Part 3 (2/2)
Actually, it was always the opposite case; I had been guided to the inner sanctuary, although I never went inside. Mustafa asked someone about the importance of today, so now we learned that this was both a birthday celebration and a commemoration of the expulsion of Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham. Sarah had insisted that her husband banish his servant-maid Hagar and their son Ishmael to the desert. Now, we better understood the source of our inhospitable treatment from the bigoted saddle-merchant and from the mosque's fanatical officials.
The commemoration of their national ancestor's exile had absolutely doubled their existing abrasiveness. Jews were put on notice that they were not allowed to be seen-and the same was true for me. Given the fact that my wife was with me, this could easily have been taken as an act of defiance which would have heightened hostilities rather than minimize them. Thus, I had to give Mustafa Bustani my word that I would now go straight to Eppstein's home and eat at his house. I was to avoid the city streets, following only the outlying paths to Jew Eppstein's house. There were still two sites that we wanted to visit: Abraham's Oak of Mamre and the Sacred Heights of Hebron. As I've mentioned, the latter route is approximately 400 hundred paces from the road to Jerusalem. So we set the exact time when we would stop the carriage and leave Mustafa and Hebron behind us, thereby starting our journey to Eppstein's place. At the agreed upon time, we parted company. Thar was exceptionally happy that he was allowed to go with us. Without further words from his father, I didn't overlook the evident trust that his father had placed in me.
With all of his most generous hospitality, my brave and old friend Eppstein received us into his home. What is most commonly known as the home's ”best room” was ours. It was a relatively airy room that was located on the flat roof top. In my wife's journal, wherein she happily noted such details, she wrote the following lines: ”It was a very hot day. We were given a beautiful, cool, domed room that had two broadly curved arches. Three of the walls had windows, and the door was on the fourth. Conditions there were simply splendid. The room's furnis.h.i.+ngs consisted of two beds. To the side of one was a reconditioned couch with three antique pillows; next to it was a table with four wooden chairs. The other had a white- ruffled canopy bed. In the corner was a water pitcher that probably dated to the time of Christ. The walls were tinted with a bluish white-wash. A bra.s.s wash-service sat upon one of the chairs. I won't say a word about the pictures on the walls. We were served excellent Hebron wine, a bottle of which cost one franc. We dined on food that had required a great deal of preparation, all of which certainly was worth the effort.” Considering the generous hospitality that we had received, we didn't need to send for the food that Mustafa Bustani had brought along. Those items were packed away in our carriage and would come in handy when we turned towards home.
In the course of the meal, Eppstein told us about today's big Children's Fitness-Festival, a birthday celebration in honor of the boy Ishmael. The children were drawn to the city's open s.p.a.ces, where they were invited to take part in all kinds of peaceable and war-like games; adults were lining up to help supervise them. Since so many stories are told about the expulsion and the injustices that were sustained, no person from another faith should even want to be a bystander. When Eppstein heard that we had the intention of riding to the Oak and on to Abraham's Well, he immediately advised us to cancel those plans. There could be trouble if a procession of children were to pa.s.s by these holy sites.
Filled with indignation, Thar yelled out: ”Keep our distance?
Flee? That is never the case with us. As for Effendi and me, we fear nothing. Regarding the Mrs., she too is not afraid, because I have told her that I'm a hero, and she can always call upon me in a time of need. Chuckling to himself, Eppstein considered how this child could have such self-esteem: ”A hero?” With that remark, he came down on the wrong side of the boy. Thar rose from the table, came towards him, and answered that question: ”You laugh at me? I will not tolerate that. My name is Thar, and woe to you if I should ever take revenge against you.”
Jew Eppstein kept on joking: ”Well, would that be really bad for me?” Thar was irritated: ”So, you continue to laugh at me? Mind what you say! In truth, I'm just eleven years old, but in all of Jerusalem there isn't a single fourteen year old that I haven't wrestled to the ground!” Still smiling, Eppstein pressed further: ”Do you also consider me to be such a fourteen year old?”
”No. Well then, how old are you?”
”Let's say sixty.”
”For all I care, it's the same to me if you're a hundred. Now pay attention!”
Thar quickly slipped behind him, forcing his arms behind him.
With a jerk and a squeeze, Eppstein ended up sitting on the ground- where previously he had stood. Naturally, this was the result of the boy's quickness and the way he managed to take the man by surprise.
Even so, the boy had physical powers that exceeded the usual strength of an eleven year old. With a satisfied nod to Jew Eppstein, Thar returned to his place at the table: ”At first, you laughed from above-now you laugh from below!”
