ews are always looking for the Prince and the
Lawgiver to come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set
me apart as a child of the prophecy--the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews
dream so many dreams. You would never guess it to see us slink about the
rubbish-heaps in our quarter; but at the day's end--doors shut, candles
lit--aha! _then_ we became the Chosen again.'

He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the
shot-guns never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on
the leaves.

'I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known
rough words in his own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis,
who pulled his ears and filliped his nose, all that he might
learn--learn--learn to be King when his time came. He! Such a little
Prince it was! One eye he kept on the stone-throwing Moorish boys, and
the other it roved about the streets looking for his Kingdom. Yes, and
he learned to cry softly when he was hunted up and down those streets.
He learned to do all things without noise. He played beneath his
father's table when the Great Candle was lit, and he listened as
children listen to the talk of his father's friends above the table.
They came across the mountains, from out of all the world, for my
Prince's father was their counsellor. They came from behind the armies
of Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They stole down
our alley, they tapped secretly at our door, they took off their rags,
they arrayed themselves, and they talked to my father at the wine. All
over the world the heathen fought each other. They brought news of these
wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard these
meanly dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for how
long King should draw sword against King, and People rise up against
People. Why not? There can be no war without gold, and we Jews know how
the earth's gold moves with the seasons, and the crops, and the winds;
circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a river--a
wonderful underground river. How should the foolish Kings know _that_
while they fight and steal and kill?'

The children's faces showed that they knew nothing at all as, with open
eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold,
studded with jewels, gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star
through flying s