“True,” I replied, “but the prayer comes from the mouth only, and not from the heart. If you do not immediately confess that the Jews would not pray for the Christians if they were the masters, I will fling you out of the chaise.”
Of course I did not carry out this threat, but I completed his confusion by quoting in Hebrew the passages in the Old Testament, where the Jews are bidden to do all possible harm to the Gentiles, whom they were to curse every day.
After this the poor man said no more. When we were going to take our dinner I asked him to sit beside me, but he said his religion would not allow him to do so, and that he would only eat eggs, fruit, and some foiegras sausage he had in his pocket. He only drank water because he was not sure that the wine was unadulterated.
“You stupid fellow,” I exclaimed, “how can you ever be certain of the purity of wine unless you have made it yourself?”
When we were on our way again he said that if I liked to come and stay with him, and to content myself with such dishes as God had not forbidden, he would make me more comfortable than if I went to the inn, and at a cheaper rate.
“Then you let lodgings to Christians?”
“I don’t let lodgings to anybody, but I will make an exception in your case to disabuse you of some of your mistaken notions. I will only ask you six paoli a day, and give you two good meals without wine.”
“Then you must give me fish and wine, I paying for them as extras.”
“Certainly; I have a Christian cook, and my wife pays a good deal of attention to the cooking.”
“You can give me the foie gras every day, if you will eat it with me.”