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The Scapegoat-Part9_Hall Caine(1853-1931)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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she devised a children's feast for the last day of the marriage festival,

and caused Ben Aboo to write to Israel a formal letter, beginning



"To our well-beloved the excellent Israel ben Oliel, Praise

to the one God," and setting forth that on the morrow,



when the "Sun of the world" should "place his foot in the stirrup

of speed," and gallop "from the kingdom of shades," the Governor would



"hold a gathering of delight" for all the children of Tetuan and he,

Israel, was besought to "lighten it with the rays of his face,



rivalled only by the sun," and to bring with him his little daughter

Naomi, whose arrival "similar to a spring breeze," should



"dissipate the dark night of solitude and isolation." This despatch

written in the common cant of the people, concluded with quotations



from the Prophet on brotherly love and a significant and more sincere

assurance that the Basha would not admit of excuses "of the thickness



of a hair."

When Israel received the missive, his anger was hot and furious.



He leapt to the conclusion that, in demanding the presence of Naomi,

the Spanish woman, who must know of the child's condition desired only



to make a show of it. But, after a fume, he put that thought from him

as uncharitable and unwarranted, and resolved to obey the summons.



And, indeed, if he had felt any further diffidence, the sight of Naomi's

own eagerness must have driven it away. The little maid seemed



to know that something unusual was going on. Troops of poor villagers

from every miserable quarter of the bashalic came into the town each day,



beating drums, firing long guns, driving their presents

before them--bullocks, cows, and sheep--and trying to make believe



that they rejoiced and were glad. Naomi appeared to be conscious

of many tents pitched in the marketplace, of denser crowds in the streets,



and of much bustle everywhere.

Also she seemed to catch the contagion of little Ali's excitement.



The children of all the schools of the town, both Jewish and Moorish,

had been summoned through their Talebs to the festival; there was



to be dancing and singing and playing on musical instruments and

Ali himself, who had lately practised the kanoon--the lute,



the harp--under his teacher, was to show his skill before the Governor.

Therefore, great was the little black man's excitement, and,



in the fever of it, he would talk to every one of the event

forthcoming--to Fatima, to Habeebah, and often to Naomi also,



until the memory of her infirmity would come to him, or perhaps

the derisive laugh of his schoolfellows would stop him, and then,



thinking they were laughing at the girl, he would fall on them

like a fury, and they would scamper away.



When the great day came, Ali went off to the Kasbah with his school

and Taleb, in the long procession of many schools and many Talebs.



Every child carried a present for the rich Basha; now a boy with a goat,

then a girl with a lamb, again a poor tattered mite with a hen,



all cuddling them close like pets they must part with, yet all looking

radiantly happy in their sweet innocency, which had no alloy of pain



from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Israel took Naomi by the hand, but no present with either of them,



and followed the children, going past the booths, the blind beggars,

the lepers, and the shrieking Arabs that lay thick about the gate,



through the iron-clamped door, and into the quadrangle, where groups

of women stood together closely covered in their blankets--the mothers



and sisters of the children, permitted to see their little ones pass

into the Kasbah, but allowed to go no farther--then down the



crooked passage, past the tiny mosque, like a closet, and the bath,

like a dungeon, and finally into the pillared patio, paved and walled



with tiles.

This was the place of the festival, and it was filled already



with a great company of children, their fathers and their teachers.

Moors, Arabs, Berbers, and Jews, clad in their various costumes



of white and blue and black and red--they were a gorgeous, a voluptuous,

and, perhaps, a beautiful spectacle in the morning sunlight.



As Israel entered, with Naomi by the hand, he was conscious

that every eye was on them, and as they passed through the way that



was made for them, he heard the whispered exclamations of the people.

"Shoof!" muttered a Moor. "See!" "It's himself," said a Jew.



"And the child," said another Jew. "Allah has smitten her," said an Arab

"Blind and dumb and deaf," said another Moor "God be gracious



to my father!" said another Arab.

Musicians were playing in the gallery that ran round the court,






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