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 Legends and Tales 
 
 IN 
 
 Prose and Verse 
 
 Compiled by 
 Isabel E. Cohen 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 The Jewish Publication Society of America 
 
 1905
 
 Copyright, 1905, by 
 The Jewish Publication Society of America 
 
 • • • 
 
 • • • • 
 
 I • • « • •' 
 
 
 I • s •
 
 S ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 601 
 
 - — . The Jewish Publication Society of America 
 acknowledges its indebtedness to the following publish- 
 Q^ ers and authors, who have permitted the use of copy- 
 -^ righted matter : 
 
 H The Century Company, New York. — The Birth of 
 -J Man, by Emma Lazarus, from " The Century Maga- 
 zine," June, 1884. 
 
 o Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.— A'm^ 
 — Solomon and the Bees, The Four Misfortunes, and The 
 ao Two Friends, by John Godfrey Saxe; also King Solo- 
 — ' mon and the Ants, and Rabbi Ishmael, by John Green- 
 
 3 LEAF WhITTIER. 
 
 "^ Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London. — 
 Extracts from the works of Richard Chenevix Trench. 
 
 . Pilot Publishing Company, Boston. — The Treasure 
 •j: of Abram, by John Boyle O'Reilly. 
 
 Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. — A chapter 
 t from The Story of the Jezvs, by James K. Hosmer. 
 a. 
 B Religious Tract Society, London. — The Vision of 
 
 o" Rabbi Nathan, by Frederick Langbridge, from " Leisure 
 _• Hour," March, 1894. 
 
 Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. — 
 The Death of Moses, and Through Darkness, by Rich- 
 ard Henry Stoddard. 

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 TITLB AUTHOR PACK 
 
 The Birth of Man Emma Lazarus ii 
 
 The Conformation of Man. The Hebrew Review iS 
 
 vTne Trees of Paradise . . . The Hebrew Review i8 
 
 The Shepherd The Hebrew Review 21 
 
 The Death of Adam .... The Hebrew Review 25 
 
 The Entrance into the Ark . Jean Ingelow 28 
 
 (From A Story of Doom) 
 
 The Ark and the Dove . . • Lydia H. Sigourney 32 
 
 The Gift of the King , , . S. Baring-Gould 35 
 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 The Infancy of Abraham . . The Hebrew Review 42 
 
 Abram the Idol-Breaker . . Emma Leigh 46 
 
 The Treasure of Abram . . John Boyle O'Reilly 54 
 
 Parable against Persecution Benjamin Franklin 61 
 
 Hidud of Sodom H. Polano 64 
 
 (Adapted from Selections from the Talmud) 
 
 The Power of Tears .... The Hebrew Review 72 
 
 Moses and Jethro Richard Chenevix Trench ... 74 
 
 Moses Visits El Khoudr . . S. Baring-Gould 79 
 
 The Death of Aaron .... S. Baring-Gould 8s 
 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 The Death of Moses .... The Hebrew Review 9'
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 TITLE AUTHOR PAGE 
 
 The Death of Moses .... George Eliot 95 
 
 (From Jubal and Other Poems) 
 The Death of Moses .... Richard Henry Stoddard . . . 103 
 
 Gilboa E. H. Plumptre 107 
 
 (From Master and Scholar) 
 
 The Dawn The Hebrew Review 119 
 
 The Royal Singer The Hebrew Review 122 
 
 Nothing in the World with- 
 out its Use II. Polano 124 
 
 (From Selections from the Talmud) 
 
 David's Search for his Com- 
 panion in Paradise .... S. Baring-Gould 127 
 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 How Solomon obtained 
 
 Power S. Baring-Gould - . 133 
 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 The Vision of Solomon . . William Whitehead 139 
 
 King Solomon and the 
 
 Bees John Godfrey Saxe 14S 
 
 King Solomon and the 
 
 Ants John Greenleaf Whittier ... 149 
 
 Solomon and Azrael .... Richard Chcnevix Trench ... 153 
 (From Eastern Moralities) 
 
 King Solomon Owen Meredith 155 
 
 The Lions Victor Hugo 159 
 
 The History of the Destruc- 
 tion of Bel and the Drag- 
 on The Apocrypha 167 
 
 The Story of Tobit and 
 
 Tobias The Apocrypha (Adapted) . . 174
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 TITLE AUTHOR PAGE 
 
 Let us Depart Felicia Hemans 187 
 
 The Last Day of Jerusa- 
 lem George Croly 191 
 
 Three Sons Emma Leigh 196 
 
 Sabbation Richard Chenevix Trench ... 199 
 
 .Alexander the Great at 
 
 Jerusalem James K. Hosmer 210 
 
 (From The Story of the Jews) 
 
 Alexander at the Gates of 
 
 Paradise Richard Chenevix Trench ... 216 
 
 The Banished Kings .... Richard Chenevix Trench . . . 224 
 
 The Lent Jewels Richard Chenevix Trench ... 231 
 
 The Fox and the Fish . . . Plyman Ilurwitz 233 
 
 (From Hebrew Tales) 
 
 The Sleep of Rabbi Choni . Emma Leigh 237 
 
 Through Darkness Richard Henry Stoddard . . . 242 
 
 The Vision of Rabbi Nathan Frederick Langbridge 244 
 
 The Emperor and the Rabbi George Croly 248 
 
 The Four Misfortunes . . . John Godfrey Saxe 252 
 
 Rabbi Ishmael John Greenleaf Whittier .... 256 
 
 The Two Friends John Godfrey Saxe 258
 
 Ube JSirtb of /iDan 
 
 A Legend of the Talmud 
 By Emma Lazarus 
 
 WHEN angels visit earth, the messengers 
 Of God's decree, they come as Hghtning, 
 wind: 
 Before the throne, they all are living fire. 
 There stand four rows of angels — to the right 
 The hosts of Michael, Gabriel's to the left. 
 
 Before, the troop of Ariel, and behind. 
 The ranks of Raphael ; all, with one accord, 
 Chanting the glory of the Everlasting. 
 Upon the high and holy throne there rests. 
 Invisible, the majesty of God, 
 About His brows the crown of mystery 
 Whereon the sacred letters are engraved 
 Of the unutterable Name. He grasps 
 A sceptre of keen fire ; the universe
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Is compassed in His glance ; at His right hand 
 Life stands, and at His left hand standeth Death. 
 
 LL 
 
 Lo, the divine idea of making man 
 
 Had spread abroad among the heavenly hosts ; 
 
 And all at once before the immortal throne 
 
 Pressed troops of angels and of seraphim, 
 
 With minds opposed, and contradicting cries: 
 
 " Fulfil, Great Father, Thine exalted thought ! 
 
 Create and give unto the earth her king ! " 
 
 " Cease, cease. Almighty God ! create no more ! " 
 
 And suddenly upon the heavenly sphere 
 
 Deep silence fell ; before the immortal throne 
 
 The angel Mercy knelt, and thus he spoke : 
 
 " Fulfil, Great Father, Thine exalted thought ! 
 
 Create the likeness of Thyself on earth. 
 
 In this new creature I will breathe the spirit 
 
 Of a divine compassion ; he shall be 
 
 Thy fairest image in the universe."
 
 THE BIRTH OF MAN 
 
 But to his words the angel Peace replied, 
 With heavy sobs : " My spirit was outspread, 
 O God, on Thy creation, and all things 
 Were sweetly bound in gracious harmony. 
 But man, this strange new being, everywhere 
 Shall bring confusion, trouble, discord, war." 
 "Avenger of injustice and of crime," 
 Exclaimed the angel Justice, " he shall be 
 Subject to me, and peace shall bloom again. 
 Create, O -Lord, create ! " " Father of truth," 
 Implored with tears the angel Truth, " Thou 
 
 bring'st 
 Upon the earth the father of all lies ! " 
 And over the celestial faces gloomed 
 A cloud of grief, and stillness deep prevailed. 
 Then from the midst of that abyss of light 
 Whence sprang the eternal throne, these words 
 
 rang forth : 
 " Be comforted, my daughter ! Thee I send 
 To be companion unto man on earth."
 
 14 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And all the angels cried, lamenting loud : 
 
 " Thou robbest heaven of her fairest gem. 
 
 Truth ! seal of all Thy thoughts, Almighty God, 
 
 The richest jewel that adorns Thy crown." 
 
 From the abyss of glory rang the voice : 
 
 " From heaven to earth, from earth once more to 
 
 heaven, 
 Shall Truth, with constant interchange, alight 
 And soar again, an everlasting link 
 Between the world and sky." 
 
 And man was born.
 
 THE CONFORMATION OF MAN is 
 
 Xlbe Contormation ot /iDan 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 THE Creator descended. All the Angels, the 
 Princes of the elements, beheld and con- 
 templated His work. 
 
 He called to the dust. And dust gathered itself 
 from all the quarters of the terrestrial globe. And 
 the Angel of earth said, " This frame will be a 
 mortal creature, wheresoever it dwells upon earth : 
 for it is dust and must return unto dust." 
 
 He called to the heavenly cloud ; and it moist- 
 ened the dust. The clay began to heave and shape 
 itself into vessels and compartments. And the 
 Angel of the waters exclaimed, " Thou wilt re- 
 quire nourishment, thou curiously constructed 
 creature ! Hunger and thirst will become insep- 
 arable from thy being." Inwardly the veins and
 
 1 6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 cells began to be formed ; the manifold outward 
 limbs assumed their shape, and the Angel of the 
 living said, "Thou wilt be subject to many de- 
 sires, beauteous and scientific creation! Love of 
 thy species will attract and impel thee! " 
 
 The Creator approached with His daughters, 
 Wisdom and Love. With paternal kindness He 
 raised the inanimate clay and breathed into it life 
 and immortality. Man stood erect : delighted, he 
 looked around. " Behold ! " said the voice of the 
 Most High, " all the growth of the meadows and 
 trees, all the animals that dwell upon earth, I 
 have given to thee. Thy fatherland, the earth, is 
 thine, and thou shalt rule it : but thou thyself art 
 Mine ; thy breath is My gift, and when thy time 
 cometh, I summon it unto Myself ! " 
 
 Wisdom and Love, the offsprings of God, 
 stayed with the new lord of the earth. They in- 
 structed him and taught him to know animate and 
 inanimate nature. They conversed with him as
 
 THE CONFORMATION OF MAN 17 
 
 loving companions, and their light was with in- 
 nocent man. 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 Man lives his allotted time on earth, happy if 
 Wisdom and Love deign to cheer him with their 
 influence. But when his allotted time expires, his 
 body returns to mix with the elements whence it 
 was taken : but the spirit returns again to God, 
 by whose paternal embrace it was breathed into 
 him.
 
 i8 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 XTTjc XTrees of paraMse 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 WHEN the Deity led man into his paradise, 
 all the trees of the garden of Eden saluted 
 the favored of the Lord ; with waving branches 
 they offered him their fruits for his food, the 
 fragrant shade of their boughs for his refresh- 
 ment. 
 
 " O that he would prefer me ! " said the palm 
 tree. " I will feed him with my golden dates, and 
 the wine of my juice shall be his beverage. My 
 leaves should form his tranquil hut, and my 
 branches spread their shadows above him." " I 
 will shower my odoriferous blossoms upon thee," 
 exclaimed the apple-tree, " and my choicest fruits 
 shall be thy nourishment." 
 
 Thus all the trees of paradise greeted their
 
 THE TREES OF PARADISE 19 
 
 new-created lord ; and his Supreme Benefactor 
 permitted him to enjoy their rich offerings. Of 
 all He gave him liberty to partake. One fruit 
 only he was forbidden to taste — that which grew 
 on the tree of knozvledge. 
 
 "A tree of knowledge ! " said man within him- 
 self. "All other trees yield me but terrestrial, 
 corporeal nourishment; but this tree, which 
 would elevate my spirit and strengthen the pow- 
 ers of my mind, this tree alone I am forbidden to 
 enjoy." Yet he silenced the voice of desire, and 
 suppressed the rebellious thought which arose in 
 his bosom. But when the voice and example of 
 temptation assailed him, he tasted the pernicious 
 fruit, the juice of which still ferments in our 
 hearts. 
 
 " Hard is the prohibition which is laid upon 
 man," said the angelic spirits of heaven ; " for
 
 20 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 what can be more tempting to a being who is 
 gifted with reason than the acquisition of knowl- 
 edge? And shall he, who soon will transgress 
 the command, therefore be punished with death?" 
 " Wait and behold his punishment," replied the 
 dulcet voice of celestial love. " Even on the path 
 of his errors, amidst the pangs of repentance and 
 the stings of remorse, — even there will I be his 
 guide, and conduct him to another tree, that 
 grows in his heavenly home."
 
 THE SHEPHERD 21 
 
 XTbe Sbepberb 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hcbrczv Review) 
 
 IN the silent midnight hour preceding the ver- 
 nal festival, on which the first brothers were to 
 bring their offering of gratitude to the Creator, 
 their mother, in a dream, beheld a wondrous 
 vision. The white roses which her younger son 
 had planted round his altar had changed their 
 hue : they were become more blood-red, more 
 fully blown, than any she had ever seen ; she tried 
 to break them, but they withered at her touch. On 
 the altar lay a bleeding lamb. Plaintive voices 
 rose around her, and amongst them a shriek of 
 piercing despair, till all were lost, mingled in a 
 heavenly harmony, the like of which she had 
 never heard before. 
 
 And a beauteous plain lay before her, more 
 beauteous even than the paradise of her youth.
 
 23 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And a shepherd, in the shape and image of her 
 son, arrayed in robes of blinding white, tended 
 his flocks. The red roses formed a garland which 
 entwined his brows, and in his hand he held a 
 lute, from which went forth the harmony of 
 heaven. His mild eye beamed affectionately on 
 her; but when she approached to take his hand, 
 he vanished, and with him the vision of her 
 dreams. 
 
 The mother of our race arose as the ruddy 
 dawn illumined the sky ; with a heavy heart she 
 went to the festival. 
 
 The brothers brought their sacrifice. Their 
 parents departed. Evening came, but the sons 
 returned not. Their anxious mother went forth 
 to seek them. She found Abel's flocks scattered 
 and mournfully lowing. He himself lay lifeless 
 at the foot of the altar. His blood dyed the roses 
 he had planted ; and Cain's groans of anguish 
 resounded from a neighboring cavern.
 
 THE SHEPHERD 33 
 
 Fainting she sank on the corpse of her son, 
 when again she beheld the nocturnal vision of her 
 dream. Her son was the shepherd whom she had 
 seen in the beauteous fields of the new paradise. 
 The red roses were twined round his brows; in 
 his hand he held a harp, and his soft accents fell 
 sweetly on her ear as he sung to her : " Look up 
 to the heavens, to the stars. Look up, all weep- 
 ing as thou art, my mother. Behold yon splendid 
 wain, it leads to fields more blooming, to a para- 
 dise more beauteous, than thou ever sawest in 
 Eden's garden, where the blood-stained rose of 
 suffering innocence blooms in celestial splendor, 
 and its sighs are turned into tunes of rapture." 
 
 The vision vanished. But wath a strengthened 
 mind and confident resignation, Eve rose from 
 the inanimate body of her son. The next morning 
 his parents bedewed it with their scalding tears, 
 crowned it with the roses dyed in his life-blood, 
 and buried him at the foot of the altar he had
 
 24 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 raised to the Lord, in the presence of the mild 
 dawn which spread its orient tints over the sky. 
 
 Often they sat at his tomb in the silent hour of 
 midnight : their eyes were lifted to heaven ; there 
 they sought their beloved shepherd ; there they 
 hoped to be reunited to him.
 
 THE DEATH OF ADAM 2$ 
 
 TLbc Deatb of HC)am 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 NIXE hundred and thirty years had passed 
 from the moment when the breath of the 
 Creator gave life to the clay, when Adam felt 
 within himself the sentence of the Judge, " Thou 
 shalt surely die." 
 
 " Let all my sons appear before me," he said to 
 the weeping Eve. " Let them all come that I may 
 once more see and bless them," His descendants 
 all came obedient to their father's command. 
 Many hundreds in number, they all stood around 
 him and wept ; all prayed for his life. 
 
 " Who among you," said Adam, '' will ascend 
 the holy mount? Perhaps he may find mercy for 
 me, and bring me the fruit of the tree of life." 
 All his sons arose; each was willing to go: but
 
 26 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 the father selected Seth, the most pious among 
 them, to be the messenger of hnploring pity. 
 
 His head strewed with ashes, he tarried not, but 
 hastened on, till he reached the gates of paradise. 
 " Let him find mercy, All-Merciful," he implored, 
 " and send my father the fruit of the tree of life." 
 
 Suddenly a radiant cherub stood before him ; in 
 his hand he held, not fruit, but a branch with one 
 solitary leaf. " Convey this to thy father," he 
 said, with a friendly voice ; " convey it to cheer 
 his parting hour, for eternal life dwells not on 
 earth. But haste thee, for his hour is come." 
 
 The father of humankind took the branch and 
 rejoiced ; he inhaled the odor of paradise, and his 
 soul became invigorated. " My children," he said, 
 " everlasting life we find not on earth ; you all 
 will follow me. But in this leaf I scent, I breathe 
 the air of another world, of immortality." His 
 eye closed ; his spirit fled. 
 
 Adam's children buried their father, and
 
 THE DEATH OF ADAM S7 
 
 mourned for him thirty days. But Seth wept 
 not, and mourned not. He planted the branch at 
 the head of his father's tomb, and called it the 
 branch of renovated life, of awaking from the 
 sleep of death.
 
 28 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 XTbc lEntrance into tbe Brft 
 
 By Jean Ingelow 
 (From A Story of Doom) 
 
 AND Noah went up into the ship, and sat 
 Before the Lord. And all was still ; and now 
 In that great quietness the sun came up, 
 And there were marks across it, as it were 
 The shadow of a Hand upon the sun, — 
 Three fingers dark and dread, and afterward 
 There rose a white thick mist, that peacefully 
 Folded the fair earth in her funeral shroud, — 
 The earth that gave no token, save that now 
 There fell a little trembling under foot. 
 And Noah went down, and took and hid his face 
 Behind his mantle, saying, " I have made 
 Great preparation, and it may be yet, 
 Beside my house, whom I did charge to come 
 This day to meet me, there may enter in
 
 THE ENTRANCE INTO THE ARK 29 
 
 Many that yesternight thought scorn of all 
 My bidding." And because the fog was thick, 
 He said, " Forbid it. Heaven, if such there be. 
 That they should miss the way." And even then 
 There was a noise of weeping and lament ; 
 The words of them that were affrighted, yea, 
 And cried for. grief of heart. There came to him 
 The mother and her children, and they cried, 
 " Speak, father, what is this ? What hast thou 
 
 done?" 
 And when he lifted up his face, he saw 
 Japhet, his well-beloved, where he stood 
 Apart ; and Amarant leaned upon his breast, 
 And hid her face, for she was sore afraid ; 
 And lo! the robes of her betrothal gleamed 
 White in the deadly gloom. 
 
 And at his feet 
 The wives of his two other sons did kneel, 
 And wring their hands.
 
 30 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 One cried, " O speak to us ; 
 We are affrighted ; we have dreamed a dream, 
 Each to herself. For me, I saw in mine 
 The grave old angels, like to shepherds, walk. 
 Much cattle following them. Thy daughter looked, 
 And they did enter here." 
 
 The other lay 
 And moaned, " Alas ! O father, for my dream 
 Was evil : lo, I heard when it was dark, 
 I heard two wicked ones contend for me. 
 One said, 'And wherefore should this woman live, 
 When only for her children, and for her. 
 Is woe and degradation ? ' Then he laughed, 
 The other crying, ' Let alone, O Prince ; 
 Hinder her not to live and bear much seed, 
 Because I hate her.' " 
 
 But he said, " Rise up. 
 Daughter of Noah, for I have learned no words
 
 THE ENTRANCE INTO THE ARK 31 
 
 To comfort you." Then spake her lord to her, 
 " Peace ! or I swear that for thy dream myself 
 Will hate thee also. " 
 
 And Niloiya said, 
 " ]\Iy sons, if one of you will hear my words, 
 Go now, look out, and tell me of the day. 
 How fares it ? " 
 
 And the fateful darkness grew. 
 But Shem went up to do his mother's will ; 
 And all was one as though the frighted earth 
 Quivered and fell a-trembling ; then they hid 
 Their faces every one, till he returned, 
 And spake not. " Nay," they cried, " what hast 
 
 thou seen ? 
 O, is it come to this ?" He answered them, 
 " The door is shut."
 
 32 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube BrI? an& tbe Bove 
 
 By Lydia H. Sigourney 
 
 TELL me a story — please/' my little girl 
 Lisped from her cradle. So I bent me down 
 And told her how it rained, and rained, and rained, 
 Till all the flowers were covered, and the trees 
 Hid their tall heads, and where the houses stood, 
 And people dwelt, a fearful deluge rolled ; 
 Because the world was wicked, and refused 
 To heed the words of God. But one good man, 
 Who long had warned the wicked to repent. 
 Obey, and live, taught by the voice of Heaven, 
 Had built an Ark ; and thither, with his wife 
 And children, turned for safety. Two and two, 
 Of beasts and birds, and creeping things he took, 
 With food for all ; and when the tempest roared, 
 And the great fountains of the sky poured out 
 A ceaseless flood, till all beside were drowned. 
 They in their quiet vessel dwelt secure.
 
 THE ARK AND THE DOVE 33 
 
 And SO the mighty waters bare them up, 
 And o'er the bosom of the deep they sailed 
 For many days. But then a gentle dove 
 'Scaped from the casement of the Ark, and spread 
 Her lonely pinions o'er that boundless wave. 
 All, all was desolation. Chirping nest. 
 Nor face of man, nor living thing she saw. 
 For all the people of the earth were drowned. 
 Because of disobedience. Naught she spied 
 Save wide, dark waters, and a frowning sky, 
 Nor found her weary foot a place of rest. 
 So, with a leaf of olive in her mouth, 
 Sole fruit of her drear voyage, which, perchance, 
 Upon some wrecking billow floated by, 
 With drooping wing the peaceful Ark she sought. 
 The righteous man that wandering dove received, 
 And to her mate restored, who, with sad moans, 
 Had wondered at her absence. 
 
 Then I looked 
 Upon the child, to see if her young thought
 
 34 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Wearied with following mine. But her blue eye 
 Was a glad listener, and the eager breath 
 Of pleased attention curled the parted lip. 
 And so I told her how the waters dried, 
 And the green branches waved, and the sweet buds 
 Came up in loveliness, and the meek dove 
 Went forth to build her nest, while thousand birds 
 Awoke their songs of praise, and the tired Ark 
 Upon the breezy breast of Ararat 
 Reposed, and Noah, with glad spirit, reared 
 An altar to his God.
 
 THE GIFT OF THE KING 35 
 
 XTbe (51ft of tbe IRino 
 
 By S. Baring-Gould 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 NIMROD the Cushite sat upon a throne 
 Of gold, encrusted with a sapphire stone, 
 And round the monarch stood, in triple rank, 
 Three hundred ruddy pages, like a bank 
 
 Of roses all a-blow. 
 Two gentle boys, with blue eyes clear as glass. 
 And locks as light as tufted cotton grass, 
 
 And faces as the snow 
 That lies on Ararat, and flushes pink 
 On summer evenings, as the sun doth sink. 
 Were stationed b\- the royal golden chair 
 With fillets of carnation in their hair. 
 And clothed in silken vesture, candid, clean. 
 To flutter fans of burnished blue and green,
 
 36 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Fashioned of peacock's plume. 
 A little lower, on a second stage 
 On either side, was placed a graceful page, 
 
 To raise a fragrant fume — 
 With costly woods and gums on burning coals 
 That glowed on tripods, in bright silver bowls ; 
 And at the basement of the marble stair, 
 Sweet singing choirs and harping minstrels were, 
 In amber kirtles, purple, gilt, and sashed. 
 The throbbing strings in silver ripples flashed, 
 
 Where slaves the choral song 
 Accompanied with psaltery and lyre. 
 In red and saffron, like to men of fire. 
 
 Whilst hoarsely boomed the gong : 
 Or silver cymbals clashed, or, waxing shrill. 
 Danced up the scale a flute's melodious thrill. 
 
 Now at the monarch's signal, pages twain. 
 With sunny hair as ripened autumn grain, 
 And robed in lustrous silver tissue, shot 
 With changing hues of blue forget-me-not.
 
 THE GIFT OF THE KING 37 
 
 Start nimbly forth, and bend 
 Before the monarch, at his gilded stool. 
 And crystal goblets brimming, sweet and cool, 
 
 Obsequiously extend ; 
 But Nimrod, slightly stirring, stately, calm, 
 Towards the right-hand beaker thrusts his arm, 
 And languid, raises it towards his lips ; 
 Yet ere he of the ruby liquor sips, 
 He notices upon the surface lie — 
 Fallen in and fluttering — a feeble fly, 
 
 With draggled wings outspread. 
 Then shot from Nimrod's eyes an angry flare. 
 And passionately down the marble stair 
 
 The costly draught he shed. 
 He spoke no word, but with a finger wave 
 Made signal to a scarlet-vested slave ; 
 And as the lad before him, quaking, kneels, 
 Above him swift the gleaming falchion wheels. 
 Then flashes down, and, with one leap, his head 
 Bounds from his shoulders, and bespirts with red 

 
 38 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 The alabaster floor. 
 And, mingled with the outpoured Persian wine, 
 Descends the steps a sliding purple line 
 
 Of smoking, dribbled gore ; 
 And floats the little midge upon a flood 
 Of fragrant grape-juice, and of roseate blood. 
 
 Then Nimrod said : " I would yon ugly stain 
 Were wiped away ; and thou, my chamberlain, 
 Obtain for me a stripling, to replace 
 This petty fool. Let him have com.ely face, 
 
 And be of slender mould : 
 Be lithely built, of noble birth ; a youth. 
 The choicest thou canst find. His cost, in sooth, 
 
 I heed not. Stint no gold. 
 But buy a goodly slave : for I, a king, 
 Will have the best, the best of everything — 
 Of gems, of slaves, of fabrics, meats, or wine ; 
 The best, the very best on earth be mine."
 
 THE GIFT OF THE KING 39 
 
 Then, prostrate flung before his master's throne, 
 The servant said, " Sire, Terah hath a son 
 Whose equal in the whole round world is none, 
 
 Beloved as himself. 
 But, Sire, I fear the father will not deign 
 To yield his son as slave through love of gain, 
 
 For great is he in wealth." 
 " Go/' said the monarch, " I must have the child : 
 Be sure the father can be reconciled. 
 If you expend of gold a goodly store. 
 And, if he haggles at your price, bid more ; 
 
 I will it, cliamberlain ! 
 I care not what the cost. I'll have the lad ! " 
 And then he leaned him idly back, and bade 
 
 The slaves to fan again. 
 Now on the morrow, to the royal court, 
 Terah Ben-Nahor from old Ur was brought — 
 Protesting loud he would not yield his son 
 As slave, at any price, to any one.
 
 40 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " My flesh and blood be sold ! 
 Fie on )'ou ! Do you reckon that I prize 
 My first-begotten as mere merchandise, 
 
 To barter him for gold ? 
 A curse on him who would the old man's stay, 
 That bears him up, with money buy away ! 
 Require me not to offer child of mine 
 To serve and brim a tyrant's cup with wine ; 
 To waste a life from morning to its grave, 
 Branded in mind and soul and body ' Slave ! ' 
 
 How could I be repaid ? 
 His artless fondlings, all his childish ways : 
 The reminiscences of olden days, 
 
 That sudden flash and fade, 
 Of her who bore him — her, my boyhood's choice- 
 Resemblances in feature, figure, voice, 
 In gesture, manner, ay, in very tone 
 Of pealing laugh, of that dear partner gone. 
 Thou, Nimrod, to an old man condescend 
 To hear his story ; your attention lend.
 
 THE GIFT OF THE KING 41 
 
 And judge if acted well. 
 Last year to me thou gav'st a goodly steed, 
 From thine own stud, of purest Yemen breed: 
 
 And thus it me befel : 
 A stranger offered me a price so fair 
 That I accepted it, and sold the mare." 
 "My gift disposed of!" with an angry start, 
 King Nimrod thundered: " Thou, old man, shalt 
 
 smart 
 For this thy avarice. A royal gift, 
 Thou knowest well, must never owners shift, 
 
 As thing of little worth." 
 Then Terah raised his trembling hands, and said, 
 " From thine own mouth, O King, has judgment 
 sped. 
 
 The Lord of heaven and earth. 
 The King of kings to me my offspring gave, 
 And shall I sell His gift to be a slave? 
 Nimrod, that child, which is His royal gift, — 
 Thv mouth hath said it, — mav not owners shift."
 
 42 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Xlbe llnfanc^ ot Hbrabam 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 ABRAHAM was reared in a cavern ; for the 
 tyrant Nimrod, forewarned by his astrol- 
 ogers that the infant son of Terah would teach 
 mankind to renounce the service of the imaginary 
 divinities which Nimrod worshipped, sought to 
 take his life. But in the darksome cavern the 
 light of God illumined his youthful mind ; he re- 
 flected, and asked himself, " Whence am I ? Who 
 has created me ? " 
 
 He had reached the age of sixteen years when 
 he left his dreary abode, and, for the first time, 
 beheld the heavens and their resplendent orbs, the 
 earth and its fulness. How astonished was he, 
 and how rejoiced! He interrogated all creation
 
 THE LyPANCY OF ABRAHAM 4.1 
 
 around him : " Whence are ye ? Who has created 
 you ? " 
 
 The sun arose in its glory. Abraham pros- 
 trated himself. " This," he exclaimed, " must be 
 the Creator : great and beauteous is its appear- 
 ance ; its radiance dazzles my feeble eye." 
 
 The sun pursued its course, and set at even- 
 tide, to make room for the silvery moon : and 
 Abraham said to himself, " The luminary which 
 has set cannot be the God of heaven : it yields to 
 yonder lesser light, and to the host of stars by 
 which it is attended." 
 
 But clouds overspread the sky ; the moon and 
 the stars were hidden from his sight ; and Abra- 
 ham stood alone in the midst of his meditations. 
 
 He went to his father, and asked : 
 
 " Who is God, the Creator of heaven and 
 earth?" Terah showed him his idols. " I will 
 put their divinity to the test," said Abraham to 
 himself : and, when he was alone, he presented
 
 44 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 them with the choicest viands, addressed them, 
 and said, '' If ye are Hving gods, accept my offer- 
 ing that I may worship you." But unmovable 
 stood the idols ; no ear had they for his invoca- 
 tions. 
 
 " And these," exclaimed the youth, " my father 
 considers as gods ! But perhaps I may show him 
 he is in error." He took a staff and shivered the 
 idols into fragments, except one only, within 
 whose bended arm he placed his staff. He then 
 hurried to his father, and said, " Father, thy great 
 god has slain his lesser brethren." 
 
 But Terah looked at him in anger, and said, 
 " Mock me not, boy ! How can he do what thou 
 hast said, since mine own hands have fashioned 
 him who is inanimate?" And Abraham replied: 
 "Be not angry, O my father, but let .thine ear 
 hear, and thy reason weigh, what thine own 
 mouth has uttered. If thou deemest him incapable 
 of a feat which my boyish hand was capable of
 
 THE IXF.lXCy OF ABRAHAM 45 
 
 performing, how can he be the god whose power 
 created thee and me, and the heaven and earth ? " 
 And Terah stood silent before the reproof of his 
 son.
 
 46 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Hbram tbe 1[&oUJSreal?er 
 
 A Talmudic Legend 
 By Emma Leigh 
 
 ABRAM stood musing in the midst of the de- 
 serted room. Everywhere he turned his 
 gaze was met by a fixed, wooden stare. A smile 
 of scorn played about his lips as he recalled the 
 charge of Terah his father : " I will be gone but 
 a short while. Do thou see to it that no harm 
 comes to these our gods." Gods? These ugly 
 images, the handiwork of Terah and his slaves, 
 of which he strangely stood in awe? 
 
 Suddenly Abram became conscious that he was 
 not alone. An old man had entered during his 
 revery, and was standing before one of the 
 images. Seeing that the boy's attention had been 
 attracted, the man asked the price of the idol 
 which had taken his fancy. Abram told him, and
 
 ABRAM THE IDOL-BREAKER 47 
 
 then said : " Be not angry if I ask thee the number 
 of thy years." 
 
 " Three-score," was the proud reply. 
 
 " Three-score years hast thou Hved, and yet 
 thou payest reverence to this, the work of man's 
 hands, and dost worship as thy lord the creation 
 of a day?" 
 
 Shamefaced the old man turned away from the 
 reproach of the boyish eyes. 
 
 As he left the place without his intended pur- 
 chase, there entered a woman. In her hands was 
 food, a prayer offering to the gods. With 
 Abram's consent, she placed it at the feet of the 
 image of Nebo, her favorite deity. 
 
 As she turned to go. Abram withheld her. 
 
 " Tarry but a little, so that thou mayest see 
 how eagerly thy god eats thy offering when his 
 hunger is aroused." 
 
 It was a bewildered glance that fell on Abram 
 as she hastily left the place.
 
 48 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 The youth laughed aloud. A moment more 
 and he seized a hammer and broke in pieces all 
 the images save one, that of Bel, the largest. In 
 its hands he placed the hammer and waited his 
 father's return. 
 
 No sooner had Terah beheld the ruin than he 
 called his son. 
 
 "What work is this?" he demanded angrily. 
 " What impious wretch has dared to do evil to 
 the holy gods? " 
 
 " Father," Abram made answer, " in thy ab- 
 sence there came a woman with tasty food which 
 she placed before one of the lesser gods. When 
 he stretched forth his hand to partake thereof, the 
 others, in their greed and envy, demanded a por- 
 tion, which he arrogantly refused, bidding them 
 wait for the offerings of their own worshippers. 
 Then they strove to take it from him by force, 
 and there was a mighty uproar, till the big god 
 bade them cease their wrangling, terming it a
 
 ABRAM THE IDOL-BREAKER 49 
 
 fashion unseemly for the rulers of the world. 
 But they heeded not his voice, whereupon in his 
 wrath the mighty god did lay violent hands upon 
 these others and destroy them even as thou seest." 
 
 " Dost mock thy father ? " demanded the wrath- 
 ful Terah. " Surely, this figure of wood that my 
 slaves have made can stir neither hand nor foot." 
 
 " Yet," said his son, " thou dost bend thy knee 
 before it, and dost call upon it to help thee, and 
 wouldst have me likewise worship it." 
 
 " Ay, that I will," said his father. " I see now 
 it is thy profane hand that hath wrought this 
 havoc. Down on thy face before might}- Bel, 
 and pray pardon for thy sin." 
 
 " Nay, father," said the boy, " I would not fail 
 in honor to my parent, and in naught else will I 
 refuse to heed thy command, but this will my 
 soul not let me do." 
 
 " Then will I take thee before Nimrod, who 
 has means to induce obedience."
 
 50 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 So Abram was led before the king. After hear- 
 ing the story of the irate Terah, and Abram's re- 
 fusal to worship images that could be made and 
 broken by the hands of men, Nimrod said, " Yet 
 must there be none in my dominion that re- 
 fuses all worship to the gods. If images please 
 thee not, worship the mighty Powers — adore the 
 Fire." 
 
 " May the great king live forever," answered 
 Abram, " and pardon thy servant if he speak too 
 boldly ; but if we seek the mightiest, were it not 
 better to pray to that which is stronger than fire — 
 the water which quenches it? " 
 
 " If it please thee better, worship Water." 
 
 " Pardon, my lord king, but it has come upon 
 me that the cloud carries the water and is there- 
 fore more powerful." 
 
 " Then if that seem good to thee, worship the 
 Cloud." 
 
 " Nay, my lord, grant thy servant yet another
 
 ABRAM THE IDOL-BREAKER 51 
 
 word, for, behold, there is a force that is greater 
 even than the cloud — the wind that drives the 
 cloud before its fury." 
 
 " Then worship the Wind," said Nimrod, impa- 
 tiently. 
 
 " May the king in his great goodness grant me 
 to speak but once more," said the boy, " and I 
 have done. Fire I cannot worship. To water 
 can I not pray. Neither to the cloud nor yet to 
 the wind will I bow down. There is a Power 
 mightier than all they. To Him alone will I bend 
 the knee — El Shaddai, the One Almighty God, 
 Creator of heaven and earth, who gave life to thee 
 and me." 
 
 "Where does thy god hide himself?" asked 
 the king. " Never have I beheld him. Point 
 him out to us that we may see his power. May- 
 hap thou canst gain him worshippers." 
 
 " Eye cannot see His glory. Tongue cannot tell 
 His niigl;t. Yet lift up thine eyes round about
 
 S2 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 and behold the earth, the heavens above, the water 
 below, and all therein. At His word came all 
 these." 
 
 Loud laughed the king and those that served 
 him. "What madness is this? Can a god lurk- 
 ing where no human eye can find his abode have 
 made the gods that rule the world, the sun 
 whose arrows strike terror by day, the moon and 
 the stars that hold sway over the fate of men, 
 the hungry fire, the destroyer of all life? Can 
 he have formed men, both rulers and slaves? 
 Nay, the boy mocks us." 
 
 " Yea, and the blessed gods," cried one of the 
 councillors. 
 
 " Blasphemer, mocker," shouted the court. 
 
 Then, in a smooth voice, which ill concealed his 
 wrath, the king said, " Dost thou still defy the 
 Fire?" 
 
 " Never will I prostrate myself to another save 
 El Shaddai," again said the boy.
 
 ABRAM THE IDOL-BREAKER 53 
 
 " Then if thou wilt not entreat the Fire's favor, 
 thou shalt feel the Fire's wrath." said Nimrod. 
 
 At a signal powerful slaves seized Abram, and 
 cast him into the sacrificial furnace. 
 
 All stood with bated breath, listening for the 
 victim's cries of anguish, his call for mercy. No 
 sound was heard save the roaring of the flames. 
 
 "Approach the furnace and see if the blas- 
 phemer be consumed," ordered the king. 
 
 The servants obeyed and saw Abram standing 
 in the midst of the flames, alive and unharmed, 
 with calm countenance. 
 
 At the command of the astonished king he 
 came forth. Not a hair of his head, not a thread 
 of his garments, was singed. 
 
 Then Nimrod and his officers acknowledged 
 that the God who protected Abram was mightier 
 than the gods of Chaldea. 
 
 Hence, say the sages, is it written that Abram 
 " came forth from Ur — the furnace — of the 
 Chaldees."
 
 54 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube XTreasure oX Hbram 
 
 By John Boyle O'Reilly 
 
 I. 
 
 IN the old Rabbinical stories, 
 So old they might well be true, — 
 The sacred tales of the Talmud, 
 
 That David and Solomon knew, — 
 There is one of Father Abram, 
 
 The greatest of Heber's race. 
 The mustard-seed of Judea 
 
 That filled the holy place. 
 'Tis said that the fiery heaven 
 
 His eye was first to read, 
 Till planets were gods no longer. 
 
 But helps for the human need ; 
 He taught his simple people 
 
 The scope of eternal law 
 That swayed at once the fleecy cloud 
 
 And the circling suns they saw.
 
 THE TREASURE OF ABRAM 55 
 
 But the rude Chaldean peasants 
 
 Uprose against the seer, 
 And drave him forth — else never came 
 
 This Talmud legend here. 
 With Sarah his wife, and his servants, 
 
 Whom he ruled with potent hand. 
 The Patriarch planted his vineyards 
 
 In the Canaanitish land ; 
 With his wife — the sterile, but lovely, 
 
 The fame of whose beauty grew 
 Till there was no land in Asia 
 
 But tales of the treasure knew. 
 In his lore the sage lived — learning 
 
 High thoughts from the starlit skies ; 
 But heedful, too, of the light at home. 
 
 And the danger of wistful eyes ; 
 Till the famine fell on his corn-fields. 
 
 And sent him forth again. 
 To seek for a home in Egypt, 
 
 The land of the amorous men.
 
 S6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 II. 
 
 Long and rich is the caravan that halts at Egypt's 
 
 gate, 
 While duty full the stranger pays on lowing herd 
 
 and freight. 
 Full keen the scrutiny of those who note the 
 
 heavy dues ; 
 From weanling foal to cumbrous wain, no chance 
 
 of gain they lose. 
 But fair the search — no wealth concealed ; while 
 
 rich the gifts they take 
 From Abram's hand, till care has ceased, and for- 
 mal quest they make. 
 They pass the droves and laden teams, the 
 
 weighted slaves are past. 
 And Abram doubles still the gifts ; one wain, his 
 
 own, is last — 
 It goes unsearched ! Wise Abram smiles, though 
 
 dearly stemmed the quest ;
 
 THE TREASURE OF ABRAM 57 
 
 But haps will conic from causes slight, 
 
 And hidden things upspring to light : 
 
 A breeze flings wide the canvas fold, and, deep 
 
 within the wain, behold 
 A brass-bound massive chest ! 
 
 " Press on ! " shouts Abram. " Hold," they cry ; 
 
 " what treasure hide ye here? " 
 The word is stern — the answer brief : " Treasure ! 
 
 'tis household gear ; 
 Plain linen cloth and flaxen thread.'' The scribes 
 
 deceived are wroth ; 
 " Then weigh the chest — its price shall be the dues 
 
 on linen cloth ! " 
 The face of Abram seemed to grieve, though joy 
 
 was in his breast. 
 As carefully his servants took and weighed the 
 
 mighty chest. 
 But one hath watched the secret smile ; he cries, 
 
 " This stranger old
 
 58 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Hath used deceit ; no cloth is here — this chest is 
 filled with gold ! " 
 
 " Nay, nay," wise Abram says, and smiles, though 
 now he hides dismay ; 
 
 " But time is gold : let pass the chest — on gold the 
 dues I pay ! " 
 
 But he who reads the subtle smile detects the 
 secret fear : 
 
 " Detain the chest ! nor cloth nor gold, but pre- 
 cious silk is here ! " 
 
 Grave Father Abram stands like one who knoweth 
 
 well the sword 
 When tyros baffle thrust and guard ; slow comes 
 
 the heedful word : 
 " I seek no lawless gain — behold ! my trains are 
 
 on their way, 
 Else would these bands my servants break, and 
 
 show the simple goods I take. 
 That silk ye call ; but, for time's sake, on silk the 
 
 dues I pay ! "
 
 THE TREASURE OF ABRAM S9 
 
 " He pays too much ! " the watcher cries ; " this 
 
 man is full of guile ; 
 From cloth to gold and gold to silk, to save a 
 
 paltry mile ! 
 This graybeard pay full silken dues on cloth for 
 
 slave-bred girls ! 
 Some prize is here — he shall not pass until he pay 
 
 for pearls ! " 
 Stern Abram turned a lurid eye, as he the man 
 
 would sJay ; 
 An instant, rose the self-command ; but thin the 
 
 lip and quick the hand. 
 As one who makes a last demand : " On pearls 
 
 the dues I pay ! " 
 " He cannot pass ! " the watcher screamed, as to 
 
 the chest he clung ; 
 " He shall not pass ! Some priceless thing he 
 
 hideth here. Quick — workmen bring ! 
 I seize this treasure for the king ! " 
 Old Abram stood aghast; it seemed the knell of 
 
 doom had rung.
 
 6o LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 III. 
 
 Red-eyed with greed and wonder, 
 
 The crowd excited stand ; 
 The blows are rained like thunder 
 
 On brazen bolt and band ; 
 They burst the massive hinges, 
 
 They raise the ponderous lid, 
 And lo ! the peerless treasure 
 
 That Father Abram hid : 
 
 In pearls and silk and jewels rare, 
 Fit for a Pharaoh's strife ; 
 
 In flashing eyes and golden hair — 
 Sat Abram's lovely wife !
 
 PARABLE AGAI\'ST PERSECUTIOX 6i 
 
 parable Boaiust persecution 
 
 By Benjamin Franklin 
 
 AND it came to pass after these things that 
 Abraham sat in the door of his tent, about 
 the going down of the sun. 
 
 2. And, behold, a man bent with age coming 
 from the way of the wilderness, leaning on a 
 staff. 
 
 3. And Abraham arose, and met him, and said 
 unto him, Turn in, I pray thee, and wash thy feet, 
 and tarry all night : and thou shalt arise early in 
 the morning, and go on thy way. 
 
 4. And the man said, Nay ; for I will abide 
 under this tree. 
 
 5. But Abraham pressed him greatly : so he 
 turned, and they went into the tent : And Abra- 
 ham baked unleavened bread, and they did eat. 
 
 6. And when Abraham saw that the man
 
 62 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 blessed not God, he said unto him, Wherefore dost 
 thou not worship the Most High God, Creator of 
 heaven and earth ? 
 
 7. And the man answered and said, I do not 
 worship thy God, neither do I call upon his 
 name, for I have made to myself a god, which 
 abideth always in my house, and provideth me 
 with all things. 
 
 8. And Abraham's zeal was kindled against the 
 man, and he arose, and fell upon him, and drove 
 him forth with blows into the wilderness. 
 
 9. And God called unto Abraham, saying, 
 Abraham, where is the stranger ? 
 
 10. And Abraham answered and said, Lord, he 
 would not worship thee, neither would he call 
 upon thy name, therefore have I driven him out 
 from before my face, into the wilderness. 
 
 11. And God said. Have I borne with him these 
 hundred and ninety and eight years, and nour- 
 ished him, and clothed him, notwithstanding his
 
 PARABLE AGAINST PERSECUTION 63 
 
 rebellion against me, and couldst not thou, who 
 art thyself a sinner, bear with him one night? 
 
 12. And Abraham said, Let not the anger of my 
 Lord wax hot against his servant; lo, I have 
 sinned, forgive me, I pray thee. 
 
 13. And Abraham arose, and went forth into 
 the wilderness and diligently sought for the man 
 and found him, and returned with him to the 
 tent, and when he had entreated him kindly, he 
 sent him away on the morrow with gifts. 
 
 14. And God spake again unto Abraham say- 
 ing. For this thy sin shall thy seed be afflicted 
 four hundred years in a strange land. 
 
 15. But for thy repentance will I deliver them, 
 and they shall come forth with power, and with 
 gladness of heart, and with much substance.
 
 64 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 IbiOu^ ot So^om 
 
 By H. Poland 
 (Adapted from Selections from the Tahnud) 
 
 IN olden days Sodom and four neighboring cities 
 of the Plain about the Salt Sea were inhab- 
 ited by men of evil deeds, who provoked the 
 wrath of the Most High. They planted in the 
 valley a beautiful garden many miles in extent, a 
 place adorned with fruits and flowers, and objects 
 pleasing to the sight and intoxicating to the 
 senses. There four times a year they held idola- 
 trous feasts with music and wild dancing and 
 drunken excesses. 
 
 In their daily life they were both cruel and 
 treacherous. They vexed the stranger, and took 
 advantage of all who had dealings with them. 
 When a trader who knew not their ways entered 
 their city, they would seize his goods either with 
 violence or through trickery, and if he complained,
 
 HI DUD OF SODOM 65 
 
 they but mocked him and drove him from the 
 place. 
 
 It happened once that a merchant of Elam, 
 journeying to a place beyond Sodom, reached the 
 latter city as the sun was setting. The saddle of 
 his ass was richly ornamented, and precious mer- 
 chandise was bound upon it. Unable to find 
 lodging for himself and stabling for the animal, 
 he resolved to pass the night in the streets of 
 Sodom and continue his journey in the morning. 
 A man of Sodom, named Hidud, chanced to ob- 
 serve this merchant, and even in the twilight his 
 keen and covetous eye took notice of the valuable 
 burden of the ass. Being as cunning as he was 
 treacherous, he accosted the stranger, saying: 
 
 " Whence comest thou, and whither art thou 
 travelling? " 
 
 " I am journeying from Hebron," replied the 
 stranger ; ** my destination is beyond this place ; 
 but, lo, the sun has set ; I can obtain no lodging,
 
 66 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 and so I remain here in the streets. I have bread 
 and water for myself and straw and provender for 
 my beast, so I need trouble no one." 
 
 " Nay, this is wrong," returned Hidud. " Come, 
 pass the night with me, thy lodging shall cost thee 
 naught, and I will attend also to the wants of thy 
 animal." 
 
 Hidud led the stranger to his house. The val- 
 uable saddle and the merchandise which was at- 
 tached to it he removed from the ass, and placed 
 his treasure in a chest. Then he gave the ass 
 provender, and set meat and drink before the 
 stranger, who partook of the meal, and lodged 
 that night with him. 
 
 In the morning the stranger rose up early in- 
 tending to pursue his journey, but Hidud said 
 to him, " Take first thy morning meal, then go 
 thy way." 
 
 After the man had eaten, he rose to go on his 
 way, but Hidud stopped him, saying, " It is late
 
 HJDUD OF SODOM 67 
 
 in the day ; remain, I pray thee, bide with me yet 
 this day and then depart." 
 
 The stranger remained in Hidud's house until 
 the following morning, and then, declining an- 
 other pressing invitation to remain one day more, 
 he prepared for departure. 
 
 Then said Hidud's wife: 
 
 " This man has lived with us two days and 
 paid us naught." 
 
 But Hidud answered : 
 
 " Keep thy peace." 
 
 He then brought forth the stranger's ass, and 
 bade him " Fare thee well." 
 
 "Hold," said the Elamite, "my saddle, the 
 spread of many colors, and the strings attached 
 to it, together witH my merchandise, w^here are 
 they?" 
 
 "What?" exclaimed Hidud. 
 
 " I gave into thy keeping," returned the other, 
 " a beautiful spread with eayly colored strings.
 
 68 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 and bales of silk, and a bag of precious stones, 
 and thou didst place them in thy treasure chest." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Hidud, pleasantly, " I will inter- 
 pret thy dream. That thou hast dreamed of 
 strings, signifieth that thy days will be prolonged 
 even as strings may be stretched from end to end ; 
 that thou hast dreamed of a spread of many 
 colors, signifieth that thou wilt one day possess a 
 garden rich in flowers and luscious fruits." 
 
 The merchant answered : 
 
 " No, my lord, I dreamed not ; I gave to thee a 
 spread of many colors with strings and precious 
 merchandise, and thou didst hide them in thy 
 house." 
 
 And Hidud said: 
 
 "And I have interpreted thy dream. I have 
 told thee its meaning, why dost thou go on to re- 
 peat it? For the interpretation of a dream I am 
 paid four pieces of silver, but as thou art my 
 guest, behold, I will ask of thee only three."
 
 HIDUD OF SODOM 69 
 
 The stranger became full of wrath at this de- 
 ceit, and he accused Hidud in the gate of Sodom 
 of stealing his goods. Then, when each man had 
 told his story, the judge said: 
 
 " Hidud speaks the truth ; he is an interpreter 
 of dreams ; he is well known as such." 
 
 And Hidud said to the stranger : 
 
 " And as thou art such a liar, thou must even 
 pay me the full price, four pieces of silver, as well 
 as for the four meals eaten in my house." 
 
 " Willingly will I pay thee for thy meals," re- 
 plied the other, " if thou wilt but return my sad- 
 dle and my goods." 
 
 Then the two men wrangled with angry words, 
 and the men in the streets joined on Hidud's side, 
 and they fought with the stranger to thrust him 
 forth from the city, robbed of all his possessions. 
 
 Now it happened that Sarai had sent her ser- 
 vant Eleazer to Sodom to inquire concerning the 
 welfare of Lot and his family. As he entered the
 
 70 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 city, Eleazer observed the Sodomites fighting with 
 the merchant whom Hidud had defrauded, and 
 who, running to Eleazer, implored him for assist- 
 ance. 
 
 " What are you doing to this poor man ? " said 
 Eleazer to the Sodomites ; " shame upon you to 
 rob and beat one who is a stranger in your 
 midst ! " 
 
 Then Hidud replied : 
 
 " Is he thy brother ? What is our quarrel to 
 thee ? " and picking up a stone, he struck Eleazer 
 with it on the forehead, causing his blood to flow 
 freely in the street. When the Sodomite saw the 
 blood, he caught hold of Eleazer, crying : 
 
 " Pay me my fee as a leech ; see, I have freed 
 thee of this impure blood ; pay me quickly, for 
 such is our law." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Eleazer, " thou hast 
 wounded me and I am to pay thee for it?"
 
 HIDUD OF SODOM 71 
 
 Then Hidud turned to the judge and made 
 again his demand for a fee. 
 
 " Thou must pay the leech his fee," said the 
 judge, addressing Eleazer, " he has let thy blood, 
 and such is our law." 
 
 Eleazer paid the money, and then lifting up 
 the stone he struck the judge heavily with it, and 
 the blood spurted out in a strong stream. 
 
 " There ! " exclaimed Eleazer, " follow thy law 
 and pay my fee to this man ; I want not the 
 money," and he left the place, taking with him 
 the merchant of Elam, whom Abram received 
 hospitably, and sent on his way with gifts. 
 
 For such acts were Sodom and her sister cities 
 destroyed by fire from heaven, and only Lot and 
 his family spared through God's love for His 
 servant Abram,
 
 72 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 TTbe power of tlears 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 THREE days Isaac was dead in the heart of 
 Abraham ; for God had chosen him as a 
 burnt-ofifering and the father refused not obedi- 
 ence. Silently Abraham ascended the steep height 
 of Moriah, lost in painful reflection, when the 
 friendly voice of his child aroused him : " Behold, 
 my father! we have fire and wood, but where is 
 the lamb for the burnt-ofifering ? " And Abraham 
 said, " My son, God will provide Himself a lamb 
 for a burnt-ofifering ! " And onward they wound 
 their way in silence. 
 
 And they came to the place of which God had 
 told Abraham ; and he built an altar there, and 
 laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, 
 and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 
 
 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and
 
 THE POWER OF TEARS 73 
 
 took the knife to slay his son, and he cast one look 
 of anguish up to heaven ; for the boy lay mute 
 upon the altar: he neither complained nor re- 
 monstrated, but he silently lifted his streaming 
 eyes to heaven. 
 
 The silent tear that glistened in the eyes of both 
 pierced the sky : its mute appeal ascended to the 
 heavens, and pleaded before the mercy-seat of 
 Him before whom silence is equal to eloquence. 
 
 And the Angel of the Lord called unto him 
 out of heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham ! " 
 and he said, " Here am I." And he said, " Lay 
 not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any- 
 thing unto him." 
 
 Joyfully the father received the destined victim, 
 the son who was restored unto him ; and he called 
 the scene of his anguish and joy, " The Lord 
 seeth." He seeth the silent tear in the eye of the 
 sufferer ; He seeth the mute anguish of the heart, 
 which implores more fervently than the loudest 
 appeal.
 
 74 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 /iDoses anC) Jetbro 
 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 
 WHEN Moses once on Horeb's rocky steep, 
 A banished man, was keeping Jethro's 
 sheep, 
 What time his flocks along the hills and dells 
 Made music with their bleatings and their bells, 
 He, by the thoughts that stirred within him drawn 
 Deep in the mountain, heard at early dawn 
 One who in prayer did all his soul outpour, 
 With deep heart-earnestness, but nothing more: 
 For strange his words were, savage and uncouth, 
 And little did he know in very sooth 
 Of that great Lord to whom his vows were made. 
 The other for a moment listening stayed. 
 Until — his patience altogether spent — 
 " Good friend, for whom are these same noises 
 meant ?
 
 MOSES AND JETHRO 75 
 
 For Him who dwells on high? This babbling 
 
 vain, 
 Which vexes even a mortal ear with pain ? 
 Oh, peace ! this is not God to praise, but blame ; 
 Unmannerly applause brings only shame : 
 Oh, stop thy mouth ; thou dost but heap up sin, 
 Such prayer as this can no acceptance win, 
 But were enough to make God's blessings cease." 
 Rebuked, the simple herdsman held his peace. 
 And only crying, " Thou hast rent my heart," 
 He fled into the desert far apart : 
 While with himself and with his zeal content, 
 His steps the son of Amram homeward bent, 
 And ever to himself applauses lent — 
 Much wondering that he did not find the same 
 From his adopted sire, but rather blame. 
 Who, having heard, replied : 
 
 " Was this well done ? 
 What wouldst thou have to answer, O my son, 
 If God should say in anger unto thee —
 
 76 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 ' Why hast thou driven My worshipper from Me ? 
 Why hast thou robbed Me of My dues of prayer ? 
 Well-pleasing offering in My sight they were, 
 And music in Mine ears, if not in thine.' 
 He doth its bounds to every soul assign, 
 Its voice, its language — using which to tell 
 His praise. He counts that it doth praise Him 
 
 well; 
 And when there is a knocking at heav'n's gate. 
 And at its threshold many suppliants wait. 
 Then simple Love will often enter in, 
 Where haughty Science may no entrance win. 
 That poor man's words were rougher husks than 
 
 thine, 
 Which yet might hold a kernel more divine. 
 Rude vessels guarding a more precious wine. 
 All prayer is childlike ; falls as short of Him 
 The wisdom of the wisest Seraphim, 
 As the child's small conceit of heavenly things ; 
 A line to sound His depths no creature brings.
 
 MOSES AND JETIIRO 77 
 
 Before the Infinite, the One, the All, 
 
 Must every diflference disappear and fall, 
 
 There is no wise nor simple, great nor small. 
 
 For Him the little clod of common earth 
 
 Has to the diamond no inferior worth ; 
 
 Nor doth the Ocean, world-encompassing, 
 
 Unto His thought more sense of vastness bring 
 
 Than tiny dew-drop ; atoms in His eye, 
 
 A sun and a sun-mote dance equally : 
 
 Not that the great (here understand aright) 
 
 Is worthless as the little in His sight, 
 
 Rather the little precious as the great. 
 
 And, pondered in His scales, of equal weight : 
 
 So that herein lies comfort, not despair, 
 
 As though we were too little for His care. 
 
 God is so great, there can be nothing small 
 
 To Him — so loving He embraces all, — 
 
 So wise, the wisdom and simplicity 
 
 Of man for Him must on a level be :
 
 78 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 But being this, more prompt to feel the wrong, 
 And to resent it with displeasure strong, 
 When from Him there is rudely, proudly turned 
 The meanest soul that loved Him, and that yearned 
 After His grace. Oh, haste then and begone, 
 Rebuild the altar thou hast overthrown ; 
 Replace the offering which on that did stand. 
 Till rudely scattered by thy hasty hand — 
 Removing, if thou canst, what made it rise 
 A faulty and imperfect sacrifice : 
 And, henceforth, in this gloomy world and dark, 
 Prize every taper yielding faintest spark. 
 And if perchance it burn not clear and bright, 
 Trim, if thou canst, but do not quench it quite."
 
 MOSES VISITS EL KHOUDR 79 
 
 /iDoses Distts JEI 1kbou&r 
 
 By S. Baring-Gould 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 OXE day, say the Mussulmans, Moses boasted 
 before Joshua of his wisdom. Then said 
 God to him, " Go to the place where the sea of 
 the Greeks joins the Persian Gulf, and there you 
 will find one who surpasses you in wisdom." 
 
 Moses therefore announced to the Hebrews, 
 who continued their murmurs, that in punishment 
 for their stiff-neckedness and rebellion they were 
 condemned by God to wander for forty years 
 in the desert. 
 
 Then having asked God how he should recog- 
 nize the wise man of whom God had spoken to 
 him, he was bidden to take a fish in a basket; 
 " and," said God, " the fish will lead you to My 
 faithful servant."
 
 8o LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Moses went on his way with Joshua, having 
 the fish in a basket. In the evening he arrived 
 on the shore of the sea and fell asleep. 
 
 When he awoke in the morning, Joshua for- 
 got to take the fish, and Moses not regarding it, 
 they had advanced far on their journey before 
 they remembered that they had neglected the 
 basket and fish. Then they returned and sought 
 where they had slept, but they found the basket 
 empty. As they were greatly troubled at this 
 loss, they saw the fish before them, standing 
 upright like a man, in the sea; and it led them, 
 and they followed along the coast ; and they did 
 not stay till their guide suddenly vanished. 
 
 Supposing that they had reached their destin- 
 ation, they explored the neighborhood, and found 
 a cave, at the entrance to which were inscribed 
 these words, " In the Name of the all-powerful 
 and all-merciful God." Joshua and Moses, en- 
 tering this cavern, found a man seated there, fresh
 
 MOSES VISITS EL KHOUDR 8i 
 
 and blooming, but with white hair and a long 
 white beard, which descended to his feet. This 
 was the prophet El Khoudr. 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 Moses said to El Khoudr, " Take me for thy 
 disciple, permit me to accompany thee, and to 
 admire the wisdom God has given thee." 
 
 " Thou canst not understand it," answered the 
 venerable man. " Moreover, thy stay with me 
 is short." 
 
 " I will be patient and submissive," said Moses ; 
 " for God's sake, reject me not." 
 
 " Thou mayest follow me," said the sage. 
 " But ask me no questions, and wait till I give 
 thee, at my pleasure, the sense of that which thou 
 comprehendest not." 
 
 Moses accepted the condition, and El Khoudr 
 led him to the sea, where was a ship at anchor. 
 The prophet took a hatchet, and cut two timbers 
 out of her side, so that she foundered.
 
 82 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 "What art thou doing?" asked Moses; "the 
 people on board the ship will be drowned." 
 
 " Did I not say to thee that thou wouldst not 
 remain patient for long? " said the sage. 
 
 " Pardon me," said Moses, " I forgot what I 
 had promised." 
 
 El Khoudr continued his course. Soon they 
 met a beautiful child who was playing with shells 
 on the sea-shore. The prophet took a knife 
 which hung at his girdle and cut the throat of the 
 child. 
 
 "Wherefore hast thou killed the innocent?" 
 asked Moses, in horror. 
 
 " Did I not say to thee," repeated El Khoudr, 
 "that thy journey with me would be short?" 
 
 " Pardon me once more," said Moses ; " if I 
 raise my voice again, drive me from thee." 
 
 After having continued their journey for some 
 way, they arrived at a large town, hungry and 
 tired. But no one would take them in, or give 
 them food, except for money.
 
 MOSES VISITS EL KHOUDR 83 
 
 El Khoudr, seeing that the wall of a large 
 house, from which he had been driven away, 
 menaced ruin, set it up firmly, and then retired. 
 Moses was astonished, and said, " Thou hast done 
 the work of several masons for many days. Ask 
 for a wage which will pay for our lodging." 
 
 Then answered the old man, " We must sepa- 
 rate. But before we part, I will explain what I 
 have done. The ship which I injured belongs to 
 a poor family. If it had sailed, it would have 
 fallen into the hands of pirates. The injury I 
 did can be easily repaired, and the delay will save 
 the vessel for those worthy people who own her. 
 The child I killed had a bad disposition, and it 
 would have corrupted its parents. In its place 
 God will give them pious children. The house 
 which I repaired belongs to orphans, whose father 
 was a man of substance. It has been let to 
 unworthy people. Under the wall is hidden a 
 treasure. Had the tenants mended the wall, they
 
 84 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 would have found and kept the treasure. Now 
 the wall will stand till its legitimate owners 
 come into the house, when they will find the 
 treasure. Thou seest I have not acted blindly 
 and foolishly." 
 
 Moses asked pardon of the prophet, and he re- 
 turned to his people in the wilderness.
 
 THE DEATH OF AARON 85 
 
 Zbc H)eatb ot Baron 
 
 By S. Baring-Gould 
 ( From Legeiids of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 MOSES was full of grief when the word of 
 the Lord came to him that Aaron, his 
 brother, was to die. That night he had no rest, 
 and when it began to dawn towards morning, he 
 rose and went to the tent of Aaron. 
 
 Aaron was much surprised to see his brother 
 come in so early, and he said, " Wherefore art 
 thou come ? " 
 
 Closes answered, " All night long have I been 
 troubled, and have had no sleep, for certain things 
 in the Law came upon me, and they seemed to 
 me to be heavy and unendurable ; I have come 
 to thee that thou shouldst relieve my mind." So 
 they opened the book together and read from the
 
 86 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 first word ; and at every sentence they said, " That 
 is holy, and great, and righteous." 
 
 Soon they came to the history of Adam ; and 
 Moses stayed from reading when he arrived at 
 the Fall, and he cried bitterly, " O Adam, thou 
 hast brought death into the world ! " Aaron 
 said, " Why art thou so troubled thereat, my 
 brother ? Is not death the way to Eden ? " 
 
 " It is, however, very painful. Think also that 
 both thou and I must some day die. How many 
 years thinkest thou we shall live ? " 
 
 Aaron. — " Perhaps twenty." 
 
 Moses. — " Oh, no ! not so many," 
 
 Aaron. — " Then fifteen." 
 
 Moses. — " No, my brother, not so many." 
 
 Aaron. — " Then surely it must be five." 
 
 Moses. — " I say again, not so many." 
 
 Then said Aaron, hesitating, " Is it then one? " 
 
 And Moses said, " Not so much." 
 
 Full of anxiety and alarm, Aaron kept silence.
 
 THE DEATH OF AARON 87 
 
 Then said Moses, gently, " O my beloved ! would 
 it not be good to say of thee as it was said of 
 Abraham, that he was gathered to his fathers in 
 peace?" Aaron was silent. 
 
 Then said Moses, " If God were to say that 
 thou shouldst die in a hundred years, what 
 wouldst thou say? " 
 
 Aaron. — " The Lord is righteous in all His 
 ways, and holy in all His works." 
 
 Moses. — '' And if God were to say to thee that 
 thou shouldst die this year, what wouldst thou 
 answer ? " 
 
 Aaron. — " The Lord is righteous in all His 
 ways, and holy in all His works." 
 
 Moses. — '' And if He were to call thee to-day, 
 what wouldst thou say ? " 
 
 Aaron. — " The Lord is righteous in all His 
 ways, and holy in all His works." 
 
 " Then," said Moses, " arise and follow me." 
 
 At that same hour went forth Moses, Aaron,
 
 88 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 and Eleazer, his son ; they ascended into Mount 
 Hor, and the people looked on, nothing doubting, 
 for they knew not what was to take place. 
 
 Then said the Most High to His angels, " Be- 
 hold the new Isaac; he follows his younger 
 brother, who leads him to death." 
 
 When they had reached the summit of the 
 mountain, there opened before them a cavern. 
 They went in and found a death-bed prepared by 
 the hands of the angels. Aaron laid himself 
 down upon it and made ready for death. 
 
 Then Moses cried out in grief, " Woe is me ! 
 we were two, when we comforted our sister in 
 her death ; in this, thy last hour, I am with thee 
 to solace thee; when I die, who will comfort 
 me?" 
 
 Then a voice was heard from heaven, " Fear 
 not ; God Himself will be with thee." 
 
 On one side stood Moses, on the other Eleazer, 
 and they kissed the dying man on the brow, and
 
 THE DEATH OF AARON 89 
 
 took from off him his sacerdotal vestments to 
 clothe Elcazer, his son, with them. They took 
 off one portion of the sacred apparel, and they 
 laid that on Eleazer; and then they removed an- 
 other portion, and laid that on Eleazer ; and as 
 they stripped Aaron, a silvery veil of clouds sank 
 over him like a pall, and covered him. 
 
 Aaron seemed to be asleep. 
 
 Then Moses said, " My brother, what dost thou 
 feel ? " 
 
 " I feel nothing but the cloud that envelops 
 me," answered he. 
 
 After a little pause, Moses said again, " My 
 brother, what dost thou feel ? " 
 
 He answered feebly, " The cloud surrounds 
 me and bereaves me of all joy." 
 
 And the soul of Aaron was parted from his 
 body. And as it went up Moses cried once more, 
 " Alas, my brother, what dost thou feel ? " 
 
 And the soul replied, " I feel such joy that I 
 would it had come to me sooner."
 
 90 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then cried Moses, " Oh, thou blessed, peaceful 
 death ! Oh, may such a death be my lot ! " 
 
 Moses and Eleazer came down alone from the 
 mountain, and the people wailed because Aaron 
 was no more. But the coffin of Aaron rose, 
 borne by angels, in the sight of the whole congre- 
 gation, and was carried into heaven, whilst the 
 angels sang, " The priest's lips have kept knowl- 
 edge, have spoken truth ! "
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 91 
 
 Ube Deatb of /iDoses 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 WHEN JMoses, the faithful messenger of 
 God, was to die, and his hour approached, 
 the Lord assembled His angels, and said, " It is 
 time to recall the soul of My servant ; who among 
 you will go and summon her to come into My 
 presence ? " 
 
 Then the princes of the angelic host, Michael 
 and Gabriel, with all who stand before the throne 
 of the Lord, implored, and said, " We are his : 
 he has been our teacher ; then let not us summon 
 the soul of this man." 
 
 But Sammael, the leader of the rebellious 
 angels, stood forth, and said, " Behold, here am I, 
 send me." And he went. 
 
 Arrayed in wrath and cruelty, he descended, 
 wielding the flaming sword in his right hand.
 
 92 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 He rejoiced beforehand at the agony, the death- 
 throe of the righteous. But when he came 
 nearer, he beheld the face of Moses. His eyes 
 were not dim, nor his natural force abated. The 
 servant of the Lord wrote the words of his last 
 song and the sacred Name. His countenance 
 was resplendent, radiant with the peace and 
 brightness of heaven. 
 
 The enemy of mankind stood abashed. His 
 sword dropped out of his hand, and he hurried 
 away. " I cannot bring the soul of this man," 
 he said to the Lord, " for in him I have found 
 nothing impure." 
 
 And the Lord descended to summon the soul 
 of his faithful and beloved servant. Michael, 
 and Gabriel, and the host of angels that stand 
 before Him, followed in His train. They pre- 
 pared Moses' bier, and surrounded it ; and a 
 voice was heard, " Fear not, I Myself will bury 
 thee."
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 93 
 
 Then Moses prepared himself to die, and sanc- 
 tified himself even as one of the seraphim sanc- 
 tifieth himself. And the Lord called unto his soul 
 and said, " My daughter ! one hundred and twenty 
 years is the term allotted for thy inhabiting My 
 servant's earthly tenement. The time is expired ; 
 then come forth, and tarry not." 
 
 And Moses' soul answered and said, " O Lord 
 of the universe! I know that Thou art God, the 
 sovereign Ruler of all spirits and of all souls, and 
 that the living and the dead are alike in Thy 
 hand. From Thee I received Thy glorious law : 
 I saw Thee in the flame ; I ascended and went 
 along the path towards heaven. Girt with Thy 
 power, I entered the palace of Egypt's king ; I 
 took the crown from off the head of the proud 
 Pharaoh, and did manifold signs and wonders in 
 his land. I led forth Thy people, and parted the 
 sea ; and I made known Thy will unto the sons 
 of man. I dwelt beneath the throne of Thy
 
 94 
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 glory; my hut was under the pillar of fire, and 
 I have spoken with Thee face to face, as a man 
 speaketh to his friend. And is not all this enough 
 for me? Receive me, therefore, for now I come 
 to Thee." 
 
 The breath of the Most High touched the lips 
 of Moses, whose soul departed in the touch. So 
 Moses died at the mouth of God, who Himself 
 buried him; and no man knoweth his sepulchre 
 unto this day.
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 95 
 
 'Cbe IDeatb of /iDoses 
 
 By George Eliot 
 (From Jubal and other Poems) 
 
 MOSES, who spake with God as with his 
 friend, 
 And ruled his people with the twofold power 
 Of wisdom that can dare and still be meek, 
 Was writing his last word, the sacred name 
 Unutterable of that Eternal Will 
 Which was and is and evermore shall be. 
 Yet was his task not finished, for the flock 
 Needed its shepherd, and the life-taught sage 
 Leaves no successor ; but to chosen men, 
 The rescuers and guides of Israel, 
 A death was given called the Death of Grace, 
 Which freed them from the burden of the flesh. 
 But left them rulers of the multitude 
 And loved companions of the lonely. This
 
 96 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Was God's last gift to Moses, this the hour 
 When soul must part from self and be but soul. 
 
 God spake to Gabriel, the messenger 
 
 Of mildest death that draws the parting life 
 
 Gently, as when a little rosy child 
 
 Lifts up its lips from off the bowl of milk 
 
 And so draws forth a curl that dipped its gold 
 
 In the soft white — thus Gabriel draws the soul. 
 
 " Go, bring the soul of Moses unto Me ! " 
 
 And the awe-stricken angel answered, " Lord, 
 
 How shall I dare to take his life who lives 
 
 Sole of his kind, not to be likened once 
 
 In all the generations of the earth ? " 
 
 Then God called Michael, him of pensive brow, 
 
 Snow-vest and flaming sword, who knows and 
 
 acts: 
 " Go, bring the spirit of Moses unto Me ! " 
 But Michael, with such grief as angels feel. 
 Loving the mortals whom they succor, plead:
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 97 
 
 " Almighty, spare me ; it was I who taught 
 Thy servant Moses ; he is part of me 
 As I of Thy deep secrets, knowing them." 
 
 Then God called Zamael, the terrible, 
 The angel of fierce death, of agony 
 That comes in battle and in pestilence 
 Remorseless, sudden or with lingering throes, 
 And Zamael, his raiment and broad wings 
 Blood-tinctured, the dark lustre of his eyes 
 Shrouding the red, fell like the gathering 
 
 night 
 Before the prophet. But that radiance 
 Won from the heavenly presence in the mount 
 Gleamed on the prophet's brow, and dazzling 
 
 pierced 
 Its conscious opposite : the angel turned 
 His murky gaze aloof and inly said : 
 '' An angel this, deathless to angel's stroke."
 
 98 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 But Moses felt the subtly nearing dark : — 
 "Who art thou? and what wilt thou?" Zamael 
 
 then: 
 " I am God's reaper ; through the fields of life 
 I gather ripened and unripened souls, 
 Both willing and unwilling. And I come 
 Now to reap thee." But Moses cried 
 Firm as a seer who waits the trusted sign : 
 " Reap thou the fruitless plant and common 
 
 herb — 
 Not him who from the womb was sanctified 
 To teach the law of purity and love." 
 And Zamael baffled from his errand fled. 
 
 But Moses, pausing, in the air serene 
 Heard now that mystic whisper, far yet near, 
 The all-penetrating Voice, that said to him, 
 " Moses, the hour is come and thou must die." 
 " Lord. I obey ; but Thou rememberest 
 How Thou, Ineffable, didst take me once 
 Within Thy orb of light untouched by death."
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES OO 
 
 Then the \^oice answered, "Be no more afraid: 
 With Me shall be thy death and burial." 
 So Moses waited, ready now to die. 
 
 And the Lord came, invisible as a thought, 
 Three angels gleaming on His secret track, 
 Prince Michael, Zamael, Gabriel, charged to 
 
 guard 
 The soul-forsaken body as it fell, 
 And bear it to the hidden sepulchre 
 Denied forever to the search of man. 
 And the Voice said to Moses : " Close thine eyes." 
 He closed them. " Lay thine hand upon thine 
 
 heart, 
 And draw thy feet together." He obeyed. 
 And the Lord said. " O spirit! child of Mine! 
 A hundred years and twenty thou hast dwelt 
 Within this tabernacle wrought of clay. 
 This is the end : come forth and flee to heaven."
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 But the grieved soul with plaintive pleading cried, 
 " I love this body with a clinging love : 
 The courage fails me, Lord, to part from it." 
 " O child, come forth, for thou shalt dwell with 
 
 Me 
 About the immortal throne where seraphs joy 
 In growing vision and in growing love." 
 
 Yet hesitating, fluttering, like the bird 
 
 With young wing weak and dubious, the soul 
 
 Stayed. But behold ! upon the death-dewed lips 
 
 A kiss descended, pure, unspeakable — 
 
 The bodiless Love, without embracing Love 
 
 That lingered in the body, drew it forth 
 
 With heavenly strength and carried it to heaven. 
 
 But now beneath the sky the watchers all, 
 Angels that keep the homes of Israel, 
 Or on high purpose wander o'er the world 
 Leading the Gentiles, felt a dark eclipse : 
 The greatest ruler among men was gone.
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 
 
 And from the westward sea was heard a wail. 
 A dirge as from the isles of Javanim, 
 Crying, " Who now is left upon the earth 
 Like him to teach the right and smite the 
 
 wrong? " 
 And from the East, far o'er the Syrian waste. 
 Came slowlier, sadlier, the answering dirge : 
 " No prophet like him lives or shall arise 
 In Israel or the world forevermore." 
 
 But Israel waited, looking towards the mount, 
 Till with the deepening eve the elders came 
 Saying, " His burial is hid with God. 
 We stood far off and saw the angels lift 
 His corpse aloft until they seemed a star 
 That burned itself away within the sky." 
 The people answered with mute orphaned gaze 
 Looking for what had vanished evermore. 
 Then through the gloom without them and within 
 The spirits' shaping light, mysterious speech,
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Invisible Will wrought clear in sculptured sound, 
 The thought-begotten daughter of the Voice, 
 Thrilled on their listening sense : " He has no 
 
 tomb. 
 He dwells not with you dead, but lives as Law."
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 103 
 
 Ube Deatb ot /ll>05e9 
 
 By Richard Henry Stoddard 
 
 NOW Moses knew his hour of death was nigh ; 
 For the Most High commanded Sammael 
 To fetch His servant's soul to Paradise — 
 Sammael, who, clothed in anger, grasped his 
 
 sword 
 To slay him, and would have slain, but for the 
 
 light 
 Wherewith his face shone, while his hand went 
 
 on 
 Writing the Incommunicable Name. 
 " What ails thee, Moses ? Why art thou so pale ? 
 What evil hath befallen us?" Zipporah asked. 
 And Moses said : " My hour of death is come ! " 
 " What ! must a man who has spoken with God 
 
 die thus? 
 Thou, like a common man ? " " I must, all must, 
 The angels Michael, Gabriel, Israfel,
 
 104 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 God only is eternal, and dies not. 
 
 Where are my children ? " " They are put to 
 
 sleep." 
 " Wake them ; for I must say farewell to them." 
 Beside the children's bed she wept and moaned: 
 " Wake, rise, and bid your father now farewell, 
 Orphans ! for this is his last day on earth ! " 
 They woke in terror. " Who will pity us 
 When we are fatherless ? " " Who will pity them 
 When they are fatherless?" And Moses wept. 
 Then God spake to him : " Dost thou fCar to 
 
 die? 
 Or dost thou leave this earth reluctantly ? " 
 And Moses said : " I do not fear to die. 
 Nor do I leave this earth reluctantly : 
 But I lament these children of mine age, 
 Who have their gfrandsire and their uncle lost, 
 And who will lose their father, if I die." 
 " In whom did she, thy mother, then confide. 
 When thou by her wast in the bulrush ark
 
 THE DEATH OF MOSES 105 
 
 Committed to the Nile ? " " In Thee, O Lord ! " 
 " Who hardened Pharaoh's heart, and gave thee 
 
 power 
 Before him and his gods, and to thy hand 
 A staff, to part the waters ? " " Thou, O Lord ! " 
 " And fearest to trust thy children unto Me, 
 Who am the Father of the fatherless ? 
 Go, take thy staff and over the sea once more 
 Extend it. and thou shalt behold a sign 
 To strengthen thy weak faith," And he obeyed. 
 He took the rod of God, and, going down 
 To the desolate sea-beach, he stretched it there. 
 The sea divided, as when clouds are driven 
 Along the path of a whirlwind, and he saw 
 A black rock in it, whereunto he went ; 
 And reaching soon the rock, a voice cried, 
 
 " Smite ! " 
 He smote ; it clave asunder, and therein, 
 At its foundation, was a little cleft, 
 And in that cleft, with a green leaf in its mouth,
 
 to6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 A worm, which, Hfting up its voice, cried thrice, 
 " Praise be to God, who hath not forgotten me, 
 Worm that I am, in holy darkness here ! 
 Praise be to Him, who cherishes even me ! " 
 When the low voice was silent, heard of all 
 The angels in the pauses of their hymn. 
 For they ceased singing to behold that sign 
 Of God's exceeding love, He spake again : 
 " Thou seest that I consider and provide 
 Not for man only, but for a little worm, 
 In a rock whereof men know not, in the waves. 
 Far in the dark depths of the barren sea. 
 Shall I forget thy children who know Me ? " 
 Then Moses, so instructed of the Lord, 
 Comforted his children, and his sorrowing wife; 
 And, leaning on his staff, went forth alone. 
 To climb the mountain where he was to die ; 
 And where, when he had closed his weary eyes, 
 And pressed his hand upon his pulseless heart, 
 God kissed His servant, and he was with Him.
 
 GILBOA ir>7 
 
 Otlboa 
 
 By E. H. Plumptre 
 (From Master and Scholar) 
 
 I. 
 
 SO life is ending, and its visions pass 
 Before the inward eye, 
 Like soft dew falling on the tender grass, 
 When all around is dry. 
 
 Through the dark night I see the ruby flush 
 
 Of childhood's earliest day ; 
 Through war's wild din, and battle's torrent rush, 
 
 I hear the children play. 
 
 Yet once again I live that time of might, 
 
 When I, and one with me 
 Who bore my shield, were conquerors in the fight, 
 
 And made the aliens flee.
 
 io8 LEGENDS AND TAL£S 
 
 From crag to crag we clambered, hand in hand, 
 
 And leapt from rock to rock ; 
 Till from the height we looked on all the land, 
 
 And dared the battle's shock. 
 
 I feel the faintness of that noontide heat, 
 
 The thirst that fired the brain ; 
 I taste the golden stream that trickled sweet, 
 
 And brought life back again : 
 
 The fear of death is on me as of old, 
 
 When Saul in sternness strove 
 An iron mantle round his heart to fold, 
 
 And crush a father's love ; 
 
 I stood as one condemned to shameful death. 
 
 And offered up my life, 
 As Isaac bowed of old, with calmest breath. 
 
 To meet the glittering knife :
 
 GILBOA 109 
 
 When shrill and loud from warriors old and 
 young 
 
 There rose the awe-struck cry ; 
 Their strong resolve through hill and forest rung, 
 
 " This day shall no man die ! " 
 
 So with my father many a month passed on, 
 
 I smote the craven foe ; 
 And year by year the crown of victory won. 
 
 Requiting blow for blow. 
 
 So grew my soul to manhood's kingly noon. 
 
 And all men sang my praise ; 
 Yet darker far than night without a moon 
 
 Was fame's full daylight blaze. 
 
 I craved for one whose heart should beat as mine. 
 
 My hopes and thoughts to share ; 
 A soul to live with me the life divine. 
 
 And half grief's burden bear.
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 I sought for one to be my friend and guide, 
 
 ]My glory and my joy ; 
 When lo ! there stood in brightness by my side 
 
 The minstrel shepherd-boy. 
 
 II. 
 
 Yes, there he stood, and life's deep-hidden foun- 
 tains 
 
 Welled from my soul in one abounding flood ; 
 The sun shone brighter on the hoary mountains, 
 
 A sweeter music murmured through the wood. 
 
 It was not for the flush of youthful beauty, 
 
 The golden locks that flowed like sunlight 
 down ; 
 Through eye's wild flash there gleamed the star 
 of duty, 
 And on his brow Truth set her kingly crown.
 
 GILBOA 1 1 1 
 
 Strong arm was his to smite the tyrant stranger, 
 Voice soft as maiden's stirring men to tears, 
 
 A soul that knew no fear of death or danger, 
 Wide thoughts of wisdom ripening with the 
 years : 
 
 Forth from his Hps there flowed the song of glad- 
 ness, 
 
 His hand brought music from the soulless lyre ; 
 And lo ! the spell chased all the clouds of madness, 
 
 Wrath passed away as wax before the fire. 
 
 Of warriors old he sang, our fathers' glory, 
 The wonders of the nobler days of old ; 
 
 And strong, deep music thrilled through all the 
 storv, 
 Stirring all hearts to deeds of prowess bold. 
 
 He sang the marvels of the earth and heaven, 
 
 The starry night, the cloud-built tent of God, 
 The wild, dark storm on wings of tempest driven,
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 The snow-clad heig^hts where never man has 
 trod: 
 
 And new Hght streamed o'er mountain and o'er 
 river, 
 New voices mingled with the streamlet's song ; 
 Men's hearts rose up to meet the Eternal Giver, 
 The slave found freedom, and the weak grew 
 strong. 
 
 And oh ! my heart clave to him as he chanted 
 The hymns that made the brain and spirit 
 thrill ; 
 I found the prize for which my soul had panted, 
 The friend and guide of thought, and heart, 
 and will. 
 
 I track that love throughout life's varied chances ; 
 
 And still my heart is with him to the last. 
 Though all our glory wane as his advances, 
 
 His the bright future, ours the failing past.
 
 GILBOA 113 
 
 III. 
 
 I gave him, in that first bright hour of meeting, 
 
 IMy robe, and sword, and shield ; 
 And ofttimes since in every secret greeting. 
 
 In forest or in field. 
 
 That sacrifice of self on true love's altar, 
 
 I of free choice renewed ; 
 Nor shall my spirit fail or purpose falter, 
 
 With woman's varying mood. 
 
 I trust he loves me still, but love's requiting . . . 
 
 What need for that to bless ? 
 Though he should stand a foe against me fight- 
 in o- 
 
 I should not love him less ; 
 
 Though from his hand should dart the spear to 
 slay me, 
 I could not him denv ;
 
 114 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 No Other love have I whereon to stay me, 
 And when that fails I die: 
 
 I dream that he will give a little weeping 
 
 Above my fameless grave; 
 I trust my orphan child to his true keeping 
 
 From shame and death to save : 
 
 So, though my lineage from the earth shall perish, 
 
 Yet faithful to the end, 
 He still, through kingly state and strife, may 
 cherish 
 
 The memory of his friend. 
 
 IV. 
 
 That music soft, of tender touch and tone, 
 That drew the living fount from heart of stone. 
 
 Is hushed and passed away ; 
 Now falls the darkness thicker, and mine eye 
 Looks out upon the starless, moonless sky. 
 
 The dreary, lonely way.
 
 GILBOA IIS 
 
 The king, my father, turned in wild despair 
 To priest and seer, with unregarded prayer, 
 
 Seeking for truth and light ; 
 They answered not, the Urim hid its gleams, 
 No vision of the future came in dreams, 
 
 But all was dreariest night. 
 
 And so with frenzy, as of one who feels 
 The curse of God fall on him while he kneels, 
 
 He in his maddened moods 
 To Endor turned, where still in cavern drear 
 Dwelt one, whose name had been a word of fear. 
 
 In sullen solitudes, 
 
 I shudder yet at what I saw and heard. 
 
 The spectral form, the whispered, muttering 
 
 word. 
 The spells that raise the dead. 
 The low wild chaunt that came like mourner's 
 
 wail,
 
 1,5 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 When o'er the grave sweeps fast the northern 
 gale, 
 The kirid Hght and red. 
 
 The kingly face with terror wan and white, 
 
 The tall form stretched upon the earth all night, 
 
 The weariness and woe ; 
 The dreary hours between the midnight black 
 And day's first gloaming, pale and faint and slack, 
 
 The minutes moving slow ; 
 
 The fixed despair, the wild and vacant eye 
 Of one who hates his life, yet cannot die, 
 
 Though even hope is gone. 
 Dark end, my father, this of all thy fame. 
 The songs and shouts that heralded thy name 
 
 The cry of battle won ; 
 
 Dark end of all the loftier hours of life 
 When, raised awhile above its little strife, 
 Thy soul rose up to heaven,
 
 GILBOA 117 
 
 And Saul the prophet, bursting into praise. 
 Sang the great hymns of earlier, holier days, 
 Forgiving and forgiven. 
 
 Ah ! even yet I dream there lingers still. 
 Through wildest storms, and wanderings of the 
 will, 
 
 The man that God will own ; 
 That loftiest hour thou canst not all forget, 
 That glory of the past is with thee yet. 
 
 That music from the Throne. 
 
 Yes, he shall own it in whose minstrel notes 
 A higher strain than priest's or prophet's floats, 
 
 The Spirit from on high ; 
 His voice shall sing of father and of son. 
 Who, still unsevered, soul and heart still one, 
 
 In death's dark chamber lie. 
 
 Lovely and pleasant yet our names shall be ; 
 The guilt, the shame, the woe, the pain, shall flee ;
 
 ii8 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And, as the shadows fall, 
 Amid the surging storm, and battle's roar, 
 We with calm steps approach the eternal shore, 
 
 Where peace reigns over all.
 
 THE DAWN ti9 
 
 Ube Dawn 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 HAST thou seen the beauteous dawn, the rosy 
 harbinger of day ? Its brilliancy proceeds 
 from the Apartment of God ; a ray of the Im- 
 perishable Light, and consolation to man. 
 
 • • ■ • • 
 
 As David, pursued by his foes, passed a dread- 
 ful night of agony in a dreary cleft of Hermon's 
 rock, he sung the most plaintive of his psalms: 
 " Lions and tigers roar around me ; the assembly 
 of the wicked have encompassed me ; and no help 
 is near," 
 
 When, behold, the dawn broke ; with sparkling 
 eyes the roe of morning sprung forth, moved over 
 hills and plains, and, like a messenger of the
 
 120 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Deity, addressed the fugitive on the sterile rock : 
 " Why dost thou complain that no help is near ? 
 I emerge from the obscurity of the night; and 
 the terrors of darkness must yield before the 
 genial ray of the cheerful light." 
 
 His eye continued fixed on the purple hue of 
 the dawn, and he felt consoled. He saw it arise, 
 and become the sun in its splendor, pouring bless- 
 ing and happiness over the earth. Confidence 
 and hope once more entered his soul ; his plaintive 
 lam.ent became a hymn of joy; he called it " the 
 roe of the morning,* the song of the rosy dawn." 
 
 Often in aftertimes, he repeated this psalm to 
 thank his God for those perils of his younger 
 years which he had overcome ; and amidst the 
 sorrows of his latter years that psalm ever 
 cheered his desponding soul. . . . 
 
 Daughter of the Creator, holy dawn, thou who 
 every morning dost look down, and inaugurate 
 * Psalm xxii : in-j'n r\W hv
 
 THE DAWN T2I 
 
 heaven and earth, look on me, too, and inaugurate 
 my heart, that it may be pure, an altar devoted 
 to thy Maker.
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube IRoi^al Singer 
 
 Talmudic Allegory 
 (From The Hebrew Review) 
 
 THE royal singer had sung one of his most 
 beautiful psalms to the glory and praise of 
 Him who had been his help in every need. The 
 last notes still vibrated on the strings of his harp, 
 when Satan stood beside him, and tempted the 
 heart of the king to be proud of his song. 
 *' Amongst all Thy creatures," he exclaimed, 
 '' hast Thou, O Lord, one who praises Thee 
 more melodiously than I do?" 
 
 Through the open window, before which he 
 spread his hands in prayer, a grasshopper flew 
 into the king's room, and seated itself on the 
 hem of his robe. She began her clear matin- 
 song; a number of grasshoppers assembled 
 around her. One nightingale came, and soon
 
 THE ROYAL SINGER 123 
 
 numbers of nightingales sang the praises of their 
 Creator. 
 
 The ear of the king was opened ; he heard the 
 concert of all animated nature : the splashing of 
 the brook, the rustling of the woods, the voice 
 of the morning star, the enrapturing song of the 
 rising sun. 
 
 Lost in the high harmony of the voices which 
 unceasingly and unweariedly sung, the king re- 
 mained silent. He thought his song excelled even 
 by the grasshoppers which still chirped on the 
 hem of his robe. Humility again entered into 
 his soul ; he took his harp, and gave vent to his 
 feelings, as the musical strings resounded with 
 his admiration. " Praise ye the Lord," he sung, 
 "all ye his creatures. Praise thou likewise the 
 Lord, my inmost heart! my soul, join humbly in 
 His praise."
 
 124 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 notbUxQ in tbe Morl& Mttbout llts 
 
 Xllse 
 
 By H. Poland 
 (From Selections from the Talmud) 
 
 DAVID, King of Israel, was once lying upon 
 his couch, and many thoughts were passing 
 through his mind. 
 
 " Of what use in this world is the spider ? " 
 thought he ; " it but increases the dust and dirt of 
 the world, making places unsightly and causing 
 great annoyance." 
 
 Then he thought of an insane man : 
 
 " How unfortunate is such a being ! I know 
 that all things are ordained by God with reason 
 and purpose, yet this is beyond my comprehen- 
 sion; why should men be born idiots, or grow 
 insane? " 
 
 Then the mosquitoes annoyed him, and the
 
 NOTHING IN THE WORLD IVITHOUT ITS USE 125 
 
 king thought, " What can the mosquito be good 
 for? why was it created in tlie world? It but 
 disturbs our comfort, and the world profits not 
 by its existence." 
 
 Yet King David lived to discover that these 
 very insects, and the very condition of life the 
 being of which he deplored, were ordained even 
 to his own benefit. 
 
 When he fled from before Saul, David was 
 captured in the land of the Philistines by the 
 brothers of Goliath, who carried him before the 
 king of Gath, and it was only by pretending idiocy 
 that he escaped death, the king deeming it im- 
 possible that such a man could be the kingly 
 David. 
 
 Upon another occasion David hid himself in 
 the cave of Adullam, and after he had entered 
 the cave it chanced that a spider spun a web over 
 the opening thereof. His pursuers passed that 
 way, but thinking that no one could have entered
 
 126 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 the cave protected by the spider's web without 
 destroying it, they continued on their way. 
 
 The mosquito also was of service to David, 
 when he entered the camp of Saul to secure the 
 latter's weapon. While he stooped near Abner, 
 the sleeping man moved and placed his leg upon 
 David's body. If he moved, he would awake 
 Abner and meet death ; if he remained in that 
 position, morning would dawn and bring him to 
 death ; he knew not what to do, when a mosquito 
 alighted upon Abner's leg; he moved it quickly, 
 and David escaped. 
 
 Therefore sang David : 
 
 " All my bones shall say, O Lord, who is like 
 unto Thee."
 
 DAVID'S SEARCH 127 
 
 5)av>l&'6 Searcb for 1bls Companion lln 
 
 paradise 
 
 By S. Baring-Gould 
 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 DAVID thanked God that He had given him 
 such a wise son as Solomon, and now he 
 desired but one thing- further of God, and that 
 was to see him who was to be his companion in 
 Paradise ; for to every man is allotted by God 
 one man to be his friend and comrade in the 
 Land of Bliss. 
 
 So David prayed to God, and his prayer was 
 heard, and a voice fell from heaven and bade him 
 to confer the kingdom upon his son Solomon, 
 and then to go forth, and the Lord would lead 
 him to the place where his companion dwelt. 
 
 David therefore had his son Solomon crowned 
 king, and then he went forth out of Jerusalem.
 
 128 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 and he was in pilgrim's garb, with a staff in his 
 hand ; and he went from city to city, and from 
 village to village, but he found not the man whom 
 he sought. One day, after the lapse of many 
 weeks, he drew near to a village upon the borders 
 of the Mediterranean Sea, and alongside of him 
 walked a poorly dressed man laden with a bundle 
 of fagots. This man was very old and reverend 
 of aspect, and David watched him. He saw him 
 dispose of his wood, and then give half the money 
 he had obtained by the sale of it to a poor person. 
 After that he bought a piece of bread and retired 
 from the town. As he went, there passed a blind 
 woman, and the old man broke his bread in half, 
 and gave one portion to the woman ; and he con- 
 tinued his course till he reached the mountains 
 from which he had brought his load in the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 David thought, " This man well deserves to be 
 my companion for eternity, for he is pious, char-
 
 DAVIDS SEARCH 129 
 
 itable, and reverend of aspect ; I must ask his 
 name." 
 
 He went after the old man, and he found him 
 in a cave among the rocks, which was Hghted by 
 a rent above. David stood without and lieard the 
 hermit pray, and read the Tora and the Psahns, 
 till the sun went down. Then he lighted a lamp 
 and began his evening prayers ; and when they 
 were finished, he drew forth the piece of bread, 
 and ate the half of it. 
 
 David, who had not ventured to interrupt the 
 devotions of the old hermit, now entered the cave 
 and saluted him. 
 
 The hermit asked, " Who art thou ? I have 
 seen no man here before, save only Mata, son of 
 Johanna, the companion destined to King David 
 in Paradise." 
 
 David told his name, and asked after this 
 Mata. But the aged man could give him no 
 information of his whereabouts. ''But," said he,
 
 130 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " go over these mountains, and observe well what 
 thou lightest upon, and it may be thou wilt find 
 Mata." 
 
 David thanked him, and continued his search. 
 For long it was profitless. He traversed the 
 stony dales and the barren mountains, and saw 
 no trace of human foot. At last, just as hope was 
 abandoning him, on the summit of a rugged peak 
 he saw a wet spot. Then he stood still in sur- 
 prise. " How comes there to be a patch of soft 
 and sloppy ground here ? " he asked ; " the top- 
 most peak of a stony mountain is not the place 
 where springs bubble up." 
 
 As he thus mused, an aged man came up the 
 other side of the mountain. His eyes were de- 
 pressed to the earth, so that he saw not David. 
 And when he came to the wet patch, he stood still, 
 and prayed with such fervor that rivulets of tears 
 flowed out of his eyes, and sank into the soil ; and 
 thus David learned how it was that the mountain 
 top was wet.
 
 DAVWS SEARCH 13 > 
 
 Then David thought, " Surely this man, whose 
 eyes are such copious fountains of tears, must 
 be my companion in i^'aradise." 
 
 Yet he ventured not to interrupt him in his 
 prayer, till he heard him ask, " O my God ! pardon 
 King David his sins, and save him from further 
 trespass ! for my sake be merciful to him, for 
 Thou hast destined him to be my comrade for all 
 eternity ! " 
 
 Then David ran towards him, but the old man 
 tottered and fell, and before the king reached him 
 he was dead. 
 
