Satan in Goray

have ye no pity on me and why do ye work all this to vex me and to distress me: Seeing that ye know full well that every thing that is holy causes me much suffering and may be compared to a needle in the flesh of a living man: Now search ye out and discover What injustice hath been done unto this woman through me: Who before I entered into her was weak and sickly and she required broth for her nourishment and she was compelled to lean on a stick for support: And now behold for that I have entered into her she has grown powerful and is able to lift up heavy burdens and go into the cold without warm garments and do all that her heart desires: Therefore what is the matter that ye have all come together to undo me and particularly since I am of the seed of Israel and have great fear of the Outer Ones: Who some of them have the faces of boars with eight heads and the poison under their snouts is all fire from the valley of the shadow of death: And others of them butt with their horns ram- like and they are called Hairy Goat Ones: And their fur is covered with tar and the bristles thereof are of thorns to affright the sinful, and their dwelling place is beyond the Hills of Darkness: Now I implore ye, Give me leave to dwell in her body and I swear Not a hair of her head shall be harmed and I shall guard her like the apple of my eye that no mishap may trouble her: And when the allotted measure of my suffering shall be full and I shall be given leave to endure my judgment in Gehenna for the space of twelve months why then I shall forsake the woman with no further ado and unloose her and leave her in peace:

    AND THE SPIRIT spoke these words with cunning purpose to deceive the people and to mock them: And there were indeed some simple folk who in their innocence believed the words of the dybbuk to be true and they wished him to be spared: But the pious Reb Mordecai Joseph (may his remembrance be a blessing) comprehended the demon's wiles (for he was a great cabalist) and he cried, No, Depart thou from her and go forth to that place where no man dwelleth and where no cattle of the field sets foot For it is not seemly thou shouldst continue among the living: And when Reb Mordecai Joseph had uttered these words he meditated on such holy names and formed such unions and made such combinations and described such circles and rings as are within the ken of those that are knowing in the mysteries: THEN DID THE SPIRIT abandon gentle words and begin with the harsh words and a fire seethed from his nostrils and he cried in a loud voice that made the walls shake: WHO ART THOU and of what merit is the house of thy forebears that thou thinkest to contend with me: Dost thou believe that thou art a master of His name and wise in cabala: No, For thou art a complete ignoramus and thy combinations can never be efficacious: And the dybbuk spoke a saying in the vulgar tongue They shall avail as cupping avails the dead: And he cursed Reb Mordecai Joseph (may his remembrance be a blessing) and played tricks upon him such as were never seen or heard since the world began, and the multitude laughed at the pious Reb Mordecai Joseph: And there was a great desecration of God's name for the dybbuk uttered obscenities and played the fool and there was hee-hawing and guffawing: And first he reckoned up the secret sins of each one and called them by name and winked with his eyes and asked Dost thou not remember such and such a place, and there arose a hubbub: For he put the wives of respectable men to shame and revealed that the rabbi's wife had played the whore, and he published slander concerning many families and all with contumely and effrontery: And (for that we have transgressed) no one dared give the dybbuk the lie and he grew bolder and discovered things that had lain hidden, giving clear signs of proof: He reminded one woman that she had a mole under her breast: Another that she had a birth mark, another a boil, another a scar, another lice, etc.: And he also repeated things that are betwixt him and her, man and wife: And then he frolicked, singing songs and all in rhyme so that all who heard were amazed, for it is not the practice for women to produce such inventions: And he derided the women and their habitudes: How they blessed the candles on Sabbaths and holidays and how they tithed the white bread and burned it and how they picked peas and their gesticulations in the bathhouse and in the prayer house: And he worked this all with malice that the