Third Tale Of a Lame Man
Third Tale
Of a Lame Man
A story:
O nce there was a wise man who, before he died, called for his children and family and left them his will wherein they were admonished to keep the trees watered.
You may busy yourselves with other vocations, he cautioned them, but always be heedful of keeping the trees watered. Then the wise man died.
Among the children he left behind was a lame son who was unable to walk.
He could stand, but could not walk. His brothers provided for his support.
They provided so much, in fact, that he had more than enough.
So, little by little, he had saved everything that was left over after his needs were met until he had amassed quite a lot of money.
He reflected, Why should I keep living off their charity?
It would be better for me to start up in business even if I cannot walk.
So he decided to hire a wagon, a faithful servant and a driver and to ride with them to the great fair in Leipzig. That way he could conduct business despite his lameness.
When his family heard this they were very pleased, and they said to one another, Why should we keep providing for his 28 support?
It would be better to let him make a living for himself.
They contributed some more money so he could go into business on his own.
Which he did, hiring a wagon, a faithful servant and a driver.
They set off and passed by an inn, where the servant suggested they spend the night.
The lame man, however, did not want to follow this suggestion and prevailed on them to keep going.
They travelled on and got lost in a forest, where they were set upon by bandits.
Some time earlier, there had been a famine.
A man came to a city and announced that whoever wanted to eat should come to see him.
Many people went to see him, so he was able to select which people would and would not be of use to him.
Some of these he put off. To one he said, You should be a craftsman.
To another he said, You should work in a mill.
In this way he chose only the cleverest young men and these he led into the forest where he convinced them to become bandits.
He cajoled, Since the roads lead from here to Leipzig and Breslau and other centres of commerce as well, merchants all travel this way.
We will rob them and take their money. That was how these bandits came to set upon the lame man and his hirelings.
The servant and the driver were able to flee, so they did.
But the lame man remained in the wagon. The bandits approached him and seized the chest with his money.
They asked him, Why are you just sitting there?
He answered that he was unable to walk. So they robbed him of his money chest and his horses, leaving him in the wagon.
The servant and the driver who had fled reckoned that since the lame man’s family had advanced them their pay, how could they show their faces at home again?
29 They might be put in chains. It would be better to stay where they were and remain a servant and a driver.
As for the man who was unable to walk and remained in the cart, as long as he had the biscuits he had brought from home he could eat.
Later, once the biscuits had run out and he had nothing to eat, he considered what to do.
He threw himself off the wagon so he could eat grass.
He then spent the night alone in the field, and he was very frightened.
His strength so flagged that he could not pull himself up and could only crawl along.
As long as he could reach out for the grass around him and eat, he ate.
When the grass around him ran out and he could not reach any more, he crawled further on and continued to graze.
For some while he went on eating grass in this way.
One time he came upon a herb that he had never eaten before.
This herb very much pleased him. He had spent a great deal of time eating herbs and could recognize them all, but this herb was unlike any he had seen before.
So he decided to pull it out by the roots, and there beneath its roots was a jewel.
This particular jewel had four sides, and each side bore a unique enchantment.
On one side it was written that whosoever held it by that particular side would be transported whither day and night come together, that is, where the sun and the moon meet.
When he pulled that herb out by the roots he happened to be holding the jewel by that very side and was whisked straight away to where day and night come together.
He looked around and saw he was at the meeting place of the sun and the moon.
He heard the two talking, and the sun was fretting, There is a tree with a great many branches, fruit and 30 leaves.
Each branch and fruit and leaf has its own enchantment.
One brings children, another brings livelihood; this one heals one illness, that one heals another.
Each little piece of the tree is adept at one particular thing.
If only this tree were watered, it would be a very effective tree.
Yet not only am I not able to water it, but my rays shine down and dry it out.
The moon replied, Your worries are strange enough, but let me tell you about mine.
I have a thousand mountains. And around those thousand mountains are yet another thousand mountains.
This is the Lair of the Demons. The demons there have chickens’ legs, which lack strength, so they sap strength from the legs of others, including mine.
And now I have no strength left in my own legs.
Once I had some dust, though, which is a cure for my legs, but along the wind came and blew it away.
So that is your problem? I know the cure for that.
There is a path from which many smaller paths branch off.
One is the path for tzaddikim. Whoever walks on this path, with every footfall on the dust strewn there, behold: he becomes a tzaddik.
There is also a path for heretics. Whoever walks on that path, with every footfall on its dust he becomes a heretic.
And similarly, there is a path for lunatics.
There are, in this way, many such smaller paths.
On another one, there are tzaddikim who walk their path of mortification led in chains and goaded on by overlords.
These tzaddikim walk until they have no strength left in their legs.
But when the dust of one of these paths is strewn beneath their steps, strength returns to their legs.
Therefore you should go there where this dust abounds and you will find the cure for your legs.
The lame man overheard all of this. 31
Thereupon, he took a look at the other side of the jewel and saw written there that whosoever held it by that particular side would be transported to a path that branched into many smaller paths.
So he held it by that side and was whisked away to that place.
He placed his feet on the path whose dust was a cure for the legs and was instantly healed.
So he went and collected dust from every path, placing each in its own particular pouch, and he took these pouches away with him.
After some deliberation, he decided to return to the forest where he had been robbed.
When he arrived he selected a tall tree close to the road the bandits took.
He mixed together the dust for the tzaddikim with the dust for the lunatics and spread it on the road.
Then he climbed the tree and perched there to wait and see what would happen.
He spied the bandits heading on their way, having been dispatched to go robbing by their chief.
When the bandits came to the road and set foot on the dust, they turned instantly into pious tzaddikim and wailed, ruing all their days of thievery and murder.
Yet as the dust had also been mixed with the dust for the lunatics, they became deranged tzaddikim and started fighting with one another.
One said, It is your fault that we murdered people. And another said, No, it is your fault.
They fought in this way until they had all killed each other.
Then the bandits’ chief sent out more bandits, and the same thing happened: they all killed one another.
This happened several more times until the lot of them had been killed off and the formerly lame man in the tree reckoned there were no bandits left except their chief and one other.
So he came down out of the tree and 32 swept the dust from the road and spread only the dust for the tzaddikim instead. He went back up into the tree to perch.
The bandits’ chief was nonplussed at the fact that he kept sending out bandits yet none of them returned.
So he thought for a while before heading out himself with his sole remaining henchman.
The moment his feet met the road he instantly turned into a tzaddik and started wailing at his companion, ruing all his murder and thievery.
He was assiduous in his penitence and felt deep remorse.
When the formerly lame man saw the degree of the chief’s remorse and the ardour of his atonement, he came down out of the tree. Spying a man, the chief began yelling, Alas for me! I have done so much. Help me! How can I ever make amends?
The formerly lame man replied, First, return the chest with my money that you stole.
The bandits had kept an inventory of each of their robberies, including when they had taken place and from whom they had stolen.
The chief said, I will return it to you immediately. I will even include all of my plundered treasures so long as you give me a penance to perform.