 So David dug into the ground which had been 
 moistened by the tears of Mata, and laid him 
 there, and said the funeral prayers over him, and 
 covered him with the earth, and then returned to 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 And when he came into his harem, the Angel 
 of Death stood there and greeted him with the 
 words, " God has heard thy supplications ; now 
 has thv life reached it? end."
 
 132 LEGEXDS AND TALES 
 
 Then David said, " The Lord's will be done! " 
 and he fell down upon the ground, and expired. 
 
 Gabriel descended to comfort Solomon, and to 
 give him a heavenly shroud in which to wrap 
 David. And all Israel followed the bier to Mach- 
 pelah, where Solomon laid him by the side of 
 Abraham and Joseph.
 
 HOIV SOLOMOX OBTAINED POWER 133 
 
 "fcow Solomon ©btalne& power 
 
 By S. Barixg-Gould 
 (From Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets) 
 
 AFTER Solomon had executed the last offices 
 for his father, he rested in a dale between 
 Hebron and Jerusalem, and fell asleep. As he 
 returned to himself, there stood before him eight 
 angels, each with countless wings, diverse in 
 kinds and colors ; and the angels bowed them- 
 selves before him three times. 
 
 "Who are ye?" asked Solomon, with eyes 
 still closed. 
 
 " We are the angels ruling over the eight winds 
 of heaven," was their reply. " God hath sent 
 us to give thee dominion over ourselves and over 
 the winds subject to us. They will storm and 
 bluster, or breathe softly, at thy pleasure. At
 
 134 LEGEXDS AND TALES 
 
 thy command they will swoop down on earth, 
 and bear thee over the highest mountains." 
 
 The greatest of the angels gave him a jewel 
 inscribed with " God is Power and Greatness," 
 and said, " When thou hast a command for us, 
 then raise this stone towards heaven, and we shall 
 appear before thee as thy servants." 
 
 When these angels had taken their departure, 
 there appeared four more, of whom each was 
 unlike the other. One was in fashion as a 
 great whale, another as an eagle, the third as a 
 lion, and the fourth as a serpent. And they said, 
 " We are they who rule over all the creatures that 
 move in the earth, and air, and water; and God 
 hath sent us to give thee dominion over all crea- 
 tures, that they may serve thee and thy friends 
 with all good, and fight against thine enemies with 
 all their force." 
 
 The angel who ruled over the winged fowls 
 extended to Solomon a precious stone, with the
 
 HOW SOLOMOX OBTAIXnn POWER 135 
 
 inscription, " Let all creatures praise the Lord! " 
 and said, " By virtue of this stone, raised above 
 thy head, canst thou call us to thy assistance, and 
 to fulfil thy desire." 
 
 Solomon immediately ordered the angels to 
 bring- before him a pair of every living creature 
 that moves in the water, flies in the air, and 
 walks or glides or creeps on the earth. 
 
 The angels vanished, and in an instant they 
 were with Solomon once more, and there were 
 assembled in his sight pairs of every creature, 
 from the elephant to the smallest fly. 
 
 Solomon conversed with the angels, and v/as 
 instructed by them in the habits, virtues, and 
 names of all living creatures; he listened to the 
 complaints of the beasts, birds, and fishes, and 
 by his wisdom he rectified many evil customs 
 among them. 
 
 He entertained himself longest with the birds, 
 both on account of their beautiful speecli. wliicli
 
 136 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 he understood, and also because of the wise 
 sentences which they uttered. 
 
 This is the signification of the cry of the 
 peacock: "With what measure thou judgest 
 others, thou shalt thyself be judged." 
 
 This is the song of the nightingale : " Content- 
 ment is the greatest happiness." I' 
 
 The turtle-dove calls : " Better were it for 
 some created things that they had never been 
 created." 
 
 The pewit pipes : " He that hath no mercy, 
 will not find mercy hifnself." 
 
 The bird syrdar cries : " Turn to the Lord, ye 
 sinners." 
 
 The swallow screams : " Do good, and ye shall 
 receive a reward." 
 
 This is the pelican's note : " Praise the Lord 
 in heaven and earth." 
 
 The dove chants : " The fashion of this world 
 passeth away, but God remaineth eternal."
 
 HOIV SOLOMON OBTAINED POWER 137 
 
 The kata says : " Silence is the best safe- 
 guard." 
 
 The cry of the eagle is : " However long life 
 may be, yet its inevitable term is death." 
 
 The croak of the raven is : " The further 
 from man, the happier I." 
 
 The cock crows before the dawn and in the 
 day : " Remember thy Creator, O thoughtless 
 man." 
 
 Solomon chose the cock and the pewit to be his 
 constant companions — the first because of its cry, 
 and the second, because it can see through earth 
 as through glass, and could therefore tell him 
 where fountains of water were to be found. 
 
 After he had stroked the dove, he bade her 
 dwell with her young in the Temple he was about 
 to build to the honor of the Most High. This 
 pair of doves, in a few years, multiplied to such 
 an extent that all who sought the Temple moved
 
 T.-^S LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 through the quarter of the town it occupied under 
 the shadow of the wings of doves. 
 
 When Solomon was again alone, an angel ap- 
 peared to him, whose upper half was like to earth, 
 and whose lower half was like to water. He bowed 
 himself before the king, and said, " I am created 
 by God to do His will on the dry land and in the 
 watery sea. Now, God has sent me to serve thee, 
 and thou canst rule over earth and water. At thy 
 command the highest mountains will be made 
 plain, and the level land will rise into steep 
 heights. Rivers and seas will dry up, and the 
 desert will stream with water at thy command." 
 Then he gave to him a precious stone, with the 
 legend engraved thereon, "Heaven and earth 
 serve God."
 
 TUP. j-isrox or solomon 139 
 
 Xlbe IDisiou ot Solomon 
 
 By William Whitehead 
 
 ' np WAS night, and sleep with gentle-waving 
 1 wand 
 
 Sat softly brooding o'er that monarch's brow, 
 Whose waking nod could Judah's realms com- 
 mand. 
 
 Or deal destruction to the frighted foe, 
 Great David's son — but at this tranquil hour 
 
 No dreams of state disturbed his peaceful bed ; 
 To nobler heights his thoughts unfetter'd soar, 
 
 And brighter visions hover round his head : 
 Let meaner kings by mortals guard their state, 
 Around his sacred couch aerial legates wait. 
 
 " Hail, best belov'd ! superior to the rest," 
 
 One bending angel cried with heavenly voice, 
 
 " Earth, seas, and air, stand to thy view confess'd. 
 And God's own mandate ratifies thv choice.
 
 140 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Choose then from these — say, shall thy pow'r 
 
 extend 
 Where suns scarce warm this earth's remotest 
 
 shore, 
 Shall India's lords beneath thy sceptre bend, 
 Whilst their black troops stand silent and 
 
 adore ? 
 To thee, sole lord, shall earth her stores unfold, 
 Pour all her gems to thee, and mines that flame 
 
 with gold? 
 
 Shall ocean's waves, obedient to thy call, 
 
 As erst to Moses, rang'd in order stand ; 
 Whilst crowds once more admire the floating 
 wall, 
 
 And treasures open on the glittering sand ? 
 Or shall Fame's breath inspire each softer air, 
 
 Thee just and good, to distant worlds resound. 
 Whilst Peace, fair goddess, leads the smiling year. 
 
 Swells the glad grain, and spreads the harvest 
 round.
 
 THE VISION OF SOLOMON 141 
 
 Bids Jordan's stream extend its azure pride, 
 Pleas'd with reflected fruits that tremble in the 
 tide?" 
 
 Tlie cherub spoke when Power majestic rose; 
 
 A Tyrian-tinctur'd robe slie drag-g'd behind, 
 Whose artful folds at every turn disclose 
 
 Sceptres and crowns that flutter'd in the wind. 
 Gigantic phantom ! in her face appear'd 
 
 Terrific charms, too fierce for mortal eyes. 
 Aw'd and amaz'd her very smiles we fear'd, 
 
 As though storms lurk'd beneath the smooth 
 disguise ; 
 But when she frowns, tremendous thunders roar, 
 Stern desolation reigns, and kingdoms float in 
 gore. 
 
 Her, Wealth succeeds, and scarce his tottering 
 head 
 Sustains the glittering ore's incumljent weight ;
 
 142 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 O'er his old limbs were tatter'd garments spread ; 
 
 A well-fix'd staff directs his feeble feet. 
 Thus mean himself appear'd ; but all around 
 
 What crowds unnumber'd hail the passing seer ! 
 Power, as he came, bow'd lowly to the ground, 
 
 And own'd with reverence a superior there. 
 " Rise, David's son, thy utmost wish extend, 
 See to thy sceptre Wealth, the world's great mon- 
 arch, bend." 
 
 Fame next approach'd, whose clarion's martial 
 sound 
 Bids conqu'ring laurels flourish ever green ; 
 And gentle Peace with olive chaplets crown'd, 
 
 And Plenty, goddess of the sylvan scene. 
 These Pleasure join'd; loose flow'd her radiant 
 hair ; 
 Her flying fingers touch'd the trembling lyre. 
 '' Come, Mirth," she sung, " your blooming 
 wreaths prepare ;
 
 THE VISION OF SOLOMON 143 
 
 Come, gay Delight, and ever young Desire : 
 Let days, let years in downy circles move, 
 Sacred to sprightly Joy, and all-subduing Love."' 
 
 The mingled train advanc'd ; to close the rear, 
 
 As lost in thought, appcar'd a pensive maid ; 
 Bright was her aspect, lovely, yet severe. 
 
 In virgin white her decent limbs array'd : 
 She moved in sober state ; on either side 
 
 A beauteous handmaid friendly aid bestow'd: 
 Fair Virtue here, her view from earth to guide. 
 
 There Contemplation rais'd her golden rod. 
 Hail, Wisdom, hail ! I see and bless the sight. 
 First-born of Heav'n, pure source of intellectual 
 light. 
 
 On her the monarch fix'd his eager eyes. 
 
 On her alone, regardless of the crowd : 
 " Let vulgar souls," he cried. " yon trifles prize. 
 
 Mortals that dare of misery to be proud,
 
 ,44 LEGENDS A\'D TALES 
 
 Hence, then : I burn for more ingenuous charms ; 
 
 Nature's true beauties with more lustre shine. 
 Then, take me, Wisdom, take me to thy arms ; 
 
 O snatch me from myself, and make me thine. 
 All Heav'n calls good, or man felicity. 
 Peace, plenty, health, content, are all comprised 
 in thee."
 
 KING SOLOMON ASH 77//Z BEES 145 
 
 "Ring Solomon an& tF3e JSees 
 
 By John GodfiCey Saxe 
 
 WHEN Solomon was reigning in his glory, 
 Unto his throne the queen of Sheba came, 
 (So in the Talmud you may read the story) 
 
 Drawn by the magic of the monarch's fame, 
 To see the splendors of his court, and bring 
 Some fitting tribute to the mighty king. 
 
 Nor this alone ; much had her highness heard 
 What flowers of learning graced the royal 
 speech ; 
 
 What gems of wisdom dropped with every word ; 
 What wholesome lessons he was wont to teach 
 
 In pleasing proverbs ; and she wished, in sooth. 
 
 To know if Rumor spoke the simple truth. 
 
 Besides the queen had heard (which piqued her 
 most)
 
 146 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 How through the deepest riddles he would spy ; 
 How all the curious arts that women boast 
 
 Were quite transparent to his piercing eye ; 
 And so the queen had come — a royal quest — 
 To put the sage's cunning to the test. 
 
 And straight she held before the monarch's view 
 In either hand a radiant wreath of flowers ; 
 
 The one, bedecked with every charming hue, 
 Was newly culled from Nature's choicest bow- 
 ers. 
 
 The other, no less fair in every part, 
 
 Was the rare product of divinest Art. 
 
 " Which is the true, and which the false ? " she 
 said. 
 
 Great Solomon was silent. All amazed. 
 Each wondering courtier shook his puzzled head. 
 
 While at the garlands long the monarch gazed, 
 As one who sees a miracle, and fain. 
 For very rapture, ne'er would speak again.
 
 KL\'G SOLOMON AXD THE BEES 147 
 
 "Which is the true?" once more the woman 
 asked, 
 
 Pleased at the fond amazement of the king, 
 " So wise a head should not be hardly tasked, 
 
 Most learned Liege, with such a trivial thing ! " 
 And still the sage was silent ; it was plain 
 A deepening doubt perplexed the royal brain. 
 
 While thus he pondered, presently he sees. 
 Hard by the casement, — so the story goes, — 
 
 A little band of busy, bustling bees, 
 Hunting for honey in a withered rose. 
 
 The monarch smiled, and raised his royal head ; 
 
 " Open the window " — that was all he said. 
 
 The window opened at the king's command. 
 
 Within the room the eager insects flew, 
 And sought the flowers in Sheba's dexter hand! 
 
 And so the king and all the courtiers knew 
 That wreath was Nature's ; and the baftled queen 
 Returned to tell the wonders she had seen.
 
 148 LEGEXDS AND TALES 
 
 My story teaches (every tale should bear 
 A fitting moral) that the wise may find 
 
 In trifles light as atoms in the air 
 
 Some useful lesson to enrich the mind, — 
 
 Some truth designed to profit or to please, — 
 
 As Israel's king learned wisdom from the bees ! 
 
 i
 
 KTS'G SOLOMON AXD THE ANTS 149 
 
 l?ino Solomon an& tbe Bnts 
 
 By John Greenleaf Whittier 
 
 OUT from Jerusalem 
 The king rode with his great 
 War chiefs and lords of state, 
 And Sheba's queen with them ; 
 
 Comely, but black withal. 
 
 To whom, perchance, belongs 
 That wondrous Song of songs, 
 
 Sensuous and mystical. 
 
 Proud in the Syrian sun. 
 In gold and purple sheen, 
 The dusky Ethiop queen 
 
 Smiled on King Solomon.
 
 ISO LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Wisest of men, he knew 
 The languages of all 
 The creatures great or small 
 
 That trod the earth or flew. 
 
 Across an ant-hill led 
 
 The king's path, and he heard 
 Its small folk, and their word 
 
 He thus interpreted : 
 
 " Here comes the king men greet 
 As wise and good and just, 
 To crush us in the dust 
 
 Under his heedless feet." 
 
 The great king bowed his head, 
 And saw the wide surprise 
 Of the Queen of Sheba's eyes 
 
 As he told her what they said.
 
 KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS 151 
 
 "O King!" she whispered sweet, 
 
 "Too happy fate have they 
 
 Who perish in thy way 
 Beneath thy gracious feet! 
 
 " Thou of the God-lent crown, 
 Shall these vile creatures dare 
 Murmur against thee where 
 
 The knees of kings kneel down ? " 
 
 " Nay," Solomon replied, 
 
 " The wise and strong should seek 
 
 The welfare of the weak," 
 And turned his horse aside. 
 
 His train, with quick alarm, 
 Curved with their leader round 
 The ant-hill's peopled mound, 
 
 And left it free from harm.
 
 152 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 The jewelled head bent low ; 
 
 " O King! " she said, " henceforth 
 The secret of thy worth 
 
 And wisdom well I know. 
 
 " Happy must be the State 
 Whose ruler heedeth more 
 The murmurs of the poor 
 
 Than flatteries of the great."
 
 SOLOMON AND AZRAIiL 15.3 
 
 Solomon an5 Bsracl 
 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 (From Eastern Moralities) 
 
 SATE in his presence-chamber Solomon ; 
 When thither of his princes entered one, 
 Haste in his step, and terror in his eye. 
 And cried, " O King, defend me, or I die ; 
 Even now I saw with visage dark and fell 
 Gaze on me the Death-angel Azrael." 
 To him the King: " What help may I afford? " 
 " Oh, bid the storm-wind, gracious mighty lord, 
 That it to farthest India waft me straight ; 
 And there my life shall reach a longer date." 
 To farthest India at the King's command 
 The storm-wind swept him over sea and land. 
 But when the Spirits met another day, 
 To the Death-angel spake the IMonarch : " Say,
 
 154 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Why did thy terrors that poor man affright, 
 Till he for anguish well-nigh died outright, 
 That poor man, whom I sheltered with my 
 
 might?" 
 Then he : " I meant not dreadful to appear, 
 But only wondered to behold him here ; 
 For God had bid me on that very day 
 From farthest Ind to fetch his soul away. 
 I thought. Were thousand pinions given to thee, 
 To-day in India thou shouldst never be ; 
 Nor guessed how this should be fulfilled, till there 
 Thy word did waft him, answering to his prayer."
 
 KING SOLOMON iS5 
 
 f^iuQ Solomon 
 
 By Owen Meredith 
 
 KING Solomon stood, in his crown of gold, 
 Between the pillars, before the altar, 
 In the House of the Lord. And the King was old, 
 
 And his strength began to falter, 
 So that he leaned on his ebony staff. 
 Sealed with the seal of the Pentegraph. 
 
 All of the golden fretted work 
 
 Without and within so rich and rare. 
 
 As high as the nest of the building stork. 
 Those pillars of cedar were : — 
 
 Wrought up to the brazen chapiters 
 
 Of the Sidonian artificers. 
 
 And the King stood still as a carven king, 
 The carven cedarn beams below,
 
 isfi LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 In his purple robe, with his signet-ring, 
 
 And his beard as white as snow, 
 And his face to the Oracle, where the hymn 
 Dies under the wing of the cherubim. 
 
 By the soul of each slumbrous instrument 
 Drawn soft through the musical misty air, 
 
 The stream of the folk that came and went, 
 For worship and praise and prayer. 
 
 Flowed to and fro, and up and down. 
 
 And round the King in his golden crown. 
 
 And it came to pass, as the King stood there. 
 And looked on the house he had built, with 
 pride, 
 That the Hand of the Lord came unaware, 
 
 And touched him, so that he died. 
 In his purple robe, with his signet-ring. 
 And the crown wherewith they had crowned him 
 king.
 
 KIXG SOLOMOK 157 
 
 And the stream of the folk that came and went, 
 To worship the Lord with prayer and praise, 
 
 Went softly ever, in wonderment, 
 For the King stood there always ; 
 
 And it was solemn and strange to behold 
 
 That dead king crowned with a crown of gold. 
 
 For he leaned on his ebony staflf upright ; 
 
 And over his shoulders the purple robe ; 
 And his hair and his beard were both snow-white, 
 
 And the fear of him filled the globe ; 
 So that none dared touch him, though he was dead, 
 He looked so royal about the head. 
 
 And the moons were changed : and the years 
 rolled on : 
 And the new king reigned in the old king's 
 stead : 
 And men were married and buried anon ; 
 
 But the King stood, stark and dead. 
 Leaning upright on his ebony stafT, 
 Preserved by the sign of the Pentegraph.
 
 is8 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And the stream of life, as it went and came, 
 Ever for worship and praise and prayer, 
 
 Was awed by the face, and the fear, and the fame, 
 Of the dead King standing there ; 
 
 For his hair was so white, and his eyes so cold, 
 
 That they left him alone with his crown of gold. 
 
 So King Solomon stood up, dead, in the House 
 Of the Lord, held there by the Pentegraph, 
 
 Until out from a pillar there ran a red mouse. 
 And gnawed through the ebony staff: 
 
 Then flat on his face the King fell down : 
 
 And they picked from the dust a golden crown.
 
 THE LIONS IS9 
 
 Ube Xions 
 
 By Victor Hugo 
 (Translated by Mrs. Newton Crosland) 
 
 FAMISHED, the lions were in their strong den, 
 And roared appeal to Nature from the men 
 Who caged them — Nature that for them had care. 
 Kept for three days without their needful fare, 
 The creatures raved with hunger and with hate, 
 And through their roof of chains and iron grate 
 Looked to the blood-red sunset in the west ; 
 Their cries the distant traveller oppress'd 
 Far as horizon which the blue hill veils. 
 
 Fiercely they lashed their bodies with their tails 
 Till the walls shook ; as if their eyes' red light 
 And hungry jaws had lent them added might. 
 
 By Og and his great sons was shaped the cave, 
 They hollowed it, in need themselves to save.
 
 i6o LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 It was a deep-laid place wherein to hide, 
 
 This giant's palace in the rock's dark side ; 
 
 Their heads had broken through the roof of stone, 
 
 So that the light in every corner shone, 
 
 And dreary dungeon had for dome blue sky. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, savage king, had eye 
 
 For this strong cavern, and a pavement laid 
 
 Upon the centre, that it should be made 
 
 A place where lions he could safely mew ; 
 
 Though once Deucalions and Khans it knew. 
 
 The beasts were four most furious all. The 
 
 ground 
 Was carpeted with bones that lay all round. 
 While, as they walked and crunched with heavy 
 
 tread 
 Men's skeletons and brutes', far overhead 
 The tapering shadows of the rocks were spread. 
 
 The first had come from Sodom's desert plain ; 
 When savage freedom did to him remain
 
 THE LIONS i6i 
 
 He dwelt at Sin, extremest point and rude 
 Of silence terrible and solitude. 
 Oh ! woe betide who fell beneath his claw, 
 This Lion of the sand with rough-skinned paw. 
 
 The second came from forest water'd by 
 The stream Euphrates ; when his step drew nigh, 
 Descending to the river, all things feared. 
 Hard fight to snare this growler it appeared. 
 The hounds of two kings were employed to catch 
 This Lion of the woods and be his match. 
 
 The third one dwelt on the steep mountain's side, 
 Horror and gloom companion'd every stride : 
 When towards the miry ravines they would stray, 
 And herds and flocks in their wild gambols play, 
 All fled — the shepherd, warrior, priest — in fright 
 If he leaped forth in all his dreadful might. 
 
 The fourth tremendous, furious creature came 
 From the sea-shore, and prowled with leonine 
 fame.
 
 1 62 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Before he knew captivity's hard throes, 
 Along the coast where Gur's strong city rose. 
 Reeking its roofs, and in its ports were met 
 The masts of many nations thickly set. 
 
 This lion scorned complaint, but crouching lay 
 And yawned, so heavily time passed away. 
 Master'd by man sharp hunger thus he bore, 
 Yet weariness of woe oppressed him sore. 
 
 But to and fro the others stamp all three. 
 And if a fluttering bird outside they see, 
 They gnaw its shadow as they mark it soar. 
 Their hunger growing as they hoarsely roar. 
 
 In a dark corner of the cavern dim 
 Quite suddenly there oped a portal grim, 
 And pushed by brawny arms that fright betrayed. 
 Appeared a man in grave-clothes white arrayed.
 
 THE LIONS 163 
 
 The grating closed as closing up a tomb ; 
 
 The Man was with the Lions in the gloom. 
 
 The monsters foamed, and rushed their prey to 
 
 gain, 
 With frightful yell, while bristled every mane. 
 Their howling roar expressing keenest hate 
 Of savage nature rebel to its fate, 
 With anger dashed by fear. Then spoke the Man, 
 And stretching forth his hands his words thus 
 
 ran, 
 " May peace be with you, Lions." Paused the 
 
 beasts. 
 
 The wolves that disinter the dead for feasts. 
 
 The flat-skulled bears, and writhing jackals, they 
 
 Who prowl at shipwrecks on the rocks for prey, 
 
 Are fierce, hyenas are unpitying found, 
 
 And watchful tiger felling at one bound. 
 
 But the strong lion in his stately force 
 
 Will sometimes lift the paw, yet stay its course,
 
 1 64 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 He the lone dreamer in the shadows gray. 
 And now the Lions grouped themselves ; and they 
 Amid the ruins looked like elders set 
 On grave discussion, in a conclave met, 
 With knitted brows intent disputes to end, 
 While over them a dead tree's branches bend. 
 
 First spoke the Lion of the sandy plain 
 And said, " When this man entered I again 
 Beheld the midday sun, and felt the blast 
 Of the hot simoon blown o'er spaces vast. 
 Oh, this man from the desert comes, I see." 
 
 Then spoke the Lion of the woods : " For me, 
 One time where fig and palm and cedars grow, 
 And holly, day and night came music's flow 
 To fill my joyous cave ; even when still 
 All life, the foliage round me seemed to thrill 
 With song. When this man spoke a sound was 
 
 made 
 Like that from birds' nests in the mossy shade. 
 This man has journey'd from my forest home!"
 
 THE LIONS 165 
 
 And now the one which had the nearest come, 
 The Lion black from mountains huge, exclaimed : 
 " This man is like to Caucasus, far-famed, 
 Where no rock stirs ; the majesty has he 
 Of Atlas. When his arm he raised all free, 
 I thought that Lebanon had made a bound. 
 And thrown its shadow vast on fields around. 
 This man comes to us from the mountain's side." 
 
