars. Night visits the desert, night visits the sea ; the people here never see the night. Come to Cairo and I will show you the night, and read to you the poetry of the night." " You are from the East ? "

" Yes, from the East ; and you? "

" From America."

" America, — so far away, so far away. I have travelled with Americans. Good people, — Americans ! I love Americans."

He touched his heart, and turned towards the door, saying, — " So far away."

A few days after, while Mr. Leland and Charlie were visiting, it may be for the twentieth time, the Turner pictures in the National Gallery, the same old man appeared. He passed them without noticing them at first; but on slowly recrossing the room, he recognized Mr. Leland, and saluted him by a wave of the hand. He then bent his dark eyes on Charlie, and his face lighted up with such a smile of good will that the boy's face responded in sympathy. The old man waved his hand again, this time to Charlie ; then moved on, saying, —

"So far away."

" What a benevolent face ! " said Charlie to his father. " I wish I knew him. There is something about him that interests me, and that I like."

A week passed. One morning Mr. Leland and Charlie went into Westminster Abbey, and wandered almost alone among the chapels of dead heroes, benefactors, and kings.

They stopped before the Wesley tablets, and read the inscriptions.

" ' God buries his servants, but his work goes on ! ' " said Mr. Leland, repeating meditatively what he had just been reading. " I did not expect to find a memorial of the Wesleys here. The founders of Methodism were excluded in their day from fellowship with the English church, and their name^j are now made to ornament the Abbey. Truly, 'they that turn many to righteousness — ' "' " ' Shall shine as the stars,' " said a voice, like an echo. Mr. Leland turned. Near him stood the figure of the old Oriental, his face beaming with pleasure.

He waved his hand. " I am glad that thou lovest the poetry of the prophets," he said.

He waved his hand to Charlie, his face again lighting up wnth an amiable smile. There was a burst of organ music ; and the old man turned slowly towards another part of the Abbey, saying, as before, — " So far away."

Mr. Leland and Charlie sat down to listen to the organ. "I have read many books," said Charlie, "about the kings who are buried here." Then referring to memorials like the Wesleys', he added : " I wish some one would write a book about the benefactors whose names are here, and who crowned themselves kings of men by the struggles of their own lives. I am more impressed by these memorials than by anything else I have seen. The tombs of the kings in comparison seem to me to be only stone, dust, and rubbish." " Deeds are the true crown of life," said Mr. Leland. " Let us go and look again at the Coronation Stone," said Charlie.

The stone was set into the frame of the throne chair. Mr. Leland and Charlie stood looking upon it with the doubt with which most Americans are accustomed to view legendary relics. A light, slow footstep was heard on the stone floor, and the sound betrayed the approach of the odd Oriental figure that they had met before. The old man said to a custodian, —

EGYPTIAN GAKUKN AND TEMPLE.

OLD A LI BEDALR. 23

" Jacob's ? "

The doughty custodian bobbed his head.

A beautiful Hght came into the old man's face.

" Adam's ? "

The doughty Englishman shook his head with an expression of diso^ust.

"Jacob's 'ead laid on that stone when he dreamed of the ladder of angels," said the custodian.

" That stone was twelve stones once," said the old man. " The twelve stones were the altar of Adam."

" Adam ! " said the amazed custodian, having never before heard such a great antiquity attributed to the relic.

" Abel offered his sacrifice upon them," said the old man. " And," he added, " Abraham made his altar of them."

"Look 'ere! you are a Jew!" said the fat little Englishman. " My conscience is not quite easy when I tell people that that is the stone where Jacob saw the vision," he said to Mr. Leland ; " and 'ere comes a man who says the stone is as old as Adamr

" The twelve stones became a single pillow when Jacob laid his head upon them," said the old man, reverently.

Charlie could see no evidences of such an assimilation, and even the custodian had never observed any latent marks of the alleged miraculous transformation.

" May I ask you who you are ? " said the custodian to the old man.