”Tell me now, where did you develop such knack and quickness?”
Thar answered: ”From the Lions Club.”
”What is that? How and where?”
”It's in Jerusalem. We boys have four clubs where we can practice. The Lions Club meets in front of the western Jaffa Gate.
At the northwestern Damascus Gate, you'll find The Elephant Club.
Just outside of Stephen's Gate, The Hippos play. The Whales claim The Pool of Siloah as their practice grounds. As you know, these are strong and n.o.ble animals. With their speed and the power of their leaps, The Lions triumph, just as I've done here. As you already know, The Elephans trample together. The Hippos run with their heads linked together; in this way, the strongest roots himself to the spot while the others collapse inward. The Whales do battle only in the ocean. One ducks under the opposition, and with a mouth full of water he spews it into the air, just like whales do. Therein lies the victory! I'm a member of all four clubs; and to this day, no one has beaten me. Hey, do we want to work together like Hippos?
Thar lowered his head and prepared to ram Mr. Eppstein, but he immediately stepped to the side and called out: ”Leave me in peace. I am not one of those beasts! I only wanted to warn you about today's dangers-never considering that I would be treacherously ambushed.
Should I contact a reliable rent-a-donkey business for the trip you're planning?” I answered: ”Yes. Preferably one that does not
Mr. Eppstein was glad to help: ”There is only one, so I'll ask him to come. It saddens me to acknowledge that today is such a Day of Hate. I'm sorry to say that your wife was only permitted to see the outside of the mosque. I have always said this, so I'll continue to repeat it: If the faith of these people were pure and n.o.ble, then they would not find it necessary to keep others away from their shrines.”
He excused himself and sent for the donkey-lender. Thar pulled out his notebook and thoughtfully recorded this quote from Mr.
Eppstein. For him, those words seemed important enough to remember.
In a short time, the donkey-driver arrived and heard our requests. As our photograph shows, he looked Moorish, but he seemed to be good- natured and not a person to inconvenience us. He had no horses whatsoever; not even one donkey was available. On account of the festival, all animals had been reserved ahead of time. However, there were three mules that he could lend us. We could honestly say that they were only suited for pulling a cart, not for riding. One of them had an especially stubborn temperament, but we had to be thankful that these dear animals were still available. So we closed the deal with this merchant and asked that he bring the mules without delay
Whenever a Middle Easterner, and particularly a donkey-driver promises to turn up without delay, this may mean that he will arrive one or even two hours from then. Yet this fellow was true to his word; in just thirty minutes, he showed up. He claimed that he would have come even sooner if he hadn't found it necessary to clean the animals before he delivered them to us. I don't care to describe them, so I'll simply confess that the sight of them was no minor fright for us.
They consisted of skin and bones. For well over a month, they had neither seen a was.h.i.+ng, a scrubbing, nor a curry-comb. What was supposed to pa.s.s for a saddle and strapping was a sheer hodge-podge of things that didn't fit. The lady's saddle was such a boldly sad afterthought of improvisation. In light of the donkey-driver's freethinking and artistic invention, I paid him an extra baksheesh-an act for which he solemnly a.s.sured me that I had his everlasting love, loyalty, and devotion.
Needless to say, we wanted to provide feed for the poor animals.
They fed on everything edible, including all the bread that we found in Eppstein's house-and still they were not full. The prettiest parts about them were their names. Mine was called ”Guewerdschina,” which means ”dove.” Naturally, I managed to pick the one that seemed to be the most ornery-and it proved to be true. In both a good and bad sense, we would have quite an experience with this one. After we paid the rental fee, mounted our mules, and prepared to ride away, it became evident that Guewerdschina didn't want to go along. She would not budge from her s.p.a.ce.
I now applied all of my equestrian skills. The Donkey Driver himself gave it his best effort, and Eppstein's servants did the same-but all their efforts were in vain. They knew the stubborn nature of this dumb animal, so they were sure that it would rather die than take just two steps from its spot. What was I supposed to do? Like the Donkey Driver, should we too just walk along beside her?
No! Once again, I mounted the mule and ordered the Driver to lead Guewerdschina. Of course, she followed him. Once we had left the city behind us and we had reached open fields, I had hoped to convince her to ride on-and I partially succeeded. Kind words and caressing didn't help at all, and whipping the animal accomplished even less. So I tried something with my thumb; from the side of ”the dove,” I pressed hard between the first two vertebrae. She shot forward and obeyed me for a little while, but not for long. I was convinced that I had to experiment from a new angle. During the entire journey, I agonized about what I should do with this contrary beast.
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