Satan's Idle Stories 08. Who Came Up with the Proverb

08. Who Came Up With the Proverb

 

Eshel is a simple peasant. He is neither poor nor rich. He has a strip of land inherited from his father, and the latter received an allotment from his parent, and so on down the generations. The fields bring wheat, vegetables, grapes and other gifts make the host happy. Even though the name of the peasant is Eshel, he does not plant tamarisk, as his forefather Abraham did. There is little use for this tree.

 

Eshel's wife is industrious and fertile, not to jinx it. The house is full of children, and all are clothed and fed. The boys go to the teacher and study from books, the girls stay at home and help their mother.  An ordinary family, and its head is not remarkable. It seemed that Eshel would live her life quietly and peacefully and would not experience the storms of life. However, the fate has decided otherwise, having chosen him as its favorite. But before our hero drew a happy lot, a lot of anxiety fell to his share.

 

Two foreign fields adjoin Eshel's strip of land on different sides. His neighbors are disturbing, or rather to say, unkind. First, they are deadly hostile to each other, and our hero has a lot of trouble, because his land is located between the neighbors' fields. Secondly, they do not like Eshel himself, and avoid talking to him as if they harbour a grudge against him. They are strong and fearsome. And the mighty neighbor is always feared. The neighbor's boys who live across the fence try to hurt Eshel's children and start fights.

 

Children are known to divulge their parents' secrets. Once one of Eshel's sons, who was fighting with the son of the neighbor on the right, told his father that the neighbor on the right was planning to commit arson in the house of the neighbor on the left. Eshel's other offspring faced the son of the neighbor on the left in a fist fight. Eshel learned from his son that the neighbor on the left had plotted to set fire to the house of the neighbor on the right. 

 

The extraordinary news plunged Eshel into a whirlpool of thoughts, threw him into a maelstrom of doubts. "The neighbors want to set fire to each other's farms," he pondered, "is this good or bad? There are no one-sided things in the world - only good or only bad," philosophized the peasant, "I shall be rid of my ill-wishers, and that is good. My neighbors think right - they are planning to do irreparable harm to each other. Again, the authorities will put other hosts on the land, and what if the new land owners turn out to be worse than the previous ones? That's bad. A known old evil is better than an unknown new one. I'll ask my spouse's opinion!"

 

Eshel's wife was horrified. "Inform the authorities of the villainy our neighbors are up to! - She said resolutely, "Let them send gendarmes to stop the atrocity! Fire will destroy everything. Innocent children will suffocate in the smoke. Even though they're hooligans, it's a pity! Cattle will burn - cows, sheep, poultry. Ashes, stench! And what if the fire spreads to our house?"

 

Eshel envied his wife - everything was clear to her and she had no doubts. He himself decided to wait and see if things would work themselves out. "There is no need to hurry to the authorities," thought Eshel, wise in life, "who knows how the case will be interpreted, I myself may be accused! Where the head is not a helper, the heart will tell you. Until the fateful hour I will do nothing, and then I will decide whether to call the gendarmes or to keep silent as a fish!"

 

***

 

And so the decisive day, or rather night, came. Eshel awoke to a suspicious noise. He went out into the courtyard. He looked to his right. The moon illuminated the emissary of the neighbor to the left, he was putting brushwood around the enemy's house, preparing to set fire to it. Eshel looked to the left and saw the same thing was happening there.

 

"It is not too late to call in the soldiers, to stop the madness," thought Eshel feverishly; "innocent children will die, and the guilty will be punished beyond measure!  However, why should I feel sorry for my enemies and their hooligan children! I have not heard a kind word from them, I have not seen a good deed. I have suffered from my neighbors, and I should continue to endure them? Wise men say, "If you are not sure, sit and wait and don't get involved!"

 

Having found soothing support in the wisdom of books, Eshel returned to the house, quietly lay down next to his peacefully sleeping spouse and fell asleep. On that moonlit night he dreamed of a sunny day. The bright sky shone unusually. The rays were blinding, and to save his eyes, he turned his back to the unbearable light. But then, in the middle of the clear day, a terrible thunder rumbled from above, deafening and waking poor Eshel. 