" They call me the Talmudist, — Ali Bedair. I am an interpreter, and travel with parties in the East."

The old man moved slowly away, with a gentle sweep of his hand to Charlie, whose eyes followed him.

" A character," said the custodian to Mr. Leland. " London is full of characters, especially Jewry."

A service had commenced in the Abbey. The seats were partly filled with people with prayer-books. In one of the seats were four

American young ladies, returning to America from Italy by the wav of London.

Mr. Leland and Charlie took a seat behind them.

The young ladies seemed devoutly given to their prayer-books, as strangers would be expected to be under the inspirations of the solemn Abbey. The music was almost celestial ; the surpliced choir rose and disappeared, like a vision ; the ancient liturgy was echoed from the tombs of scores of silent poets, and a hundred princes, and all the kings. The devotion of the young ladies to their books was absorbing. The service closed.

" There," said one of the ladies, " I have read all this book says, and now I am ready for the sights."

" I 've read mine," said the second. " Mine is Baedeker's. What is yours } "

" Murray's," said the third.

" Mine is the ' London Guide Book,' " said the fourth.

" We have n't lost any time, have we } " said the first.

"fNo! " thankfully answered the other three.

" This is a queer world," said Mr. Leland.

" Let us go," said Charlie. " I am ashamed of our own people ; but I wish I could meet that old Jew again. There is something I like about him, — he interests me, I cannot tell how or why. He seems like a poet, like a patriarch, like a wise man of an Arabian story. What is a Talmudist ? "

Mr. Leland was unable to say. The meeting of a Talmudist in London was an unexpected episode, and one for which none of the guide-books had made any provision.

" Do you think that we shall see him again } " asked Charlie.

" I do not know."

" If we do, I am sure that we shall know him."

" Yes, quite sure," said Mr. Leland, with a smile. " I should be likely to know him anywhere."

OLD A LI BED AIR.

The gray weeks of late November and early December passed. London grew cold and dark; and Mr. Leland decided to go South, and spend the January and February of the new year in a brighter and warmer atmosphere. Where? Nice was thought of ; Majorca was discussed ; Rome, Naples, Amalfi. Then the Levant presented its vision of grand antiquities. Mr. Leland preferred Nice ; but Charlie was eager for a boat or tent journey in the lands of the rising sun, down the Nile to Thebes, or from Egypt over the track of the Israelites to Jerusalem, and thence to Damascus, the most ancient city in the world.

Days were passed in indecision. Charlie became accustomed to greet his father each morning with the question, —

" Is it the Levant } "

The lands of the Levant are properly those that lie upon and stretch away from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the lands of the sunrise ; but these comprise territories so important and historic that the word Levant has come to be applied to the entire East.

Christmastide came. London became white and green ; the air was full of bells, and the churches of music.

" Is it the Levant ? " said Charlie to his father one day soon after Christmas.

" If I could secure good travelling companions, it would be the Levant.

I learned," he added, " a curious matter yesterday from the card-writer in

the Charing Cross Hotel. It will interest you. You remember the old Jew, — the Talmudist ? "

" That we met in Westminster Abbey and at other places ? "

THE MODE OF OBEISANXE.

28 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IX THE lEVANT.

" Yes. Well, it has been his business for years to accompany English travellers from Cairo to Jerusalem by the way of the Sinai Peninsula. I wish we could meet him again. He has a good reputation for character, amiability, and intelligence."

New Year's eve came. Early in the evening Mr. Leland and Charlie went to a service in the Methodist chapel at Bunhiil Fields, where the pioneers of Methodism had preached ; and they here visited John Wesley's house, which is close to the chapel.

Late in the evening they took a cab for London Bridge, and were left there to hear the bells of the city at midnight announce the New Year.

It was a glorious night. The weather had become mild, after some days of severe cold. The moon was mirrored in the Thames, the gray towers were illumined with a mystic light, and • the streets overflowed with people.

At midnight all the bells of the city rang out over the great wilderness of homes, as Tennyson has voiced them in " In Memoriam." While all the air was thus throbbing with joyful music, a bent form slowly passed Mr. Leland, then paused.

" Beautiful," said the old man, — " beautiful ; but sweeter to my ears would have been the bells upon the hem of the ephod, or even the tinkling of the camel's bell. Is it not beautiful ? "

Mr. Leland and Charlie had again met the Jew; and the three walked in company, in the early morning of the New Year, towards Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. When Mr. Leland parted from the old man he said to Charlie, —

" It is the Levant."

The next day Charlie cabled home: ''The Levant — Egypt — Pales tine r

CHAPTER 11.

SOME CURIOUS STORIES.

PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS FROM THE TALMUD.

LELAND and Charlie had taken rooms at the old Golden Cross Hotel, near Trafalgar Square.

Close by was the Charing Cross Hotel, in itself a city of people from all civilized lands. Ali Bedair had apartments, not in Old Jewry, but here; and on parting from the Lelands at the foot of the Nelson Statue on New Year's morning, he graciously said, — " I hope my friends from the West will do me the honor to call upon me. I shall be glad to tell you about the Eastern journey that you propose to make. I wish I might accompany you." He added to Chaijie, —

" If it be in your heart to visit an old man like me, I should be glad to welcome you. I once had a son. — My card."

The old man's invitation was accepted by Mr. Leland and Charlie

for the next evening In the mean time Mr. Leland made it his busi-

ness to learn as much as possible about his new Oriental acquaintance.

Ali Bedair was well known among lovers of Eastern travel in

London. All who had met him commended him.

" He is a mysterious old man of a most beautiful spirit," said one. " He has the heart of a woman and the mind of a poet," said another.

" He is the loveliest old man that I ever knew in any land," said a lady of rank who had travelled wnth him.

" Ali Bedair is a story-teller," said a fourth. " He knows the Talmud by heart, and all the old legends and traditions of the East, whether Jewish or Mohammedan. Speak to him of any patriarch or prophet, and he will relate stories of him of which few Christian people have ever heard; untrue they may be, — fables, — but most beautifully true in the lessons of life and duty that they teach. It is worth making a journey to listen to the stories of Ali Bedair."

Mr. Leland and Charlie found the old Jew in a simple room, that contrasted strangely with the general brightness and sumptuousness of the hotel palace. He received his visitors most graciously. Turning up the gas-light, he said, —

" A sinofle liofht answers as well for three men as for one, and for a hundred. Praise the Lord ! My rooms are simple," he added. " But the place honors not the man, but the man the place. I would /were worthier."

An hour or more was spent in conversation about journeys from Egypt through Syria. Ali Bedair's information seemed inexhaustible, and his descriptions of places were most vivid and glowing. His attention for a time was wholly given to Mr. Leland. Then suddenly turning to Charlie, he said, —

" Pardon me, my son, I forget. ' Be affable to the young,' says a wise man. Shall you go with us, if we go ? "

" It is my desire and ambition to go with you," said Charlie, warmly.

" I am glad to hear you say that, my son. I have tried as well as I could to answer your fatlier's questions. Can I render a like service to you ? I would be glad to do something for you."

He put his hand over his heart, and the simple words and gesture did not seem to be insincere. Charlie's affections were strongly drawn towards the gracious old man.

" There is one question I would like to ask," he said, " if it will not seem to you intrusive or personal. You said in the Abbey that you were a Talimtdist. Father was not quite able to explain to me what a Talmudist is. Will you tell me?"

" That is an unexpected question," said the old man. " I would rather take another time to answer it. But the wise men say, ' Use thy beautiful vase to-day, for to-morrow it may break.'

" The Talmud is a commentary on the truths of the Scriptures, with illustrations of those truths in both history and fable. It is, or was, the oral law of our people, the collected wise thoughts of our nation for a thousand years. It comprises books of our history and traditions ; it contains the sayings of our holiest and most learned men. It is a book of truths that men have learned by experience, and that time has proven to be true.

