第25章
GIBRALTAR JEW (speaking in broken Arabic).- Good-day, OSwiri; God has favoured me this day; here is a bargain by which we shall both gain.I have bought this mantle of the woman almost for nothing, for it is stolen; but I am poor, as you know, I have not a cruzado; pay her therefore the price, that we may then forthwith sell the mantle and divide the gain.
SWIRI.- Willingly, brother of Gibraltar; I will pay the woman for the mantle; it does not appear a bad one.
Thereupon he flung two cruzados to the woman, who forthwith left the shop.
GIBRALTAR JEW.- Thanks, brother Swirl, this is very kind of you; now let us go and sell the mantle, the gold alone is well worth a moidore; but I am poor and have nothing to eat, give me, therefore, the half of that sum and keep the mantle; Ishall be content.
SWIRI.- May Allah blot out your name, you thief.What mean you by asking me for money? I bought the mantle of the woman and paid for it.I know nothing of you.Go out of my doors, dog of a Nazarene, if not I will pay you with a kick.
The dispute was referred to one of the sabios, or priests; but the sabio, who was also from Mogadore, at once took the part of the Swiri, and decided that the other should have nothing.Whereupon the Gibraltar Jew cursed the sabio, his father, mother, and all his family.The sabio replied, "Iput you in ndui," a kind of purgatory or hell."I put you in seven nduis," retorted the incensed Jew, over whom, however, superstitious fear speedily prevailed; he faltered, became pale, and dropping his voice, retreated, trembling in every limb.
The Jews have two synagogues in Lisbon, both are small;one is, however, tolerably well furnished, it has its reading desk, and in the middle there is a rather handsome chandelier;the other is little better than a sty, filthy to a degree, without ornament of any kind.The congregation of this last are thieves to a man; no Jew of the slightest respectability ever enters it.
How well do superstition and crime go hand in hand.
These wretched beings break the eternal commandments of their Maker without scruple; but they will not partake of the beast of the uncloven foot, and the fish which has no scales.They pay no regard to the denunciations of holy prophets against the children of sin, but they quake at the sound of a dark cabalistic word, pronounced by one perhaps their equal, or superior, in villainy, as if God would delegate the exercise of his power to the workers of iniquity.
I was one day sauntering on the Caesodre, when a Jew, with whom I had previously exchanged a word or two, came up and addressed me.
JEW.- The blessing of God upon you, brother; I know you to be a wise and powerful man, and I have conceived much regard for you; it is on that account that I wish to put you in the way of gaining much money.Come with me, and I will conduct you to a place where there are forty chests of tea.It is a sereka (a robbery), and the thieves are willing to dispose of it for a trifle, for there is search being made, and they are in much fear.I can raise one half of what they demand, do you supply the other, we will then divide it, each shall go his own way and dispose of his portion.
MYSELF.- Wherefore, O son of Arbat, do you propose this to me, who am a stranger? Surely you are mad.Have you not your own people about you whom you know, and in whom you can confide?
JEW.- It is because I know our people here that I do not confide in them; we are in the galoot of sin.Were I to confide in my brethren there would be a dispute, and perhaps they would rob me, and few of them have any money.Were I to apply to the sabio he might consent, but when I ask for my portion he would put me in ndui! You I do not fear; you are good and would do me no harm, unless I attempted to deceive you, and that I dare not do, for I know you are powerful.Come with me, master, for I wish to gain something, that I may return to Arbat, where I have children...
Such are Jews in Lisbon.