 The Lion dweller near the ocean wide, 
 Whose roar was loud as roar of frothing sea. 
 Spoke last. " My sons, my habit is," said he, 
 " In sight of grandeur wholly to ignore 
 All enmity ; and this is why the shore 
 Became my home ; I watched the sun arise 
 And moon, and the grave smile of dawn ; mine 
 
 eyes 
 Grew used to the sublime — while waves rolled by 
 I learn'd great lessons of eternity. 
 Now, how this Man is named I do not know. 
 But in his eyes I see the heavens' glow ; 
 This man, with brow so calm, bv God is sent."
 
 1 66 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 When night had darken'd the blue firmament, 
 
 The keeper wished to see inside the gate, 
 
 And pressed his pale face 'gainst the fasten'd 
 
 grate. 
 In the dim depth stood Daniel calm of mien. 
 With eyes uplifted to the stars serene, 
 While this the sight for wondering gaze to meet, 
 The Lions fawning at the Captive's feet !
 
 BEL AND THE DRAGON 167 
 
 Ube Ibistors ot tbe Destruction ot 
 36el auD tbe Draoon 
 
 The Apocrypha 
 
 NOW the Babylonians had an idol, called Bel, 
 and there were spent upon him every day 
 twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty 
 sheep, and six vessels of wine. 
 
 And the king worshipped it, and went daily to 
 adore it ; but Daniel worshipped his own God. 
 And the king said unto him. Why dost not thou 
 worship Bel? 
 
 Who answered and said. Because I may not 
 worship idols made with hands, but the living 
 God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, 
 and hath sovereignty over all flesh. 
 
 Then said the king unto him, Thinkest thou not 
 that Bel is a living God ? seest thou not how much 
 he eateth and drinketh everv dav ?
 
 i68 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then Daniel smiled, and said, O king, be not 
 deceived : for this is but clay within, and brass 
 without, and did never eat or drink anything. 
 
 So the king was wroth, and called for his 
 priests, and said unto them, If ye tell me not who 
 this is that devoureth these expenses, ye shall die. 
 
 But if ye can certify me that Bel devoureth 
 them, then Daniel shall die : for he hath spoken 
 blasphemy against Bel. And Daniel said unto 
 the king. Let it be according to thy word. 
 
 Now the priests of Bel were three-score and 
 ten, beside their wives and children. And the 
 king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. 
 
 So Bel's priests said, Lo, we go out: but thou, 
 O king, set on the meat, and make ready the wine, 
 and shut the door fast, and seal it with thine own 
 signet ; 
 
 And to-morrow when thou comest in, if thou 
 findest not that Bel hath eaten up all, we will suf- 
 fer death ; or else Daniel, who speaketh falsely 
 against us.
 
 BEL AND THE DRAGON 169 
 
 And they little regarded it ; for under the table 
 they had made a privy entrance, whereby they 
 entered in continually, and consumed those things. 
 
 So when they were gone forth, the king set 
 meats before Bel. Now Daniel had commanded 
 his servants to bring ashes, and those they strewed 
 throughout all the temple in the presence of the 
 king alone : then they went out and shut the door, 
 and sealed it with the king's signet, and so de- 
 parted. 
 
 Now in the night came the priests with their 
 wives and children, as they were wont to do, and 
 did eat and drink up all. 
 
 In the morning betime the king arose, and Dan- 
 iel with him. 
 
 And the king said, Daniel, are the seals whole? 
 And he said, Yea, O king, they be whole. 
 
 And as soon as he had opened the door, the king 
 looked upon the table, and cried with a loud voice. 
 Great art thou, O Bel, and with thee is no deceit 
 at all.
 
 170 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then laughed Daniel, and held the king that he 
 should not go in, and said. Behold now the pave- 
 ment, and mark well whose footsteps are those. 
 
 And the king said, I see the footsteps of men, 
 women, and children. And then the king was 
 angry. 
 
 And took the priests with their wives and chil- 
 dren, who showed him the privy doors, where they 
 came in, and consumed such things as were upon 
 the table. 
 
 Therefore the king slew them, and delivered 
 Bel into Daniel's power, who destroyed him and 
 his temple. 
 
 And in the same place there was a great dragon, 
 which they of Babylon worshipped. 
 
 And the king said unto Daniel, Wilt thou also 
 say that this is of brass? lo, he liveth, he eateth 
 and drinketh ; thou canst not say that he is no 
 living god ; therefore worship him. 
 
 Then said Daniel unto the king, I will worship 
 the Lord my God : for he is the living God.
 
 BEL AND THE DRAGON 171 
 
 But give me leave, O king, and I shall slay 
 this dragon without sword or staff. The king 
 said, I give thee leave. 
 
 Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and 
 did seethe them together, and made lumps there- 
 of : this he put in the dragon's mouth, and so the 
 dragon burst in sunder : and Daniel said, Lo, 
 these are the gods ye worship. 
 
 When they of Bab}lon heard that, they took 
 great indignation, and conspired against the king, 
 saying. The king is become a Jew, and he hath 
 destroyed Bel, he hath slain the dragon, and put 
 the priests to death. 
 
 So they came to the king, and said, Deliver us 
 Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thine 
 house. 
 
 Now when the king saw that they pressed him 
 sore, being constrained, he delivered Daniel unto 
 them : 
 
 Who cast him into the lion's den : where he was 
 six davs.
 
 172 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And in the den there were seven lions, and they 
 had given them every day two carcasses and two 
 sheep : which then were not given to them, to the 
 intent they might devour Daniel. 
 
 Now there was in Jewry a prophet, called 
 Habbacuc, who had made a pottage, and had 
 broken bread in a bowl, and was going into the 
 field, for to bring it to the reapers. 
 
 But the angel of the Lord said unto Habbacuc, 
 Go, carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon 
 unto Daniel, who is in the lions' den. 
 
 And Habbacuc said, Lord, I never saw Baby- 
 lon ; neither do I know where the den is. 
 
 Then the angel of the Lord took him by the 
 crown, and bare him by the hair of his head, and 
 through the vehemency of his spirit set him in 
 Babylon over the den. 
 
 And Habbacuc cried, saying, O Daniel, Daniel, 
 take the dinner which God hath sent thee. 
 
 And Daniel said. Thou hast remembered me,
 
 BEL AND THE DRAGON 173 
 
 O God ; neither hast thou forsaken them that seek 
 thee and love thee. 
 
 So Daniel arose, and did eat : and the angel of 
 the Lord set Habbacuc in his own place again 
 immediately. 
 
 Upon the seventh day the king went to bewail 
 Daniel : and when he came to the den, he looked 
 in, and, behold, Daniel was sitting. 
 
 Then cried the king with a loud voice, saying, 
 Great art thou, O Lord God of Daniel, and there 
 is none other beside thee.
 
 174 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube Stori? of Xlobtt anO Xlobias 
 
 (Adapted from The Apocrypha) 
 
 TOBIT called his son Tobias and said, " My 
 son, when I am dead, bury me ; and despise 
 not thy mother, but honor her all the days of thy 
 life, and do that which shall please her, and grieve 
 her not ; and when she is dead, bury her by me in 
 one grave. And now I signify this to thee, that I 
 committed ten talents to Gabael at Rages in Me- 
 dia. Fear not, my son, that we are made poor, 
 for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and 
 depart from all sin and do that which is pleasing 
 in His sight." 
 
 Tobias then answered and said, " Father, I will 
 do all things v/hich thou hast commanded me ; 
 but how can I receive the money, seeing that I 
 know him not ? " 
 
 Then he gave him the handwriting, and said
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS 175 
 
 unto him, " Seek thee a man that may go with 
 thee while I yet Hve, and I will give him wages ; 
 and go and receive the money." 
 
 When he went to seek a man, he found Raphael, 
 that was an angel, but he knew it not, and he said 
 to him, " Canst thou go with me to Rages ? and 
 knowest thou those places well ? " 
 
 To whom the angel said, " I will go with thee, 
 and I know the way well." 
 
 Then Tobias said unto him, " Tarry for me till 
 I tell my father." 
 
 He said unto him, " Go and tarry not." 
 
 So he went in and said to his father, " Behold, 
 I have found one which will go wnth me." 
 
 Then he said, " Call him unto me, that I may 
 know of what tribe he is, and whether he be a 
 trusty man to go with thee." 
 
 So he called him, and he came in, and they 
 saluted one another. 
 
 Then Tobit said unto him, " Brother, show me 
 of what tribe and family thou art."
 
 176 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then he said, " I am Azarias, the son of Ana- 
 nias the great, and of thy brethren," 
 
 Then Tobit said, " Thou art welcome, brother ; 
 thou art of a good stock ; but tell me what wages 
 shall I give thee ? Wilt thou a drachm a day, and 
 things necessary, as unto my own son ? " 
 
 So they were well pleased. Then said he unto 
 Tobias, " Prepare thyself for the journey, and 
 God send you a good journey." 
 
 When he had prepared all things for the jour- 
 ney, his father said, " Go thou with this man, and 
 God, which dwelleth in heaven, prosper your jour- 
 ney, and the angel of God keep you company." 
 
 So they went forth both. 
 
 As they went on the journey, they came in the 
 evening to the river Tigris, and they lodged there ; 
 and when the young man went down to wash 
 himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would 
 have devoured him. 
 
 Then the angel said unto him, " Take the fish,"
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS 177 
 
 and the young man laid hold of the fish and drew 
 it to land. To whom the angel said, " Open the 
 fish, and take the heart, and the liver, and the 
 gall, and put them up safely." 
 
 The young man did as the angel commanded 
 him, and when they had roasted the fish, they did 
 eat it ; then they both went on their way till they 
 drew near to Ecbatane. 
 
 The young man said to the angel, " Brother 
 Azarias, to what use is the heart, and the liver, 
 and the gall of the fish ? " 
 
 And he said unto him, " Touching the heart and 
 the liver, if a devil or an evil spirit trouble any, 
 we must make a smoke thereof before the men or 
 the women, and the party shall be no more vexed ; 
 as for the gall, it is good to anoint a man who has 
 whiteness in his eyes, and he shall be healed." 
 
 When they came near to Rages, the angel said 
 to the young man, " Brother, to-night we shall 
 lodge with Raguel who is thy cousin ; he has one
 
 178 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 only daughter named Sara ; I will speak for her 
 that she may be given thee for a wife, for to thee 
 doth the right to her appertain, seeing thou only 
 art of her kindred. The maid is fair and wise ; 
 now therefore hear me and I will speak to her 
 father, and when we return from Rages we will 
 celebrate the marriage." 
 
 The young man answered the angel, " I have 
 heard, brother Azarias, that this maid has been 
 given to seven men who all died in the marriage 
 chamber. Now I am the only son of my father, 
 and I am afraid that I die as the others before me ; 
 for a wicked spirit loveth her who hurteth no body 
 but those who marry her, wherefore I fear lest I 
 die and bring my father's and my mother's life, 
 because of me, to the grave with sorrow ; and 
 they have no other son to bury them." 
 
 Then the angel said unto him, " Dost thou not 
 remember the precepts which thy father gave thee, 
 that thou shouldst marry a wife of thy own kin-
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS 179 
 
 dred ? When thou shalt conic into the marriage 
 chamber thou shalt take the ashes of perfume, 
 and shalt lay upon them some of the heart and 
 the liver of the fish, and shalt make a smoke with 
 it, and the devil shall smell it and flee away and 
 never come back again any more." 
 
 When they were come to Ecbatane, they came 
 to the house of Raguel, and Sara met them, and 
 after they had saluted one another she brought 
 them into the house. 
 
 Then said Raguel to Edna his wife, " How like 
 is the young man to Tobit my cousin." 
 
 And Raguel asked them, " From whence are ye, 
 brethren ? " 
 
 To whom they said, " We are of the sons of 
 Nephthalim, which are captives in Nineve." 
 
 Then he said to them, " Do you know Tobit 
 our kinsman?" and they said, "We know him." 
 
 Then said he, " Is he in good health ? " 
 
 And they said, " He is botli alive and in good 
 health." And Tobias said, " He is my father."
 
 i8o LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then Raguel leaped up and kissed him and 
 wept, and blessed him and said, " Thou art the 
 son of an honest and good man." But when he 
 had heard that Tobit was blind, he was sorrowful 
 and wept. Likewise Edna his wife and Sara his 
 daughter wept. 
 
 After they had killed a ram of the flock, they set 
 store of meat on the table. 
 
 Then said Tobias to Raphael, " Brother Aza- 
 rias, speak of those things of which thou didst 
 talk in the way, and let this business be des- 
 patched." 
 
 So he communicated the matter with Raguel, 
 and Raguel said, " Eat and drink and make 
 merry, for it is meet that thou shouldst marry my 
 daughter, nevertheless I will declare unto thee 
 the truth. I have given my daughter in marriage 
 to seven men who died that same night, neverthe- 
 less for the present be merry." 
 
 But Tobias said, " I will eat nothing here, till 
 we agree and swear one to another."
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS i8i 
 
 Raguel said, " Then take her, for she is thy 
 cousin, and the merciful God give you good suc- 
 cess in all things." 
 
 Then he called his daughter Sara, and she came 
 to her father, and he took her by the hand and 
 gave her to be wife to Tobias, saying, " Behold, 
 take her, after the law of Moses, and lead her 
 away to thy father," and he blessed them and 
 called Edna his wife, and took paper and did 
 write an instrument of covenant and sealed it. 
 Then they did begin to eat. 
 
 Then Tobias remembered the words of Raphael, 
 and he took the ashes of perfume, and put the 
 heart and the liver of the fish thereupon, and made 
 a smoke therewith, the which when the evil spirit 
 had smelled, he fled into the utmost parts of 
 Egypt, and the angel bound him. 
 
 And Raguel kept the wedding feast fourteen 
 days. 
 
 Then Tobias called Raphael and said to him,
 
 1 82 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 "Brother Azarias, take with thee a servant and 
 two camels, and go to Rages, to Gabael, and bring 
 me the money and bring him to the wedding." 
 
 So Raphael went out, and lodged with Gabael, 
 and gave him the handwriting ; who brought forth 
 bags which were sealed up and gave them to him ; 
 and early in the morning they went forth both 
 together and came to the wedding. 
 
 Now Tobit, Tobias' father, counted every day, 
 and Vv^hen the days of the journey were expired 
 and they came not, he said, "Are they detained? 
 Or is Gabael dead, and there is no one to give him 
 the money ? " 
 
 Then his wife said unto him, " My son is dead, 
 seeing he stayeth long," and she began to bewail 
 him, and she went out every day into the way 
 which they went, and did eat no meat on the day- 
 time, and ceased not the whole night to bewail 
 her son Tobias, until the fourteen days of the 
 wedding were expired.
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS 183 
 
 Then Tobias said to Raguel, " Let me go, for 
 ni}- father and my mother look no more to see 
 me." 
 
 Then Raguel arose, and gave him Sara his wife 
 and half his goods, servants, and cattle, and 
 money, and he blessed them and sent them away, 
 saying, " The God of heaven give you a prosper- 
 ous journey, my children." 
 
 After these things Tobias went his way, prais- 
 ing God, that He had given him a prosperous 
 journey, and blessed Raguel and Edna his wife, 
 and went on the way till they drew near to 
 Nineve. 
 
 Then Raphael said to Tobias, " Thou knowest, 
 brother, how thou didst leave thy father. Let us 
 haste before thy wife and prepare the house, and 
 take in thy hand the gall of the fish." 
 
 Now Anna sat looking about toward the way 
 for her son, and when she espied him coming, she 
 said to his father, " Behold, thy son cometh, and 
 the man that went with him."
 
 1 84 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Then said Raphael, " I know, Tobias, that thy 
 father will open his eyes, therefore anoint thou 
 his eyes with the gall, and being pricked there- 
 -with, he shall rub, and the whiteness shall fall 
 away and he shall see thee." 
 
 Then Anna ran forth, and fell upon the neck of 
 her son, and said unto him, " Seeing I have seen 
 my son, I am content to die." 
 
 Tobit also went forth toward the door and 
 stumbled, but his son ran unto him, and took hold 
 of his father, and he brake the gall on his father's 
 eyes, and when his eyes began to smart, he rubbed 
 them, and the whiteness pilled away from the 
 corners of his eyes ; and when he saw his son, he 
 fell upon his neck and wept and said, " Blessed 
 art Thou, O God, and blessed be Thy name for- 
 ever." 
 
 Then Tobit went out to meet his daughter-in- 
 law at the gate of Nineve, rejoicing and praising 
 God. And Tobias' wedding was kept seven days 
 with great joy.
 
 THE STORY OF TOBIT AND TOBIAS i8s 
 
 Then Tobit called his son Tobias-and said unto 
 him, " My son, see that the man have his wages 
 that went with thee, and thou must give him 
 more." > 
 
 And Tobias said unto him, " O father, it is no 
 harm to me to give him half of those things which 
 I have brought, for he hath brought me again to 
 thee in safety, and made whole my wife, and 
 brought me the money, and likewise healed thee." 
 
 Then the old man said, " It is due unto him." 
 
 So he called the angel, and he said unto him, 
 " Take half of all that ye have brought and go 
 away in safety." 
 
 Then he took them both apart, and said unto 
 them, " Bless God, praise Him and magnify Him, 
 and praise Him for the things which He hath 
 done unto you in the sight of all that live. It is 
 good to praise God and exalt His name and hon- 
 orably to show forth the works of God, therefore 
 be not slack to praise Him.
 
 i86 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, 
 which present the prayers of the saints, and which 
 go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." 
 
 Then they were both troubled, and fell upon 
 their faces, for they feared. But he said unto 
 them, " Fear not, for it shall go well with you : 
 Praise God therefore ; for not of any favor of 
 mine, but by the will of our God I came. Where- 
 fore praise Him forever and ever. All these days 
 I did appear unto you, but I did neither eat nor 
 drink, but ye did see a vision. Now therefore 
 give God thanks ; for I go up to Him that sent me ; 
 but write all things which are done in a book." 
 
 And when they arose they saw him no more.
 
 LET US DEPART 187 
 
 Xet UB Depart 
 
 By Felicia Hemans 
 
 [It is mentioned by Josephus, that a short time pre- 
 vious to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, 
 the priests going by night into the inner court of the 
 Temple to perform their sacred ministrations at the 
 feast of Pentecost, felt a quaking, and heard a rushing 
 noise, and after that a sound as of a great multitude 
 saying, " Let us depart."] 
 
 NIGHT hung on Salem's towers, 
 And a brooding hush profound 
 Lay where the Roman eagle shone, 
 High o'er the tents around, 
 
 The tents that rose by thousands, 
 In the moonlight glimmering pale ; 
 
 Like white waves of a frozen sea, 
 Filling an Alpine vale.
 
 i88 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And the Temple's massy shadow 
 
 Fell broad, and dark, and still. 
 In peace, as if the Holy One 
 
 Yet watched His chosen hill. 
 
 But a fearful sound was heard 
 In that old fane's deepest heart, 
 
 As if mighty wings rush'd by. 
 And a dread voice raised the cry, 
 " Let us depart ! " 
 
 Within the fated city 
 
 E'en then fierce discord raved. 
 Though o'er night's heaven the comet sword 
 
 Its vengeful token waved. 
 
 There were shouts of kindred warfare 
 Through the dark streets ringing high, 
 
 Though every sign was full which told 
 Of the bloody vintage nigh.
 
 LET US DEPART 189 
 
 Though the wild red spears and arrows 
 
 Of many a meteor host 
 Went flashing o'er the holy stars, 
 
 In the sky, now seen, now lost. 
 
 And that fearful sound was heard 
 In the Temple's deepest heart, 
 
 As if mighty wings rush'd by. 
 And a voice cried mournfully, 
 " Let us depart ! " 
 
 But within the fated city 
 
 There was revelry that night ; 
 
 The wine-cup and the timbrel note. 
 And the blaze of banquet light. 
 
 The footsteps of the dancer 
 
 Went bounding through the hall, 
 
 And the music of the dulcimer 
 Summon'd to festival.
 
 I90 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 While the clash of brother weapons 
 Alade lightning in the air, 
 
 And the dying at the palace gates 
 Lay down in their despair. 
 
 And that fearful sound was heard 
 At the Temple's thrilling heart, 
 
 As if mighty wings rush'd by, 
 And a dread voice raised the cry, 
 " Let us depart ! "
 
 THE LAST DAY OF JERUSALEM 191 
 
 Xlbe Xast H)a^ ot Jerusalem 
 
 By George Croly 
 
 FROM morn to eve, Rome's iron tide 
 Had dashed on Zion's haughty side ; 
 From morn to eve, the arrowy shower 
 Rained on her ranks from wall and tower. 
 Now rose the shout of Israel ; 
 Now, like the sea's returning sw^ell, 
 Rushed up the mount the Roman charge, 
 Again beat back by Judah's targe ; 
 Strewing with helm and shield the hill ; 
 All wearied, but th' unconquered will. 
 'Twas eve, and still was fought the field, 
 Where none could win, and none would yield ; 
 Beneath the twilight's deepening shade 
 Echoed the clash of blade on blade. 
 Still rushing through the living cloud 
 Its path the Lion-banner ploughed ;
 
 192 LEGENDS AND- TALES 
 
 And still the Eagle's fiery wing 
 Seemed from the living cloud to spring ; 
 Till Rome's retiring trump was blown, 
 Answered by shouts from Zion's throne. 
 That day the Romans learned to feel 
 The biting of the Jewish steel. 
 
 'Twas night. The sounds of earth were hushed, 
 
 Save where the palace-fountains gushed ; 
 
 Or from the myrtle-breathing vale 
 
 Sung, to the stars, the nightingale. 
 
 Splendid the scene, and sweet the hour! 
 
 The moonbeams silvered tent and tower, 
 
 Touched into beauty grove and rill. 
 
 And crowned with lustre Zion's hill. 
 
 All loveliness, but where the gaze 
 
 Shrank from the Roman's camp-fire's blaze; 
 
 All peaceful beauty, but where frowned, 
 
 Omen of woe, the Roman Mound.* 
 
 * The Romans surrounded the city with a trench and a 
 mound, which prevented all escape, and formed a char- 
 acteristic of the siege.
 
 THE LAST DAY OF JERUSALEM 193 
 
 'Twas midnight ; ceased the heavy jar 
 
 Of rampart-chain and portal bar ; 
 
 That hour of doom, on Zion's wall 
 
 No warrior's foot was heard to fall ; 
 
 No murmur of the mighty camp, 
 
 No cohort's tread, no charger's champ, 
 
 Gave sign that earth was living still ; 
 
 All hushed, as by a mightier Will ; 
 
 Ev'n wounds that wring, and eyes that weep, 
 
 Were bound in one resistless sleep : 
 
 Silence of silence all around ; 
 
 Hushed as the grave — a death of sound! 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 But sudden roars the thunder-peal, 
 The forests on the mountains reel, 
 And, like the bursts of mountain springs, 
 Is heard a rush of mighty wings ! 
 And voices sweet of love and woe 
 (Love, such as spirits only know)
 
 194 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Swell from the Temple's cloisters dim, 
 
 A mingled chaunt of dirge and hymn ; 
 
 Like grief, when help and hope have fled, 
 
 Like anguish o'er the dying bed ; 
 
 Like pulses of a breaking heart : 
 
 " We must depart, we must depart." 
 
 And grandly o'er Moriah's height, 
 
 Encanopied in living light, 
 
 Rose to that chaunt of dirge and hymn 
 
 The squadrons of the Seraphim. 
 
 From Carmel's shore to Hebron's chain. 
 
 Shone in that splendor hill and plain ; 
 
 Still starlike seemed the orb to soar, 
 
 Then all was night, and sleep once more. 
 
 But whence has come that sudden flash, 
 
 And whence the shout, and whence the clash ? 
 
 The Legions scale the Temple wall ! 
 
 Its startled warriors fly or fall. 
 
 Now swells the carnage, wild and wide ; 
 
 Now dies the bridegroom by the bride ;
 
 THE LAST DAY OF JERUSALEM 19s 
 
 Peasant and noble, parent, child, 
 
 In heaps of quivering carnage piled ; 
 
 On golden roof, on cedar floor. 
 
 Still flames the torch, still flows the gore ; 
 
 Hour of consummate agony, 
 
 When nations, God-deserted, die ! 
 
 Yet still the native dirk and knife 
 
 Wrung blood for blood, and life for life. 
 
 The priest, as to the Veil he clung. 
 
 With dying hand the javelin flung ; 
 
 The peasant on the Roman sprang, 
 
 Armed but with panther's foot and fang, 
 
 From his strong grasp the falchion tore, 
 
 And dyed it in the robber's gore. 
 
 That night who fought, that night who fell, 
 
 No eye might see, no tongue might tell ; 
 
 That sanguine record must be read 
 
 But when the grave gives up its dead ; 
 
 Then Judah's heart of pride was tame, 
 
 The rest was sorrow, slavery, shame !
 