" The Talmud says to young men and to students like yourself : ' Add to your studies a trade, if you would keep your life free from sin.' This is wisdom and truth, but it does not claim direct spiritual inspiration as does a verse from the Sacred Scriptures. Do you see .f*

" The Talmud began with a record of the thoughts and experiences of wise men. It was preserved by the Schools of the Prophets, and each generation added to it new thoughts, proverbs, and illustrations. It was greatly used by the teachers in our synagogues. It was finally arranged in order and transcribed by Rabbi Judah and his sons, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus; and as such we find it to-day, though other rabbis have made additions to it. I will give you illustrations of it from time to time, should we travel together, which may God permit."

It was a lovely night. The statue of Nelson, which was seen from the high windows, seemed lifted into the sky from Trafalgar Square, and the clouds drifted white in the blue dome above it.

Ali Bedair sat by the window, and the night seemed to fill him with the spirit of his race and its ancient traditions. It was wonderful

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.

to listen to his quotations, his wit, and his fables. Charlie, impelled towards him by sympathy, drew his chair close to his.

" Tell me some of the ancient stories of Jewish people that are not found in the Scriptures," said Charlie.

" Shall they be true tales from the Talmud, or poetry? "

" Poetry."

" I do not mean verse, but allegory. Do you see ? "

Story followed story, the old man selecting from Oriental traditions such as he thought' that Charlie would most like to hear.

ABEL'S SHEPHERD-DOG.

Cain was a tiller of the ground, and brother Abel was a pastor, of sheep.

The life of Abel was simple and pure, and was passed in the land of Adamah, where flowers from the "^P''^^-

He was attended in h pastoral duties by a shepherd dog, to whom he was always kind, and who became very much y, - '.. attached to his /^^fc?£^ master -p-^

THE DOG WATCHING ABEL'S BODY

One day, Adam said to Cain and Abel : " My sons, ascend the mountain, and offer up sacrifices to the Ruler of the Earth and Heavens."

SOME CURIOUS STORIES.

Abel took from his flock his best sheep, and ascended to the mountain altar. Cain took a sheaf of corn, and one that was imperfect and useless.

The heavenly fire fell upon the offering of Abel, and the smoke mingled with the sky, but the sheaf of Cain remained untouched.

Jealousy, like an evil spirit, entered into the heart of Cain.

One day, Cain found Abel asleep on the mountain, with his dog by his side. Cain took a stone and dashed it against his head. He saw that he had killed his brother, and hurried away.

^ ^ ^(^ ,Y ^ ____ ~ PLAIN AND OBELISK OF HELIOPOLTS.

The shepherd dog watched by the dead body of Abel as it lay still and cold upon the mountain side beneath the shadowy sun and the pitiful stars.

The body was discovered at last by Adam and Eve. The latter sat down beside it and wept. It was the first time that they had met Death in the world, and they knew not what to do.

A dark raven flew into a tree near them. He saw them weeping and pitied them. The raven had met Death before them ; his mate had just died.

Then the raven said : "I will comfort Adam, and teach him how to hide the cause of his sorrow from the eye of day."

The raven dropped down from the tree in the sight of the sorrowful parents, and dug a hole in the earth. To this he presently brought the dead form of his mate, and covered it with earth.

Then said Adam to Eve : " We will do the same with Abel."

So they covered the form of Abel with earth, and blessed the dark raven

who had taught them the lesson.

The raven was rewarded. From that day the raven has never asked Heaven

for rain without bringing the world that blessing. The dog, as then, has ever

proved the most faithful friend of man.

PATRIARCHAL LEGENDS.

Shem, the son of Noah, became King of Salem. One day, one of the Patriarchs said to him, —

" What service did you and your father and brethren render to God while you were in the ark .'' "

"Charity," answered the king.

