In a few minutes there was a crowd inside the room.
"Gentlemen," began the rabbi, "I know this person."
"There will be no writing people down!" called out several voices together.
The rabbi soon loses heart.
"No use, no use," he murmurs, but the Maskil has got on to the table and calls out:
"Donkeys! They must be written down! The good of the Jews at large demands it!"
"The good of the Jews at large," he says, and he goes on to tell them that he has gone through the whole chapter with me, that there is no question of a joke, that I have shown him letters from the Chief Rabbis.
"From which Chief Rabbis?" is the cry.
"From the Chief Rabbi in Paris," bellows the Maskil, "from the Chief Rabbi in Paris (no other will do for him), from the Chief Rabbi in London—"
"Jews, let us go home!" interrupted someone, "nisht unsere Leut!"[73]