treasure out
of Thy treasure-house!"

As he says this, he sees something like a little flame coming along out
of the town, and he knows, That is it! He is about to pursue it, when he
remembers it is Sabbath, when one mustn't turn. So he goes after it
walking. And as he walks slowly along, the little flame begins to move
slowly, too, so that the distance between them does not increase, though
it does not shorten, either. He walks on. Now and then an inward voice
calls to him: "Shmerel, don't be a fool! Take off the dressing-gown.
Give a jump and throw it over the flame!" But he knows it is the Evil
Inclination speaking. He throws off the dressing-gown onto his arm, but
to spite the Evil Inclination he takes still smaller steps, and
rejoices to see that, as soon as he takes these smaller steps, the
little flame moves more slowly, too.

Thus he follows the flame, and follows it, till he gradually finds
himself outside the town. The road twists and turns across fields and
meadows, and the distance between him and the flame grows no longer, no
shorter. Were he to throw the dressing-gown, it would not reach the
flame. Meantime the thought revolves in his mind: Were he indeed to
become possessed of the treasure, he need no longer be a woodcutter,
now, in his later years; he has no longer the strength for the work he
had once. He would rent a seat for his wife in the women's Shool, so
that her Sabbaths and holidays should not be spoiled by their not
allowing her to sit here or to sit there. On New Year's Day and the Day
of Atonement it is all she can do to stand through the service. Her many
children have exhausted her! And he would order her a new dress, and buy
her a few strings of pearls. The children should be sent to better
Chedorim, and he would cast about for a match for his eldest girl. As it
is, the poor child carries her mother's fruit baskets, and never has
time so much as to comb her hair thoroughly, and she has long, long
plaits, and eyes like a deer.

"It would be a meritorious act to pounce upon the treasure!"

The Evil Inclination again, he thinks. If it is not to be, well, then it
isn't! If it were in the week, he would soon know what to do! Or if his
Yainkel were there, he would have had something to say. Children
nowadays! Who knows what they don't do on Sabbath, as it is! And the
younger one is no better: he makes fun of the teacher in Cheder. When
the teacher is about to administer a blow, they pull his