best of his ability. As soon as he saw any one approach our place,
he called out loudly: "No, no; these are not Jewish boys at all! On
my life, they are not!"

As a matter of facet, a stranger did happen to visit our place; but
he was only a butcher, who came to buy sheep for slaughtering.

Well, the sun had set, and night came. It was my first night under
an open sky. I suffered greatly from fear, for there was no Mezuzah
anywhere near me. I put my hand under my Shaatnez clothes, and felt
my Tzitzis: they, too, seemed to be in hiding, for they shook in my
hand.

Over us the dark night sky was spread out, and it seemed to me that
the stars were so many omens whose meaning I could not make out.
But I felt certain that they meant nothing good so far as I was
concerned. All kinds of whispers, sizzling sounds of the night,
reached my ears, and I knew not where they came from.

Looking down, I saw sparks a-twinkling. I knew they were stars
reflected in the near-by stream. But soon I thought it was not the
water and the stars: the sheen of the water became the broad smile
of some giant stretched out flat upon the ground; and the sparks
were the twinkling of his eyes. And the sheep were not sheep at
all, but some strange creatures moving to and fro, spreading out,
and coming together again in knotted masses. I imagined they all
were giants bewitched to appear as sheep by day and to become giants
again by night. Then I knew too well that the thick, dark forest
was behind me; and what doesn't one find in a forest? Is there an
unholy spirit that cannot be found there? Z-z-z- - - - a sudden