Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/131

who, while earnestly inquiring the cause of those agonized cries, those cruel bonds, undid with all benevolent haste the rope that kept the poor fellow’s body rolled up almost in the form of a ball; next, he refreshed the Israelite’s inward man with a draught of right royal cordial from a gourd he bore at his girdle, then carried him into the high road, and, as soon as the patient had recovered the use of his limbs, supported him the remaining distance to Hirschberg, to the very door of the tavern where he intended to pass the night, and there only bade him adieu, after having slipped into his hand a small sum of money. What was the astonishment of the Jew, on entering the house, to see the vagabond who had plundered him sitting at a table in the common room, as calm and unembarrassed as though he were the most innocent creature in the world. Before him stood a great pitcher of wine; around him were other lusty lads, with whom he was laughing and joking in the most hardened manner; beside him lay his wallet, in which Master Rubezahl, having, after taking leave of the Jew at the door as the honest burgess, entered the room, invisible to all eyes, had placed the purse which, as a robber, he had forced from poor Moses. The latter, hardly knowing how to believe his eyes, slunk into a corner, to consider of the best and readiest means of recovering his property. After having minutely examined his man, he was convinced there could be