The Old Scrolls
"Alexi !!! Here you are! When you were late to dinner ... again ... I finally came looking. I must say Sari is annoyed. She made lamb. Reading the old scrolls again, Alexi...?"
Looking up as if coming from a long way off and just now noticing his friend, "Ah Beltzi. . . .OH DINNER !! I am sorry. I just meant to stop by for just a moment.
Ahhh...its dark.! Oh, I am so sorry! Come, is it too late? May we stop on the way? I must bring a gift to Sari to apologize."
" ... and then the camels spit, right on the bundles ~
Alexi, are you even listening? Where are you? What has come over you lately?"
"It is the scrolls, the old ones ... "
"The scrolls? Again the scrolls? I love study as much as the next man, and I always thought MORE than you until ... what is it?"
"I don't know, I swear they haunt me! I ... dream of them, no, don't laugh ~ I do! I think of them all day and find no peace till I go and read them. And there is one...I must have read it hundreds of times and I can nearly hear the words in the wind..."
"What -- what do you read?"
"I read Balaam's oracles ~
'The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,
the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened.'
Do you know, Beltzi, he says 'GOD' -- he does not say gods; he does not, I think, mean our gods. He seems to speak of the God of the Israelis...I have looked and studied. Such a story! He speaks of this God as forcing him to speak His words and His alone. Do you know the story?"
"Vaguely...some story about Israel on the way to their, what did they call it ? ? their 'promised land' and some old king buying a curse, right?"
"Yes, yes! You must read it ~ no, really. The lines that haunt me in the night are:
'A star will come out of Jacob,
a scepter will rise out of Israel'
And I have searched the skies -- Yes, silly, I know. The oracle was so long ago, but somehow the book and the sky hold me, haunt me ~ I feel a captive."
"Well, we are here; leave all that for tonight and my Sari's excellent lamb."
"Sari, my most profound apologies ... here a token."
"Alexi ~ I thought you did not love us anymore...Ohhh, perfume, mmmm, I ... almost .... forgive you. Let me take your cloak, sit, I will wash your feet myself."
A week later Alexi sat staring at the scrolls in the dim light of the oil lamp.
"Alexi -- there you are! I thought you said you looked at the sky. What are you doing in here?
NO, come NOW!! Come!
You must see....Alexi ~ Alexi, a star!!"
Looking up as if coming from a long way off and just now noticing his friend, "Ah Beltzi. . . .OH DINNER !! I am sorry. I just meant to stop by for just a moment.
Ahhh...its dark.! Oh, I am so sorry! Come, is it too late? May we stop on the way? I must bring a gift to Sari to apologize."
" ... and then the camels spit, right on the bundles ~
Alexi, are you even listening? Where are you? What has come over you lately?"
"It is the scrolls, the old ones ... "
"The scrolls? Again the scrolls? I love study as much as the next man, and I always thought MORE than you until ... what is it?"
"I don't know, I swear they haunt me! I ... dream of them, no, don't laugh ~ I do! I think of them all day and find no peace till I go and read them. And there is one...I must have read it hundreds of times and I can nearly hear the words in the wind..."
"What -- what do you read?"
"I read Balaam's oracles ~
'The oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
the oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,
the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
who has knowledge from the Most High,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened.'
Do you know, Beltzi, he says 'GOD' -- he does not say gods; he does not, I think, mean our gods. He seems to speak of the God of the Israelis...I have looked and studied. Such a story! He speaks of this God as forcing him to speak His words and His alone. Do you know the story?"
"Vaguely...some story about Israel on the way to their, what did they call it ? ? their 'promised land' and some old king buying a curse, right?"
"Yes, yes! You must read it ~ no, really. The lines that haunt me in the night are:
'A star will come out of Jacob,
a scepter will rise out of Israel'
And I have searched the skies -- Yes, silly, I know. The oracle was so long ago, but somehow the book and the sky hold me, haunt me ~ I feel a captive."
"Well, we are here; leave all that for tonight and my Sari's excellent lamb."
"Sari, my most profound apologies ... here a token."
"Alexi ~ I thought you did not love us anymore...Ohhh, perfume, mmmm, I ... almost .... forgive you. Let me take your cloak, sit, I will wash your feet myself."
A week later Alexi sat staring at the scrolls in the dim light of the oil lamp.
"Alexi -- there you are! I thought you said you looked at the sky. What are you doing in here?
You must see....Alexi ~ Alexi, a star!!"
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