The Collected Stories

they had to content themselves with lewd talk. Suddenly Shloimele blurted: “Tell me the truth, Lise my love, how would you like to go to bed with Mendel the coachman?”
    “God save us, what kind of evil talk is this?” she countered. “Have you lost your mind?”
    “Well—? He is a strong and handsome young man—the girls are wild about him …”
    “Shame on you!” Lise cried. “You defile your mouth!”
    “I love defilement!” Shloimele cried, his eyes ablaze. “I am going all the way over to the side of the Host!”
    “Shloimele, I’m afraid for you!” Lise said after a long pause. “You’re sinking deeper and deeper!”
    “One dares everything!” Shloimele said, his knees trembling. “ ‘Since this generation cannot become completely pure, let it grow completely impure!’ ”
    Lise seemed to shrink and for a long while she was silent. Shloimele could scarcely tell whether she slept or was thinking.
    “Were you serious, then?” she asked curiously, her voice muffled.
    “Yes, serious.”
    “And it wouldn’t anger you at all?” she demanded.
    “No … If it brought you pleasure, it would please me as well. You could tell me about it afterwards.”
    “You’re an infidel!” Lise cried out. “A heretic!”
    “Yes, so I am! Elisha the son of Abijah was also a heretic! Whoever looks into the vineyard must suffer the consequences.”
    “You quote the Talmud in answer to everything—watch out, Shloimele! Be on your guard! You’re playing with fire!”
    “I love fire! I love a holocaust … I would like the whole world to burn and Asmodeus to take over the rule.”
    “Be still!” Lise cried. “Or I shall scream for help.”
    “What are you afraid of, foolish one?” Shloimele soothed her. “The thought is not the deed. I study with you, I unfold to you the secrets of the Torah, and you remain naïve. Why do you suppose God ordered Hosea to marry a harlot? Why did King David take Bathsheba from Uriah the Hittite and Abigail from Nabal? Why did he, in his old age, order Abeishag the Shunammite brought to him? The noblest ancients practiced adultery. Sin is cleansing! Ah, Lise love, I wish you would obey every whim of mind. I think only of your happiness … Even while I guide you to the abyss …!”
    And he embraced her, caressed and kissed her. Lise lay exhausted and confused by his oratory. The bed beneath her vibrated, the walls shook and it seemed to her that she was already swaying in the net that I, the Prince of Darkness, had spread to receive her.
    IX
Adonijah, the Son of Hagith

    Strange events followed. Usually Lise did not see very much of Mendel the coachman. She paid little attention to him when they did meet. But since the day Shloimele had spoken to her about Mendel, she seemed to run into him everywhere. She’d walk into the kitchen and find him fooling around with the maid. Confronting Lise, he would grow silent. Soon she began to see him everywhere, in the barn, on horseback, riding toward the river San. Erect as a Cossack he sat, disdainful of saddle or reins. Once when Lise needed water and could not find the maid, she took the pitcher and headed for the well. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mendel the coachman materialized to help her draw water. One evening as Lise strolled through the meadow (Shloimele happened to be at the study house), the old communal billy goat met her. Lise tried to walk past him, but when she turned off to the right, he blocked her path again. When she turned to the left, he leaped to the left also. At the same time he lowered his pointed horns as if to gore her. Suddenly, rising on his hind legs, he leaned his front legs against her. His eyes were a fiery red, blazing with fury, as if possessed. Lise began to struggle to free herself but he was more powerful than she and almost up-ended her. She screamed and was about to faint when suddenly a loud whistle and the crack of a whip were heard. Mendel the coachman had come upon them, and seeing the struggle, slashed the billy goat across its back with his whip. The thickly knotted thong almost broke the animal’s spine. With a choking bleat, he ran off haphazardly. His legs were thickly tufted, tangled with hair. He resembled a wild beast more than a billy goat. Lise was left stunned. For a while, she stared at Mendel silently. Then she shook herself as if waking from a nightmare and said: “Many thanks.”
    “Such a stupid goat!” Mendel exclaimed. “If ever I get my hands on him again