"And what are you going to do--"

He did not finish, for Meir bent forward and seized his knees with
his hands, and pressing his lips to them, he began to talk.

"Zeide, let me go hence! Let me go into the broad world! I will
study! I wish to study, and here my eyes wander in darkness. Two
years ago I made the same request, but you became angry, and ordered
me to remain. I remained, zeide, because I respect you, and your
commands are sacred to me. But now, zeide, let me go hence! If I go
into the world with your permission and blessing, I shall become a
learned man. I shall come back here and take my stand against the
great Rabbi, and I shall know how to show him that he is a small man.
Now--"

Saul did not permit him to speak further.

"Sha-a-a!" he exclaimed.

He was seized with fear at the mere mention of a strife between his
grandson and the great Rabbi.

But Meir drew himself up, and with fire in his face and tears on his
eyelashes, he spoke again:

"Zeide, remember the history of Rabbi Eliezer. When he was young his
father did not let him go into the world. He ploughed the field, and
looked into the dark forest which hid him from the world, and
curiosity and longing ate into his heart as now they are eating into
mine. He could not stand that yearning, and he escaped. He went to
Jerusalem, to a great, world-famed scholar, and said to him: 'Let me
be your pupil, and you shall be my master!' And it was as he said.
And when, several years after, his father Hyrkanos came to Jerusalem,
he saw there on the square a beautiful youth, who talked with the
people, and the people listened to him, and their souls melted like
wax before the great sweetness of his words, and all heads bent low
before the youth and shouted: 'Behold our master!' Hyrkanos wondered
much at the wise words of the man who stood on the heights, and at
the great love which all the people bore him. And he asked of the man
who stood beside him: 'What is the name of the youth who stands on
the heights, and where does his father live? for I wish to bow before
him, whose entrails have brought into the world such a son.' And the
man whom he questioned made answer: 'That youth's name is Eliezer, a
star over Israel's head, and his father's name is Hyrkanos.' When
Hyrkanos heard this he shouted with a great voice, rushed toward the
youth, and opened his arms. And then there was ecstatic joy in the
hearts of both father and son, and the whole nation bow