"Vista ciegs, luz occura"--Cancionero General. Valencia, 1511.
Lightsome darkness, seeing blindness.
Life in death, and grief in gladness,
Cruelty in guise of kindness,
Doubtful laughter, joyful sadness,
Honeyed gall, embittered sweetness,
Peace whose warfare never endeth,
Love, the type of incompleteness,
Proffers joy, but sorrow sendeth.
Translated from the French
THE PEARL NECKLACE.
There lived at Cordova, many years ago, an old Jew who had three passions: he loved science, he loved gold, he loved his only child, who bore the sweet name of Rachel. He loved science, not for its own sake, not because it was the means of the acquisition of truth, but for himself, that is to say, through pride.
He loved gold, a little perhaps because it was gold, very much because it gave him the means of providing luxuries for his darling child, greatly also because without it he could not have made the costly experiments necessary in the pursuit of science.
He loved his daughter alone, with the pure and disinterested, but passionate tenderness of paternal love. In a word he was a savant, a father, a Jew.
His name was Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah, and he practised medicine. He wrought such wonderful cures that very soon his fame spread throughout Spain, and from all parts of the kingdom the people came in crowds to consult him. He received his patients in the afternoon. In the morning he slept, it was said; but how his nights were passed none knew, and many were the speculations concerning it. This only was known, that they were passed in a secret chamber, of which he alone possessed the key, and it had been observed that this mysterious apartment was sometimes illuminated with many-colored flames, blue, or red, or green, while a dense smoke issued from the chimney.
The police of the kingdom at length resolved to penetrate the mystery, which seemed to them very suspicions. Everything is suspicious to the police of all countries.
One evening, Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah saw two dark, grave men watching his house. He listened and heard these words of sinister import: