The two musicians seemed to be pleased at the arrival of a new and exotic listener, and they played even louder in her honor, but the proprietor, noticing the fine shadow of a woman’s robe falling across the square of light at the entrance to his house, hurriedly gestured to them to stop playing and came out to see who was sharing the fee he had just been given for his medical attention to the two musicians, who had first listened to his advice and swallowed his potions and only afterward announced that they were penniless. He stared at the two strangers, who might be seeking healing for themselves. Then he inclined his head and introduced himself, first in Teutonic, then in Frankish, and finally in Latin. Even though he could see that they shared no common language, he persisted, extracting with gentle, flowery gestures not only the names and surnames of his unexpected visitors but also the names of the places they had visited during their astonishing journey from the continent of Africa to their new destination.
Neither Ben Attar nor his second wife, who now opened her narrow amber eyes wide, could tell whether this healer of Verdun, who presented himself, either humorously or seriously, as Karl-Otto the First, could really grasp the vast distances they had traversed or the antiquity of their lineage. But of one thing they were certain, and that was the power of the attraction they had for this crop-bearded, black-clad physician. With an impatient gesture he now dismissed the two musicians and their musical tribute so that he could pay attention to the two strangers, whom he was eager to invite into his home, even if they were not patients in need of his healing potions.
Ben Attar, whose heart was troubled with anxious care for those remaining outside the wall, was firmly resolved to refuse the uncalled-for invitation, but the second wife, sad for the music she had lost, was drawn as though by magic into the stranger’s house. With the confidence derived from her new solitary status, she did not consult her husband but was swept into the musty darkness, until she almost touched the large, tormented image of the Son of God, whose bloodshot eyes stared with equanimity at all the drugs and simples in the vials and flasks all around. Ben Attar was obliged to snatch hold of his wayward wife’s thin arm, which had become even thinner lately, to prevent her from floating on through the door that the physician was eagerly opening before her and into an even darker inner room, which was apparently the consulting room itself. In it a large taper burned near a bed covered in a yellowish woolen coverlet, at the foot of which some river pebbles were whitening in a basin that was empty of water, while on a low dresser were placed a knife, a saw, and a pair of forceps made of the same polished gray iron as the little crosses hanging in every corner, so that the physician could pray while he worked and beg for forgiveness and mercy for the shortcomings of his skill and the weakness of his mind.
Even after the North African had managed to break the spell that the physician’s house held over his surprisingly disobedient wife, and with his own hands replaced the veil that had slipped from her strained face and hurriedly led her back toward their fellow travelers, the physician still seemed to refuse to let his two visitors go, and he followed them to the town gate quietly and pensively, gathering on the way among the tombstones two small children with large iron crosses hanging around their necks. It was as though, since he had failed to make progress with them as a physician addressing prospective patients, he were now trying to win their affection as the parent of two lively children, who crossed themselves charmingly before the guard and cautiously touched the horses’ tails.
But what does this obstinate Lotharingian want? Why will he not leave us alone? And what is he so curious about? Ben Attar wondered with faint irritation. He was relieved to discover that during his absence the others had obediently stayed where they were, apart from little Elbaz, who had deserted his place between his father and the first wife and seated himself instead on the driver’s seat beside the black pagan, who was still vigilantly holding the reins in one hand and the whip in the other, as motionless as a statue. Seeing that the crop-bearded, black-clad physician was trying to extract information from the officer of the guard, he asked Rabbi Elbaz to explore with the help of his Latin the obstinate Christian’s intent.
The physician’s good Latin easily supplied what was deficient in that of the rabbi from Seville, so their conversation was able to satisfy the nagging but as yet unfocused curiosity of the Lotharingian physician about the journey of these faraway Jewish strangers who had turned up on his doorstep. Just as Elbaz was wondering whether he could explain to this gentile the nature of the painful conflict between northern and southern Jews, whose character and distance from each other made it impossible for either party to overcome the other, but merely enabled them at times to reach a compromise, a short, pale German woman came through the town gate and hurried over to her two children, who were amusing themselves under the horses’ feet. The rabbi’s heart missed a beat at the sight of the physician’s wife, who, apart from the large iron cross dangling at her bosom, resembled their own Mistress Esther-Minna in her appearance and her carriage, and he raised his eyes in amazement to her crop-bearded husband, his lips moving wordlessly. But in truth there was no need for him to say anything, for the physician immediately understood the little rabbi’s surmise, and with a faint smile that held a hint of sorrow, he nodded his head to confirm the surprising truth, and thus the rabbi was able to tell him the rest of the story of their travels without fear, knowing that he was assured of an understanding listener.
6.
Then the gray sky came back to life and lukewarm raindrops began to fall relentlessly on Verdun. The physician’s little wife quickly gathered her two children and disappeared through the town gate, but her husband, excited by the contest about dual marriage that the rabbi from Seville was spreading out before him like a colorful fan, found it difficult to tear himself away from the unusual story. Did he experience a brief hope of discovering a different, lustier species of Jew, or was it rather that his curiosity urged him to steal a glance at the other wife, concealed within the wagon, so that he could compare her with the dark-skinned young woman who had floated into his house? But when Esther-Minna alighted from the larger wagon as it returned from the customs house and the apostate noticed the hard blue look he received from this fellow countrywoman, who immediately saw through him, he shivered slightly, as though the fanatical repudiation of which the little rabbi spoke were liable to threaten him too. Without saying a word of farewell, he withdrew from the group of Jews, crossing himself occasionally, and exchanged some mocking banter with the Lotharingian guards before disappearing through the wall. The North African travelers, who a mere ten weeks before had been sailing under the bright azure sky, continue their journey eastward in a rainy, muddy fog toward the valley of the Rhine.