 

"Get up, hubby! - cried the wife, "What a terrible rumble, what a dazzling light!" The spouses ran out of the house. To the right and left of their field the houses of their neighbors were ablaze. No cries for help could be heard. "The sleepers have died of suffocation and burned! - cried the wife, "why did you not listen to me, Eshel, why did you not notify the authorities, why did you allow the misfortune to happen?"

 

Eshel stubbornly made no answer. He gazed mesmerized at the two man-made fiery elements. "Glory to the Almighty, the wind spares our farm! - thought the peasant, "however, what lies ahead of us?"

 

The wife and children approached the ashes. The hungry flames had fed. Only the surviving ovens blackened, and the smoky chimneys stared into the dawn sky. A stinking fog and a stench. It is frightening to move coals and charcoals, in case a burnt body or a bone, or worse, a skull, will appear. And Eshel stands immovable at the threshold of his house, repenting and rejoicing.

 

***

 

Then I came down from Heaven and went straight to Eshel. His face was troubled.  He must have thought that I was an official of the authorities, that I had heard of the misfortune, that I would interrogate him, and that I would accuse him of arson, God forbid! I hurried to calm the peasant.

 

 - Hello, Eshel," I said, and looked at him with all the caress I could muster.

 

 - Hello," said Eshel, "and who are you?

 

 - I am Satan, who came down from Heaven to praise and reward you.

 

 - Do you laugh at a simple laborer?

 

 - Not at all! I see your family has returned from the fire. We must speak in private. We don't need any extra ears.

 

 - Hey, wife, take the children into the house and sit with them yourself," Eshel shouted sternly.

 

 - The neighbors who perished in the fire have annoyed you a lot, haven't they, Eshel?

 

 - That's right, Satan! I have suffered from them. And my parent suffered from their fathers, and my grandfather - the same.

 

 - That's just it! And their children are no better! - I exclaimed.

 

 - And yet, men have died....

 

 - Eshel, you heroically suppressed the worthless pity in your soul. You did not inform the authorities, you gave free rein to the hammer of justice. They say we sing a song to the nobility of vengeance. Praise be to you, Eshel!

 

 - I don't understand, Satan, what is my heroism?

 

 - Now you'll understand. Come with me! - I said, and we moved forward.

 

 - Do you see that stove, Eshel? Shovel the embers near it. There's the wrought iron entrance to the cellar. Open the hatch and climb in. Don't be afraid of anything. Deep down there, in a stone niche, you'll find an iron box. Take it out and give it to me.

 

 - Take it," said the soot-stained peasant and handed Satan the chest.

 

 - Now let's do the same thing at the second burnt house," said Satan, and soon he had two chests in his hands.

 

 - Eshel, are you literate?

 

 - You insult me, Satan!

 

 - I'm joking. Open the boxes one by one, take out the scrolls, break the seals and read.

 

 - In both scrolls it is written that all three plots of land - mine and my neighbors' - belong to our family! - What does that mean, Satan?

 

 - What is written is what it means! These ancient documents are the only legitimate ones. Your neighbors' ancestors hid them from your forefathers for centuries, and those, simple people, did not get their own security papers. Cunning neighbors thought to take possession of your ancestral land, but before each of them wished to finish with the rival, and at the same time to destroy his scroll.

 

 - But the children died innocently! - Eshel said stubbornly.

 

 - Didn't the neighborhood bullies beat your boys? When fathers eat sour grapes, sons will do the same. Greed is shameless, enmity runs through generations. You can't destroy hatred without killing its bearers. By your equanimity you have reduced the evil in the world.

 

 - The crops and livestock have died...

 

 - The infected organ is removed for healing, and sometimes healthy flesh suffers!

 

 - Satan, did you not invent the proverb about a forest and a chips?

 

- What proverb?

 

 - When you cut down the forest, the chips fly!

 

 - I did not invent it, but the cruelty of your earthly life. You shall have your reward from me. I'll present these letters to the authorities and all the land will be yours. Take possession of it this instant!