 196 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ubree Sons 
 
 A Talmudic Legend 
 By Emma Leigh 
 
 LADEN with luscious fruits and delicious 
 meats was the table from which the old 
 Simon arose. 
 
 " My son," said he, with a proud and grateful 
 face, " whence didst thou procure these dainties 
 to delight the heart of thy father? " 
 
 " Eat as the dogs do, old man ; ask me no 
 questions," and the churlish fellow went impa- 
 tiently away. 
 
 The father sank heavily into his seat, a grief- 
 bowed figure. All joy had left his heart. Bit- 
 terly he recalled the story of Daniah the son of 
 Mettiniah, an idol-worshipper. 
 
 The ephod of the high-priest had lacked a stone
 
 THREE SONS 197 
 
 which the sages knew Mettiniah could supply. 
 On entering the house they told Daniah their 
 wish. Now the key to the jewel chest was kept 
 by Mettiniah, who slept. Not even when the 
 sage doubled the price for the gem could Daniah 
 be won to disturb his father. 
 
 When Mettiniah awoke, Daniah brought them 
 the stone. The sages gave him the full price 
 they had offered. Half of it he returned with 
 the words, " I will not profit by my father's 
 honor." 
 
 Sorrowfully the old man weighed the deeds 
 of the two sons, his and IMettiniah's. 
 
 As he mused, a knock sounded on the door, and 
 a young miller, his great favorite, entered. 
 
 The new-comer knelt to receive the old man's 
 blessing. 
 
 " I leave the village early in the morning," he 
 explained. " The government exacts my ser- 
 vice."
 
 198 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " But I thought it was thy sire's duty to go, for 
 • it is he that does no work. Thou hast tliy mill." 
 
 " Father toils at the mill, and I take his place 
 among the road-makers and bridge-builders," 
 answered the other. " It was told me that the 
 overseers are harsh, and my father is an old 
 man. I can bear stripes better than he." 
 
 With tear-filled eyes the old man kissed the 
 lad, and sent him away with a blessing, " God be 
 with thee, since thou dost obey His command to 
 honor thy father." 
 
 From these things comes the saying of the 
 Sages : 
 
 " Better was the son that set his father to grind 
 in the mill, than he that fed his father upon 
 dainties."
 
 SABBATION 199 
 
 Sabbation 
 
 A Jewish Legend 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 
 BY the dark mountains guarded well, and on 
 the other side 
 Of Havila, for gold renowned, a land lies broad 
 
 and wide. 
 Four-square it lies — a man at speed might travel 
 
 every way, 
 And would not pass from end to end until the 
 
 ninetieth day. 
 The mountains with their barriers dark upon three 
 
 sides enclose 
 This goodly land, but on the fourth a wondrous 
 
 river flows ; 
 Between whose banks no water rolls, but rush and 
 
 roar along 
 Rocks, stones, and sand, together mixed, with 
 
 tumult loud and strong ;
 
 200 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And higher than the houses' tops huge fragments 
 
 leap and fly — 
 But on the holy seventh day it sleepeth quietly. 
 Sabbation it is therefore named, for on the Sab- 
 bath day 
 From eve till eve again comes back, that river 
 
 sleeps alway; 
 Without a sound or slightest stir that day it doth 
 
 remain, 
 But then, the Sabbath done, returns unto its 
 
 strength again — 
 So fierce that if in middle stream were set an 
 
 adamant rock, 
 It would be shattered presently before the furious 
 
 shock. 
 By night a two days' journey ofY its rushing heard 
 
 may be, 
 Like thunder, like a mighty wind, or like the 
 
 roaring sea.
 
 SABBATION 201 
 
 Behind this river dwell secure the children of the 
 
 race, 
 Which had on Israel's mountains once their quiet 
 
 resting-place ; 
 Till to the Assyrian for their sins delivered for a 
 
 prey, 
 Who from their soil uprooted them, and planted 
 
 far away. 
 But they, when in that foreign land awhile they 
 
 had remained. 
 Said, — * Let us rise and seek some place by idols 
 
 unprofaned, 
 Where we, by sore affliction taught, at length may 
 
 understand. 
 And keep the law we never kept w^hile in our 
 
 former land.* 
 This counsel taking with themselves, and caring 
 
 not for foes. 
 And caring not for length of way. nor danger, 
 
 they arose ;
 
 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 They rose together, and dryshod the great Eu- 
 phrates passed, 
 
 And ever journeying northward reached this 
 goodly land at last — 
 
 A goodly land — with all good things their old land 
 knew supplied. 
 
 And all the plagues that vexed them there for- 
 ever turned aside : 
 
 A land of streams that fear no drought, that 
 never fail to flow, 
 
 Of wells not fed by scanty rains, but springing 
 from below ; 
 
 Where never upon sounding wing advance the 
 locust swarm. 
 
 To hide the noon-day sun, and bring to every 
 green thing harm ; 
 
 Where never from the desert blows the scorching 
 fiery wind, 
 
 That breathes o'er fields of flowers, and leaves a 
 wilderness behind :
 
 SABBATION 20.3 
 
 The early and the latter rain their heavens ne'er 
 refuse, 
 
 And what the day burns up, the night repairs 
 with copious dews. 
 
 With their own hands they till the ground, and 
 have of nothing lack ; 
 
 The grain upon their furrows cast a hundred- 
 fold gives back, 
 
 And twice the cattle on their hills yield increase 
 every year, 
 
 And trees that in no other land bear fruit are 
 laden here. 
 
 Not readier on Engeddi's steeps the wounded 
 balsam sheds 
 
 Its life's blood, and the Indian nard lifts here 
 its spiky heads. 
 
 And gardens of delight are theirs ; and what is 
 strange elsewhere 
 
 Of costly gum or fragrant spice, is counted com- 
 mon there ;
 
 204 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 No snake or scorpion, fox or dog, nor any beast 
 
 unclean, 
 Nor aught that can bring harm to man, through 
 
 all the land is seen. 
 A little child will feed the flocks in forests far 
 
 away, 
 Not fearing man, nor evil beast, nor demon of 
 
 noon-day. 
 And theirs the ancient Hebrew tongue, the speech 
 
 which angels love ; 
 And their true prayers in that are made, and 
 
 always heard above — 
 Heard, too, in doleful worlds below, where at 
 
 their hours of prayer 
 The anguish intermits awhile, the hopeless misery 
 
 there. 
 And often when a man goes forth in lonely wilds 
 
 to pray, 
 An angel then will meet him there, and — Grace 
 
 be with thee! — say;
 
 SABBATION 205 
 
 No child before his parent's eyes is laid on funeral 
 
 bier, 
 And none departs that has not reached his happy 
 
 hundredth year ; 
 That has not at the least beheld his children's 
 
 children rise 
 About his knees, to glad his heart and cheer his 
 
 failing eyes. 
 Nor is the life then torn away by rude and painful 
 
 death, 
 But Gabriel with a gentle kiss draws out the 
 
 flitting breath : 
 And when the soul arrives at last in Paradise. 
 
 there wait 
 A crowd of ministering spirits there around its 
 
 ruby gate ; 
 They put the sordid grave-clothes off, in raiment 
 
 pure and white 
 They clothe him. glistening garments spun from 
 
 glorious clouds of light ;
 
 2o6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 They set two crowns upon his head, of purest 
 gold is one, 
 
 The other diadem is wrought of pearl and pre- 
 cious stone ; 
 
 And giving myrtle in his hand, they praise him 
 and they say, 
 
 ' Go in and eat thy bread henceforth with glad- 
 ness every day.' 
 
 The day before a child is born, the angel, that 
 is given 
 
 To be his guide and guard through life, and lead 
 him safe to heaven. 
 
 In spirit takes him where the Blest with light 
 divine are fed. 
 
 Each sitting on his golden throne, his crown upon 
 his head ; 
 
 ' And these,' he says, ' are they who loved the law 
 of the Most High, 
 
 And such by His eternal grace come hither when 
 they die:
 
 SABBAT ION 207 
 
 Live thou and be an heir at length through mercy 
 
 of this grace, 
 Since thou must for thy warning know there is 
 
 another place.' 
 The angel carries then that soul at eventide to 
 
 hell, 
 Where the ungodly evermore in painful prison 
 
 dwell. 
 ' These wretched once, as thou wilt soon, the 
 
 breath of life did draw. 
 And therefore be thou wise betimes, and keep and 
 
 love the law.' 
 
 And if one see his brother sin, or hear him speak- 
 ing vain 
 
 Or evil words, he leaves him not unchiddcn to 
 remain. 
 
 But in just anger says to him, ' INIy brother, wilt 
 thou know 
 
 That sin upon our fathers brought God's wrath 
 and all their woe? '
 
 2o8 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And thus doth each one each exhort, in righteous- 
 ness and fear, 
 
 And with true hearts the righteous Lord to honor 
 and revere . 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 At brealc of morning every day, the noblest of the 
 
 land 
 In pomp and solemn state ride forth, a high ex- 
 ulting band. 
 As though to welcome and to greet and lead in 
 
 triumph home 
 Some Royal Stranger, looked for long, who now 
 
 at length should come. 
 With some dejection on their brows at evening 
 
 they return — 
 Why comes He not ? why tarries He until another 
 
 morn? 
 But soon the shadow from their brows, the gloom 
 
 has passed away; 
 And that rejoicing troop goes forth upon the 
 
 following day —
 
 SABBATION 209 
 
 As high of hope, in all their state, they issue forth 
 
 again, 
 Sure that their high-raised hope will not prove 
 
 evermore in vain ; 
 That He will one day come, indeed, and with a 
 
 mighty hand 
 Will lead them back to repossess their old, their 
 
 glorious land.
 
 210 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 .aiexant)er tbe Great at Jerusalem 
 
 By James K. Hosmer 
 (From The Story of the Jews) 
 
 IN David's time, the population of Palestine 
 must have numbered several millions, and it 
 largely increased during the succeeding reigns. 
 Multitudes, however, had perished by the sword, 
 and other multitudes were retained in strange 
 lands. Scarcely fifty thousand found their way 
 back in the time of Cyrus to the desolate site of 
 Jerusalem, but, one hundred years later, the 
 number was increased by a re-enforcement under 
 Ezra. From this nucleus, with astonishing vital- 
 ity, a new Israel was presently developed. With 
 weapons always at hand to repel the freebooters 
 of the desert, they constructed once more the 
 walls of Jerusalem. Through all their harsh ex- 
 perience their feelings of nationality had not
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT JERUSALEM 211 
 
 been at all abated ; their blood was untouched by 
 foreign admixture, though some gentile ideas had 
 entered into* the substance of their faith. The 
 conviction that they were the chosen people of 
 God was as unshaken as in the ancient time. 
 With pride as indomitable as ever, intrenched 
 within their little corner ofSyria, they confronted 
 the hostile world. 
 
 But a new contact was at hand ; far more mem- 
 orable even than that with the nations of Meso- 
 potamia — a contact whose consequences affect 
 at the present hour the condition of the greater 
 part of the human race. In the year 332 B. C, 
 the high-priest, Jaddua, at Jerusalem, was in an 
 agony, not knowing how he should meet certain 
 new invaders of the land, before whom Tyre, and 
 Gaza, the old Philistine stronghold, had fallen, 
 and who were now marching upon the city of 
 David. But God warned him in a dream that he 
 should take courage, adorn the city, and open the
 
 212 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 gates; that the people should appear in white 
 garments of peace, but that he and the priests 
 should meet the strangers in the robes of their 
 office. At length, at the head of a sumptuous 
 train of generals and tributary princes, a young 
 man of twenty-four, upon a beautiful steed, rode 
 forward from the way going down to the sea to 
 the spot which may still be seen, called, anciently, 
 Scopus, the prospect, because from that point one 
 approaching could behold, for the first time, Jeru- 
 salem crowned by the Temple rising fair upon 
 the heights of Zion and Moriah. 
 
 The youth possessed a beauty of a type in those 
 regions hitherto little known. As compared with 
 the swarthy Syrians in his suite, his skin was 
 white ; his features were stamped with the impress 
 of command, his eyes filled with an intellectual 
 light. With perfect horsemanship he guided the 
 motions of his charger. A fine grace marked his 
 figure, set off with a cloak, helmet, and gleaming
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT JERUSALEM 213 
 
 arms, as he expressed with animated gestures his 
 exultation over the spectacle before him. But 
 now down from the heights came the procession 
 of the priests and the people. The multitude pro- 
 ceeded in their robes of white ; the priests stood 
 clothed in fine linen ; while the high-priest, in 
 attire of purple and scarlet, upon his breast the 
 great breastplate of judgment with its jewels, 
 upon his head the mitre marked with the plate 
 of gold whereon was engraved the name of God, 
 led the train with venerable dignity. 
 
 Now, says the historian, when the Phoenicians 
 and Chaldeans that followed Alexander thought 
 that they should have liberty to plunder the city, 
 and torment the high-priest to death, the very 
 reverse happened ; for the young leader, when he 
 saw the multitude in the distance, and the figure of 
 the high-priest before, approached him by him- 
 self, saluted him, and adored the name, which 
 was graven upon the plate of the mitre. Then
 
 214 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 a captain, named Parmenio, asked him how it 
 came to pass that, when all others adored him, he 
 should adore the high-priest of the Jews. To 
 whom the leader replied : " I do not adore him, 
 but that God who hath honored him with His 
 high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a 
 dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in 
 Macedonia, who, when I was considering how I 
 might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me 
 to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the 
 sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, 
 and could give me the dominion over the Per- 
 sians." Then, when Alexander had given the 
 high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along 
 by him, and he came into the city, and he offered 
 sacrifice to God in the Temple, according to the 
 high-priest's direction, and magnificently treated 
 both the high-priest and the priests. He 
 granted all the multitude desired; and when he 
 said to them that if any of them would enlist 
 themselves in his army on this condition, that they
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT AT JERUSALEM 215 
 
 should continue under the laws of their fore- 
 fathers, he was willing to take them with him, 
 many were ready to accompany him in his wars. 
 When the high-priest Jaddua and Alexander 
 the Great went hand in hand up into the mount of 
 the Temple, then for the first time came together 
 the Jew and the Aryan. 
 
 • • • • « 
 
 It was a contact taking place under circum- 
 stances, it would seem, the most auspicious — the 
 venerable old man and the beautiful Greek youth 
 clasping hands, the ruthless followers of the con- 
 queror baffled in their hopes of booty, the multi- 
 tudes of Jerusalem, in their robes of peace, filling 
 the air with acclamations, as Alexander rode from 
 the place of prospect up the heights of Zion, into 
 the solemn precincts of the Temple. It was the 
 prologue, however, to a tragedy of the darkest, 
 to a persecution of two thousand years, the 
 flames of which even at the present hour can 
 scarcely be said to have died dow'n.
 
 2i6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Bleian&er at tbe (Bates of paraOtse 
 
 A Legend from the Talmud 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 
 FIERCE was the glare of Cashmere's middle 
 day, 
 When Alexander, for Hydaspes bent, 
 Through trackless wilds urged his impetuous 
 way: 
 
 Who yet in that wide, wasteful continent, 
 
 A little valley found, so calm, so sweet. 
 He there awhile to tarry was content. 
 
 A crystal stream was murmuring at his feet, 
 
 Whereof the monarch, when his meal was done, 
 Took a long draught, to slake his fever heat. 
 
 Again he drank, and yet again, as one 
 
 Who would have drained that fountain crystal- 
 line 
 Of all its waves, and left it dry anon :
 
 ALEXANDER AT THE GATES OF PARADISE 21; 
 
 For in his veins, ofttimes afire with wine, 
 
 And in his bosom, tlirone of sleepless pride. 
 The while he drank, went circling peace divine. 
 
 It seemed as though all evil passions died 
 
 Within him, slaked was every fire accurst; 
 So that in rapturous joy aloud he cried: — 
 
 " Oh, might I find where these pure waters first 
 Shoot sparkling from their living fountain- 
 head — 
 Oh, there to quench my spirit's inmost thirst! 
 
 " Sure if we followed where these waters led. 
 We should at length some fairer region gain 
 Than yet has quaked beneath our iron tread, — 
 
 " Some land that should in very truth contain 
 Whate'er we dream of, beautiful and bright. 
 And idly dreaming of, pursue in vain !
 
 2i8 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " That land must stoop beneath our conquering 
 might. 
 Companions dear, this toil remains alone, 
 To win that region of unmatched delight. 
 
 " O faithful in a thousand labors known, 
 
 One toil remains, the noblest and the last ; 
 Let us arise, and make that land our own ! " 
 
 — Through realms of darkness, wildernesses vast, 
 
 All populous with sights and sounds of fear. 
 In heat and cold, by day and night, he past — 
 
 With trumpet-clang, with banner, and with spear ; 
 
 Yearning to drink that river, where it sent 
 Its first pure waters forth, serene and clear : 
 
 Till boldest captains sank, their courage spent, 
 And dying cried, " This stream all search de- 
 fies!" 
 But never would he tarry nor repent —
 
 ALEXANDER AT THE GATES OF PARADISE 219 
 
 Nor pitched his banners, till before his eyes 
 
 Rose high as heaven, in its secluded state, 
 The mighty, verdant wall of Paradise. 
 
 And lo! that stream, which early still and late 
 
 He had tracked upward, issued bright and clear 
 From underneath the angel-guarded gate. 
 
 — " And who art thou that hast adventured here, 
 
 Daring to startle this serene abode 
 With flash of mortal weapons, sword and spear ? " 
 
 So the angelic sentinel of God, 
 
 Fire-flashing, to the bold invader cried, 
 Whose feet profane those holy precincts trod. 
 
 The son of Philip without dread replied : — 
 " Is Alexander's fame unknown to thee. 
 Which the world knows — mine, who have victory 
 tied
 
 220 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " To my sword's hilt, and who, while stoop to me 
 
 All other lands, would win what rich or fair 
 This land contains, and have it mine in fee ? " 
 
 — " Thou dost thyself proclaim that part or share 
 
 Thou hast not here. O man of blood and sin, 
 
 Go back ! — with those blood-stained hands despair 
 
 " This place of love and holy peace to win : 
 
 This is the gate of righteousness, and they, 
 The righteous, only here may enter in." 
 
 Around, before him, lightnings dart and play : 
 He undismayed — " Of travail long and hard 
 At least some trophy let me bear away." 
 
 — " Lo ! then this skull — which, if thou wilt re- 
 gard, 
 And to my question seek the fit reply, 
 All thy long labors shall have full reward.
 
 ALEXANDER AT THE GATES OF PARADISE 221 
 
 " Once in that hollow circle lodged an eye, 
 That was, like thine, forever coveting — 
 Which worlds on worlds had failed to satisfy. 
 
 " Now, while thou gazest on that ghastly ring. 
 
 From whence of old a greedy eye outspied, 
 Say thou what was it — for there was a thing — 
 
 " Which filled at last and thoroughly satisfied 
 
 The eye that in that hollow circle dwelt, 
 So that, ' Enough, I have enough,' it cried." 
 
 — Blank disappointment at the gift he felt, 
 
 And, hardly taking, turned in scorn away; 
 Nor he the riddle of the angel spelt — 
 
 But cried unto his captains : " We delay. 
 
 And at these portals lose our time in vain. 
 By more than mortal terrors kept at bay:
 
 229 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " Come — other lands as goodly spoils contain ; 
 
 Come — all too long untouched the Indian gold, 
 The pearls and spice of Araby remain ! — 
 
 " Come, and who will this riddle may unfold," 
 
 Then stood before him, careless of his ire, 
 An Indian sage, who rendered answer bold : — 
 
 " Lord of the world, commanded to inquire 
 
 What was it that could satisfy an eye, 
 That organ of man's measureless desire — 
 
 " By deed and word thou plainly dost reply, 
 
 That its desire can nothing tame or quell, 
 That it can never know sufficiency. 
 
 " While thou enlargest thy desire as hell. 
 
 Filling thy hand, but filling not thy lust, 
 Thou dost proclaim man's eye insatiable:
 
 ALEXANDER AT THE GATES OF PARADISE 223 
 
 " Such answer from thy Hps were only just. 
 
 Yet 'twas not so. One came at last, who threw 
 Into yon face an heap of vilest dust — 
 
 " Whereof a few small grains did fall into 
 And filled the orb and hollow of that eye ; 
 
 When that which suffisance not ever knew 
 Before, was fain, ' I have enough,' to cry."
 
 334 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube JSanisbeD 1ktnd9 
 
 A Talmudic Allegory 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 
 ON a fair ship, borne swiftly o'er the deep, 
 A man was lying, wrapt in dreamless sleep : 
 When unawares upon a sunken rock 
 That vessel struck, and shattered with the shock. 
 But strange ! the plank where lay the sleeper bore 
 Him, wrapt in deep sleep ever, to the shore: 
 It bore him safely through the foam and spray. 
 High up on land, where couched 'mid flowers he 
 
 lay. 
 Sweet tones first woke him from his sleep, when 
 
 round 
 His couch observant multitudes he found: 
 All hailed him then, and did before him bow, 
 And with one voice exclaimed, — ' Our king art 
 
 thou.'
 
 THE BANISHED KINGS 225 
 
 With jubilant applause they bore him on, 
 And set him wondering on a royal throne: 
 And some his limbs with royal robes arrayed, 
 And some before him duteous homage paid, 
 And some brought gifts, all rare and costly things, 
 Nature's and Art's profusest offerings : 
 Around him counsellors and servants prest. 
 All eager to accomplish his behest. 
 Wish unaccomplished of his soul was none; 
 The thing that he commanded, it was done. 
 
 Much he rejoiced, and he had well-nigh now 
 Forgotten whence he hither came, and how ; 
 Until at eve, of homage weary grown. 
 He craved a season to be left alone. 
 Alone in hall magnificent he sate. 
 And mused upon the wonder of his fate ; 
 When lo! an aged counsellor, a seer, 
 Before unnoticed, to the king drew near;
 
 226 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 — ' And thee would I too gratulate, my son, 
 Who hast thy reign in happy hour begun : 
 Seen hast thou the beginning, — yet attend, 
 While I shall also show to thee the end. 
 That this new fortune do not blind thee quite, 
 Both sides regard, the darker with the bright: 
 Heed what so many who have ruled before, 
 Failing to heed, now rue for evermore. 
 Though sure thy state and strong thy throne 
 
 appear. 
 King only art thou for a season here ; 
 A time is fixed, albeit unknown to thee. 
 Which when it comes, thou banished hence shalt 
 
 be. 
 Round this fair spot, though hidden from the eye 
 By mist and vapor, many islands lie: 
 Bare are their coasts, and dreary and forlorn. 
 And unto them the banished kings are borne ; 
 On each of these an exiled king doth mourn.
 
 THE BANISHED KINGS 227 
 
 For when a new king comes, they bear away 
 The old, whom now no vassals more obey ; 
 Stripped of his royalties and glories lent, 
 Unhonored and untended he is sent 
 Unto his dreary island banishment ; 
 While all who girt his throne with service true, 
 Now fall away from him, to serve the new. 
 What I have told thee, lay betimes to heart. 
 And ere thy rule is ended, take thy part, 
 That thou hereafter on thine isle forlorn 
 Do not thy vanished kingdom vainly mourn. 
 When nothing of its pomp to thee remains 
 On that bare shore, save only memory's pains. 
 
 ' Much, O my Prince ! my words have thee dis- 
 
 trest, 
 Thy head has sunk in sorrow on thy breast ; 
 Yet idle sorrow helps not — I will show 
 A wiser way, which shall true help bestow.
 
 228 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 This counsel take — to others given in vain, 
 While no belief from them my words might gain. 
 Know then, whilst thou art monarch here, there 
 
 stand 
 Helps for the future many at command; 
 Then, while thou canst, employ them to adorn 
 That island whither thou must once be borne. 
 Unbuilt and waste and barren now that strand. 
 There gush no fountains from the thirsty sand. 
 No groves of palm-trees have been planted there, 
 Nor plants of odorous scent perfume that air ; 
 While all alike have shunned to contemplate 
 That they should ever change their flattering 
 
 state. 
 But make thou there provision of delight, 
 Till that which now so threatens, may invite ; 
 Bid there thy servants build up royal towers. 
 And change its barren sands to leafy bowers ; 
 Bid fountains there be hewn, and cause to bloom 
 Immortal amaranths, shedding rich perfume.
 
 THE BANISHED KINGS 229 
 
 So when the world, which speaks thee now so fair 
 And flatters so, again shall strip thee bare, 
 And drive thee naked forth in harshest wise, 
 Thou joyfully wilt seek thy paradise. 
 There will not vex thee memories of the past. 
 While hope will heighten here the joys thou hast. 
 This do, while yet the power is in thine hand, 
 While thou hast helps so many at command.' 
 