" How } " asked the Patriarch ; " there was no one in the ark but yourselves."

" Even so ; but we showed charity to the animals."

" How ? "

" By kindness and attention. We sometimes did not sleep at night in order to make their condition comfortable."

The Patriarch expressed surprise.

" Once," continued the king, " when we had been delayed in feeding the beasts, a hungry lion sprung upon Noah, my father, and bit him."

"Then," said the Patriarch, "Noah was indeed a righteous man, if his charity extended to the dumb animals, and he bore with patience the injuries that their ignorance inflicted upon him. I will henceforth be more charitable to the poor, the wanderers, and the wayfarers."

A Patriarch searched for a grove and a fountain of water. When he found such a place, he built there a guest-house.

When a beggar or a traveller came to the guest-house hungry, he gave him meat and fruits ; and when thirsty, he gave him water from the fountain.

" I thank thee," the guest would say to the Patriarch.

" Thank the Master. I am only a servant."

" Who is the Master ? "

" The All-Merciful."

" How shall I worship him .? "

'* By returning thanks for all that he has done."

, ' /// , 1'.

THE COURTSHIP OF JOSEPH.

The patriarch Joseph not only had a very tender heart, but he looked on the bright and hopeful side of all human concerns.

When he and his aged father met, they embraced and kissed each other.

"Now," said Jacob, "tell me, I pray thee, what evil thy brothers did unto thee when they betrayed and sold thee."

" Nay, my father," said Joseph, " let me tell thee only how good the Lord was to me."

The wife of Joseph was Asenath, a daughter of a Priest of the Sun. In her girlhood she was wonderfully beautiful. She dwelt in a tower ten stories high, surrounded by palm gardens, and she had everything that heart could desire.

She was an idol-worshipper. In her tower were idols of gold and silver to which she daily paid her devotions. But the beautiful Asenath had never been allowed to see a young man ; so she ignorantly declared that she disliked the race of men, except only her father.

One day Joseph came to visit the old priest. He was seated in one of Pharaoh's chariots. The chariot was of solid gold, and was drawn by four white horses, with gilded reins.

Joseph was dressed in a tunic of gold, with a mantle of crimson. There was a fillet of gold about his temples, and he carried an olive branch in his hands.

When Asenath saw him she thought a sun god had come out of the brightness of the sky. She dared not look upon so much beauty, and she hastened to her chamber.

Now Joseph, before that he saw Asenath, had shunned the company of women.

Then said Joseph to the Priest of the Sun, —

" Where is the maiden who was here just now } "

" My lord, she has gone to her tower ; for she is very modest, and has never seen the face of any man before to-day, save my own. I will send for her."

When Asenath again appeared the priest said, —

" My daughter, salute thy brother. He hateth women even as thou hatest men."

She approached Joseph to kiss his hand. But Joseph said, —

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LEVANT.

" I worship the living God ; thy Hps kiss dumb idols. Forbear, I pray thee."

Then Asenath began to weep, and the heart of Joseph was touched. He said to her, —

"Maiden, in eight days I will come to see thee again."

Asenath went to her tower, and cast her idols from the window. She dressed herself in black robes, and knelt down and prayed for the true light, which is brighter than the sun.

An angel saw her in Paradise. He pitied her, and gathered for her some honey from the roses whose odors filled all the air of that blissful region. He brought to her the honey, and when she had tasted it the true light came into her heart. She asked the angel to give a portion of the honey to her seven maidens, which he did, and they too received the inward light.

jJ . 'V w

SOME CURIOUS STORIES.

" Rejoice," said the angel; "thy prayer is heard." Instantly the aged Priest of the Sun opened the door, saying, — "Joseph has come ; prepare to meet him."

Joseph was told the story of the broken idols and the celestial honey, and he gladly received Asenath as his wife.

Charlie asked the Jew if he thought that these stories were true. He declined to say, but answered evasively, — " All true poetry is the expression of truth."