 Then raised the prince his head with courage 
 new, 
 
 And what the sage advised, prepared to do. 
 
 He ruled his realm with meekness, and mean- 
 while 
 
 He marvellously decked the chosen isle ; 
 
 Bade there his servants build up royal towers, 
 
 And change its barren sands to leafy bowers ; 
 
 Bade fountains there be hewn, and caused to 
 bloom 
 
 Immortal amaranths, shedding rich perfume.
 
 230 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And when he long enough had kept his throne, 
 To him sweet odors from that isle were blown ; 
 Then knew he that its gardens blooming were, 
 And all the yearnings of his soul were there. 
 Grief was it not to him, but joy, when they 
 His crown and sceptre bade him quit one day ; 
 When him his servants rudely did dismiss, 
 'Twas not the sentence of his ended bliss, 
 But pomp and power he cheerfully forsook. 
 And to his isle a willing journey took, 
 And found diviner pleasure on that shore, 
 Than all his proudest state had known before.
 
 THE LEST JEWELS 231 
 
 XT be Xeut Jewels 
 
 A Jewish Apologue 
 By Richard Chenevix Trench 
 
 IN schools of wisdom all the day was spent : 
 His steps at eve the Rabbi homeward bent, 
 With homeward thoughts, which dwelt upon the 
 
 wife 
 And two fair children who consoled his life. 
 She, meeting at the threshold, led him in. 
 And with these words preventing, did begin : 
 ' I, greeting ever your desired return. 
 Yet greet it most to-day ; for since this morn 
 I have been much perplexed and sorely tried 
 Upon one point, which }0u shall now decide. 
 Some years ago, a friend into my care 
 Some jewels gave, rich, precious gems they were ; 
 But having given them in my charge, this friend 
 Did afterward nor come for them, nor send,
 
 232 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 But in my keeping suffered them so long, 
 That now it ahnost seems to me a wrong 
 That he should suddenly arrive to-day, 
 To take those jewels, which he left, away. 
 What think you ? Shall I freely yield them back. 
 And with no murmuring? so henceforth to lack 
 Those gems myself, which I had learned to see 
 Almost as mine for ever, mine in fee ? ' 
 
 ' What question can be here ? your own true heart 
 
 Must needs advise you of the only part ; 
 
 That may be claimed again which was but lent. 
 
 And should be yielded with no discontent ; 
 
 Nor surely can we find in this a wrong, 
 
 That it was left us to enjoy it long,' 
 
 ' Good is the word,' she answered ; ' may we now 
 
 And evermore that it is good allow ! ' 
 
 And, rising, to an inner chamber led, 
 
 And there she showed him, stretched upon one 
 
 bed, 
 Two children pale, and he the jewels knew. 
 Which God had lent him, and resumed anew.
 
 I 
 
 THE FOX AND THE FISH 233 
 
 Ube f 01 anC) tbe ffisb 
 
 By Hyman Hurwitz 
 
 (From Hebrew Tales) 
 
 T was the lot of Rabbi Akiba to live in most 
 calamitous times. Jerusalem was in ruins ; the 
 flower of the nation had either perished during 
 the war, or had been carried in captivity to grace 
 the triumph of the conqueror ; and the miserable 
 remnant that was permitted to remain in their 
 once happy, but then desolated country, groaned 
 under the iron yoke of the Romans ; who, attribut- 
 ing the heroic resistance which the people had 
 made to their arms, and the obstinacy with which 
 they had defended their country to the spirit of 
 their religion, wished totally to abolish it; and 
 with this view forbade them its free exercise, and 
 the study of the law. Akiba observed the deplor- 
 able condition of his brethren ; and fearing lest the
 
 234 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 knowledge of the law should be totally lost, ven- 
 tured, notwithstanding the Roman decrees, to 
 instruct the people in their religious duties, and 
 to teach the law publicly. One day as he was thus 
 laudably engaged. Pappus, the son of Judah, a 
 man well known for his learning, represented to 
 him the imprudence of thus acting contrary to the 
 Roman edicts ; and said to him, "Akiba, art thou 
 not afraid of this nation?" (alluding to the Ro- 
 mans) thus wishing to deter him from so danger- 
 ous an employment, by intimating that there are 
 times when prudence requires us to yield to cir- 
 cumstances. Akiba, whose opinion was, that no 
 circumstances whatever can justify an Israelite to 
 forsake his religion, being also persuaded that the 
 calamities which the nation then experienced were 
 to be attributed to their iniquities, and that their 
 only chance of deliverance was in strictly adhering 
 to the laws of God, said to him, " Pappus, art 
 thou the man of whom it is said, he is wise?
 
 THE FOX A^'D THE FISH 235 
 
 surely, thy words show that thou art a fool ; " and 
 in order to expose to his audience the folly of that 
 policy, commonly called expedience, which often 
 sacrifices permanent good to momentary ad- 
 vantages, he told them the following fable: 
 
 The fox, said he, once took a walk by the side 
 of a river, and observed the fish hurrying to and 
 fro in the greatest agitation and alarm. Curious 
 to know the cause of so much confusion, he ad- 
 dressed himself to them, and said, " Friends, may 
 I be so bold as to ask why you are so much agi- 
 tated? " " We are endeavoring," replied the fish 
 " to flee from our enemies, and avoid the many 
 nets and snares which they have prepared for us." 
 " Oh ! oh ! " said the cunning fox, " if that be all, 
 I can tell you an easy way how to secure your 
 safety. Come along with me on dry land, where 
 we may dwell together in tranquillity, in the same 
 manner as our ancestors did before us." The 
 fish, perceiving the treachery of their insidious
 
 236 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 adviser, said to him, " Fox ! fox ! art thou he who 
 is considered as the most sagacious of animals? 
 Surely, thy counsel proves thee a very great fool. 
 If even in our own native element we are beset 
 with so many dangers, what security can we hope 
 to find on an element so repugnant to our nature, 
 and so contrary to our habits ? " 
 
 " It is even so with us," continued the pious 
 Rabbi; "if, even by partially following the law 
 of which it is said, ' It is thy life and length of 
 days,' we experience so much distress and oppres- 
 sion, what think you will be our lot should we 
 entirely abandon it ? "
 
 THE SLEEP OF RABBI CHONI 237 
 
 XLbe Sleep ot IRabbi Cbont 
 
 A Talmudic Legend 
 By Emma Leigh 
 
 WITH what art thou busying thyself?" 
 asked Rabbi Choni of an old man plant- 
 ing by the road-side. 
 
 " I am planting a carob-tree, my master," 
 
 " A carob-tree ! " echoed Choni. " What folly 
 is this? Dost thou not know that a full genera- 
 tion must pass ere this tree beareth fruit ? Neither 
 thy lips nor those of thy son will taste of it." 
 
 " Thou speakest truth, my master. Yet when 
 I think with what pleasure I ate the fruit of my 
 grandsire's toil, I would that my son's sons have 
 like delight." 
 
 Then Choni went on, feeling strangely rebuked 
 by the old man's words. Unwonted fatigue came 
 upon him.
 
 238 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 In a shady nook he sought rest. Sweet sleep 
 seized his tired hmbs. Round about him sprang 
 up a hedge. It as suddenly disappeared ere sleep 
 released her captive. 
 
 When the Rabbi sat down to rest, the sun was 
 declining toward his bed in the sea. When the 
 Rabbi awoke, the sun was mounting toward the 
 height of another day. 
 
 Conscience-stricken at his sloth, Choni started 
 homeward. His limbs refused to keep pace with 
 his desire, and he made but little speed. When 
 he reached the spot where, on the previous day, 
 he had left the old man, before him was a leafy 
 carob-tree on whose branches the pods seemed 
 ready to open. Scarce believing his eyes, Choni 
 turned to a boy looking longingly at the fruit. 
 " Whose hand planted this tree, my boy ? " 
 " My grandsire's, the day before his death." 
 Choni turned away bewildered. Was he dream- 
 ing? In his perplexity the hand of the Rabbi in-
 
 THE SLEEP OF RABBI CHONI 239 
 
 stinctively sought his beard. How long it had 
 grown overnight ! 
 
 Dazed he wended his homeward way through 
 unfamiHar paths, past strange faces. Suddenly he 
 stopped. Of a truth his was a dream. This was 
 the well-known house of his son where he was 
 ever welcome. 
 
 With an almost light step he entered. Then his 
 eyes fell on a young mother playing with a babe 
 crowing from its father's arms. The faces were 
 not those he had expected to see. Struck dumb, 
 Choni paused on the threshold. Then finding 
 voice, he said, " I pray thee pardon, I mistook 
 this house for that of Choni's son." 
 
 " Choni's son ! " exclaimed the man of the 
 house. " Dost thou not know that my father, on 
 whom be peace, is dead these ten years? " 
 
 " Thy father dead ! " 
 
 Seeing the stricken face of his visitor, the 
 younger man asked compassionately, " Art thou
 
 240 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 my father's friend? An it be so, then thou art 
 indeed welcome." 
 
 Passing a hand over his puzzled brow, " I — I 
 am thy father's — I am — I am Choni," he stam- 
 mered in a voice but half heard. 
 
 "Choni! Dost mean Rabbi Choni? Full sev- 
 enty years have passed over his grave." 
 
 " His grave ! Where lies it ? " 
 
 Filled with pity for the white face before him, 
 Choni's grandson said, " Seventy years ago to-day 
 my honored grandsire took his wonted walk 
 through the country. So used was he to stay 
 unmindful of the time, lost in pious musings, that 
 his absence caused no anxiety. When a full three 
 days had passed, people began to have misgiv- 
 ings, and his son and pupils went in search of 
 him. No trace rewarded their eyes. The un- 
 welcome thought forced itself upon them that he 
 had fallen a prey to wild beasts." 
 
 " Choni is not dead. I, I am Choni. Choni is
 
 THE SLEEP OF RABBI CHONI 241 
 
 not dead," sobbed the Rabbi, and he staggered 
 toward the speaker. 
 
 Quickly giving his precious burden to his wife, 
 the young man caught the falHng form, and 
 gently led Choni into an adjoining room. 
 
 That some grief had affected the stranger's 
 mind, he did not doubt. That it was his duty to 
 care for the old man, he well knew. He did not 
 shirk. So Choni lived a stranger, kindly tended, 
 at his grandson's hearth. 
 
 His heart was heavy, and his strength waned 
 day by day, till at last God heard Choni's prayer, 
 and sent him everlasting sleep.
 
 242 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 XTbrouob Bareness 
 
 By Richard Henry Stoddard 
 
 ONE night the Angel Gabriel, 
 Seated in Paradise apart, 
 Heard the low loving Voice of God 
 In answer to a human heart. 
 
 Eminent must this servant be, 
 Who to the Most High is so nigh ; 
 
 Whose spirit, dead to lust below, 
 Already is with Him on high." 
 
 He hastened over land and sea 
 
 To find this man — he went like light ; 
 
 But found him not, in earth or heaven, 
 Through all the watches of the night.
 
 THROUGH DARKNESS 243 
 
 " O Lord, direct me to this man, 
 
 That is so near and dear to Thee." 
 
 " The man thou speakest of, Gabriel, 
 Thou shalt in yon pagoda see." 
 
 Straightway to the pagoda sped 
 
 The Instructed One, and, looking there. 
 
 Beheld before an idol grim 
 A solitary man in prayer. 
 
 " Canst thou regard this man, O Lord, 
 Who to an idol prays, not Thee ? " 
 
 " I have forgot his ignorance. 
 
 Since he through darkness hath found Ale."
 
 244 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube IDision of IRabbi IRatban 
 
 By Frederick Lakgbridge 
 
 THE creeping incense misted all the air 
 With spices, and the people bowed in prayer. 
 The Rabbi Nathan, kneeling in his place 
 (A prison 'd angel looked out of his face), 
 As the slow shaken waves did lap and roll, 
 Felt a deep drowse fall muffling all his soul. 
 Thicker above him did its circles draw. 
 Until his spirit (for he slept not) saw 
 As one that stands upon the ocean bed 
 Sees thro' the glimmering greenness overhead 
 Wash'd weeds that fall and flicker on the eye, 
 And floating rocks and a faint wavering sky. 
 Then did the dimness furl away and pass 
 And his clear spirit was as burning brass. 
 And that invisible world that everywhere 
 Is poured around us like a finer air
 
 THE VISION OF RABBI NATHAN 245 
 
 Threw on its lucent face reflections true, 
 And to this shape the Rabbi's vision grew. 
 The time and place were such as they had been, 
 Nor any change had touched the very scene. 
 'Neath the white clouds of incense, slowly borne. 
 The congregation bow'd like rain-laid corn. 
 But lo! before the Rabbi's purged eyes 
 Their prayers as breath in frosty air did rise ; 
 Or as the soul from lips death leaves agape 
 Slips lightly forth, a moted fluctuant shape. 
 Yea, and the air did vibrate, flash, and sing, 
 As when a snow of sea-birds, wing on wing. 
 Doth rise, and sweep, and blot the sun awhile. 
 From some gray, desolate, wave-wasted isle. 
 Past palmy pillar and thro' massy beam. 
 They soared and floated lightly as a dream. 
 But when they met the blue sky's arched spring. 
 Even as a dove that drops with broken wing, 
 Lo, prayer on prayer did roll and shoot and fall, 
 Heaven's gate just touch'd, but enter'd not at all.
 
 246 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 And Nathan gazing to this truth did win — 
 They might not pass because of fleshly sin 
 That clung and weigh'd them down. 
 
 Some prayers again 
 Up to the cedarn roof did scarce attain, 
 Then, beaten back, in wandering wreaths they 
 
 went, 
 Creeping away as each might find a vent. 
 And of these thwarted prayers the greater part 
 Rose from a cumber'd, lucre-loving heart. 
 Yea, and some prayers drave back on them that 
 
 spoke, 
 Blinding the eyes with bitter poisonous smoke, 
 Clogging the throat, and breeding sores within. 
 And Nathan knew the fierce and festering sin 
 That made these prayers to rankle in the soul, 
 A spreading foulness, not a making whole, 
 Was some old hatred, deep and black and fell. 
 Housed in the heart, and loved and tended well.
 
 THE VISION OF RABBI NATHAN 247 
 
 Yet, here and there, behold a prayer arose 
 And pierced the sky, and caught soft sun-shot 
 
 glows, 
 And, melting, broke in drops of healing dew ; 
 And now from out the heart of Heaven there 
 
 drew 
 An arm, a glory, great and very bright, 
 That flash'd as some swift star that cleaves the 
 
 night. 
 And in a golden vial quaintly wrought 
 The dropping nardy dews this great arm caught. 
 Then, where the very Heavens shrank away, 
 From the dread splendor quick with fiery spray, 
 The burning void that God's own feet had made, 
 The arm stretch'd forth, and lo ! the prayers were 
 
 laid. 
 
 Then Nathan fell and lay upon his face, 
 And spake not, thought not, stirr'd not from his 
 
 place, 
 But let his soul flow out upon the air 
 In ecstasy too deep for praise or prayer.
 
 248 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 XTbe Bmperor anb tbe IRabbt 
 
 By George Croly 
 
 «'/^^LD Rabbi, what tales dost thou pour in 
 V^ mine ear, 
 
 What visions of glory, what phantoms of fear, 
 Of a God, all the gods of the Roman above, 
 A mightier than Mars, a more ancient than Jove ? 
 
 " Let me see bat His splendors, I then shall be- 
 lieve. 
 'Tis the senses alone that can never deceive. 
 But show me your Idol, if earth be His shrine, 
 And your Israelite God shall, old dreamer, be 
 mme ! 
 
 It was Trajan that spoke, and the stoical sneer 
 Still played on his features sublime and severe, 
 For, round the wild world that stooped to his 
 
 throne. 
 He knew but one god, and himself was that one !
 
 THE EMPEROR AND THE RABBI 249 
 
 "The God of our forefathers," low bowed the 
 
 Seer, 
 " Is unseen by the eye, is unheard by the ear ; 
 He is Spirit, and knows not the body's dark 
 
 chain ; 
 Immortal His nature, eternal His reign. 
 
 " He is seen in His power, when the storm is 
 
 abroad ; 
 In His justice, when guilt by His thunders is 
 
 awed; 
 In His mercy, when mountain and valley and 
 
 plain 
 Rejoice in His sunshine, and smile in His rain." 
 
 " Those are dreams," said the monarch, " wild 
 
 fancies of old ; 
 
 But what God can I worship, when none I be- 
 hold? 
 
 Can I kneel to the lightning, or bow to the 
 
 wind?
 
 250 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Can I worship the shape, that but lives in the 
 mind?" 
 " I shall show thee the herald He sends from His 
 throne." 
 
 Through the halls of the palace the Rabbi led on, 
 
 Till above them was spread but the sky's sap- 
 phire dome, 
 
 And, like surges of splendor, beneath them lay 
 Rome. 
 
 And towering o'er all, in the glow of the hour, 
 The Capitol shone, earth's high centre of power : 
 A thousand years glorious, yet still in its prime ; 
 A thousand years more, to be conquered of 
 Time. 
 
 But the West was now purple, the eve was be- 
 gun ; 
 Like a monarch at rest, on the hills lay the sun ; 
 Above him the clouds their rich canop}'^ rolled, 
 With pillars of diamond, and curtains of gold.
 
 THE EMPEROR AND THE RABBI 251 
 
 The Rabbi's proud gesture was turned to the 
 orb: 
 " O King ! let that glory thy worship absorb ! " 
 " What ! worship that sun, and be blind by the 
 gaze? 
 No eve but the eagle's could look on that blaze." 
 
 " Ho! Emperor of earth, if it dazzles thine eye 
 To look on that orb, as it sinks from the sky," 
 Cried the Rabbi, " what mortal could dare but 
 
 to see 
 The Sovereign of him, and the Sovereign of 
 
 thee ! "
 
 252 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Ube ifout /liMstortunes 
 
 A Hebrew Tale 
 By John Godfrey Saxe 
 
 A PIOUS Rabbi, forced by heathen hate 
 To quit the boundaries of his native land, 
 Wandered abroad, submissive to his fate, 
 
 Through pathless woods and wastes of burning 
 sand. 
 
 A patient ass, to bear him in his flight, 
 
 A dog, to guard him from the robber's stealth, 
 
 A lamp, by which to read the law at night, — 
 Was all the pilgrim's store of worldly wealth. 
 
 At set of sun he reached a little town, 
 
 And asked for shelter and a crumb of food ; 
 
 But every face repelled him with a frown, 
 And so he sought a lodging in the wood.
 
 THE FOUR MISFORTUNES 253 
 
 " 'Tis very hard," the weary traveller said, 
 " And most inhospitable, I protest, 
 
 To send me fasting to this forest bed; 
 
 But God is good, and means it for the best! " 
 
 He lit his lamp to read the sacred law, 
 Before he spread his mantle for the night ; 
 
 But the wind rising with a sudden flaw, 
 He read no more, — the gust put out the light. 
 
 " 'Tis strange," he said, " 'tis very strange, indeed. 
 That ere I lay me down to take my rest, 
 
 A chapter of the law I may not read, — 
 But God is good, and all is for the best." 
 
 With these consoling words the Rabbi tries 
 To sleep, — his head reposing on a log, — 
 
 But, ere he fairly shut his drowsy eyes, 
 
 A wolf came up and killed his faithful dog.
 
 254 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 " What new calamity is this ? " he cried ; 
 
 " My honest dog — a friend who stood the test 
 When others failed — lies murdered at my side ! 
 
 Well, — God is good, and means it for the 
 best!" 
 
 Scarce had the Rabbi spoken, when, alas ! — 
 As if at once to crown his wretched lot, 
 
 A hungry lion pounced upon the ass, 
 
 And killed the faithful donkey on the spot. 
 
 " Alas ! — alas 1 " the weeping Rabbi said, 
 
 " Misfortune haunts me like a hateful guest; 
 
 My dog is gone, and now my ass is dead, — 
 Well, — God is good, and all is for the best ! " 
 
 At dawn of day, imploring heavenly grace, 
 Once more he sought the town ; but all in vain ; 
 
 A band of robbers had despoiled the place, 
 And all the churlish citizens were slain !
 
 THE FOUR MISFORTUNES 255 
 
 " Now God be praised ! " the grateful Rabbi cried, 
 " If I had tarried in the town to rest, 
 
 I, too, with these poor villagers had died, — 
 Sure, God is good, and all is for the best ! 
 
 " Had not the saucy wind put out my lamp. 
 By which the sacred law I would have read. 
 
 The light had shown the robbers to my camp, 
 And here the villains would have left me dead ! 
 
 " Plad not my faithful animals been slain, 
 
 Their noise, no doubt, had drawn the robbers 
 near. 
 
 And so their master, it is very plain, 
 
 Instead of them, had fallen murdered here! 
 
 " Full well I see that this hath happened so 
 To put my faith and patience to the test ; 
 
 Thanks to His name ! for now I surely know 
 That God is good, and all is for tlie best! "
 
 2S6 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 IRabbi llsbmael 
 
 By John Greenleaf Whittier 
 
 THE Rabbi Ishmael, with the woe and sin 
 Of the world heavy upon him, entering in 
 The Holy of Holies, saw an awful Face 
 With terrible splendor filling all the place. 
 " O Ishmael ben Elisha ! " said a voice, 
 "What seekest thou? What blessing is thy 
 
 choice ? " 
 And, knowing that he stood before the Lord, 
 Within the shadow of the cherubim, 
 Wide-winged between the blinding light and him, 
 He bowed himself, and uttered not a word. 
 But in the silence of his soul was prayer : 
 " O Thou Eternal ! I am one of all, 
 And nothing ask that others may not share. 
 Thou art Almighty ; we are weak and small, 
 And yet Thy children : let Thy mercy spare ! "
 
 RABBI ISHMAEL 2^7 
 
 Trembling, he raised his eyes, and in the place 
 
 Of the insufferable glory, lo ! a face 
 
 Of more than mortal tenderness, that bent 
 
 Graciously down in token of assent, 
 
 And, smiling, vanished ! With strange joy elate, 
 
 The wondering Rabbi sought the Temple's gate, 
 
 Radiant as Moses from the Mount he stood 
 
 And cried aloud unto the multitude: 
 
 " O Israel, hear ! The Lord our God is good ! 
 Mine eyes have seen His glory and His grace ; 
 Beyond His judgments shall His love endure ; 
 The mercy of the All-Merciful is sure !
 
 258 LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 A Rabbinical Tale 
 By John Godfrey Saxe 
 
 GOOD Rabbi Nathan had rejoiced to spend 
 A sociaf se'nnight with his ancient friend, 
 The Rabbi Isaac. In devout accord 
 They read the Sacred Books, and praised the Lord 
 For all His mercies unto them and theirs ; 
 Until, one day, remembering some affairs 
 That asked his instant presence, Nathan said, 
 " Too long, my friend (so close my soul is wed 
 To thy soul), has the silent lapse of days 
 Kept me thy guest; although with prayer and 
 
 praise 
 The hours were fragrant. Now the time has 
 
 come 
 When, all-reluctant, I must hasten home
 
 THE TWO FRIENDS 259 
 
 To Other duties than the dear delights 
 To which thy gracious friendship still invites." 
 " Well, be it so, if so it needs must be," 
 The host made answer ; " be it far from me 
 To hinder thee in aught that Duty lays 
 Upon thy pious conscience. Go thy ways. 
 And take my blessing ! — but, O friend of mine. 
 In His name whom thou servest, give me thine ! " 
 " Already," Nathan answered, " had I sought 
 Some fitting words to bless thee ; and I thought 
 About the palm-tree, giving fruit and shade ; 
 And in my grateful heart, O friend, I prayed 
 That Heaven be pleased to make thee even so ! 
 O idle benediction ! — Well I know 
 Thou lackest nothing of all perfect fruit 
 Of generous souls, or pious deeds that suit 
 With pious worship. Well I know thine alms 
 In hospitable shade exceed the palm's ; 
 And, for rich fruitage, can that noble tree, 
 With all her opulence, compare with thee ?
 
 26o LEGENDS AND TALES 
 
 Since, then, O friend, I cannot wish thee more, 
 In thine own person, than thy present store 
 Of Heaven's best bounty, I will even pray 
 That, as the palm-tree, though it pass away, 
 By others, of its seed, is still replaced. 
 So thine own stock may evermore be graced 
 With happy sons and daughters, who shall be. 
 In wisdom, strength, and goodness, like to thee ! " 
 
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 BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A.
 
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