Chapter 4 4

One night after Elka's funeral was over, while I was lying on the flour sack dreaming, the devil himself came and said to me: "Gimpel, why are you awake?" I said, "What should I do? Eat meat buns?" "The whole world deceives you," he said, "so you should deceive the world." "How can I fool the world?" I asked him. He replied: "You can collect a bucket of urine every day, pour it in the dough at night, and let the saints of Flampol eat some dirt." "What if the world wants to judge me in the future?" I said. "A world without a future," he said. "They trick you with flattery, and make you believe that you have a cat in your stomach. It's all nonsense!"

"Well, then," I said, "isn't there a God?" He replied: "There is no God at all." "So," I said, "what's there?" "A slimy swamp." He stood before my eyes, with a goatee and horns, long teeth, and a tail.At these words I tried to catch him by the tail, but I fell off the flour-sack and nearly broke a rib.Now that I had to answer the call of nature, I walked over and saw the risen dough, which seemed to say to me, "Go for it!" Simply put, I let myself be seduced by the devil. At dawn the apprentice came in.We made bread, sprinkled it with coriander seeds, and baked it on the oven.So the apprentice left.I kept it, sitting on a pile of rags in the ditch before the hearth, well, Gimpel, I think you've got your revenge for all the humiliation they've inflicted upon you.The frost shimmers outside, yet it is warm by the hearth.The blazing fire made my face feel hot.I hung my head and dozed off.

Suddenly I saw Elka in my dream, she was wearing a shroud, and she called me: "What have you done, Gimpel?" I said to her, "It's all your fault" and started crying. "You fool!" she said. "You fool! Because I falsify, is everything false too? I never fooled anyone but myself. I paid for everything, Gimpel. They have nothing here I will forgive you." I looked at her face, which was dark.I woke up with a fright.Still sitting silently.I realized that everything was at stake, that one wrong step in front of me would cost me eternal life.But God bless me.I grabbed a long shovel, took the bread out of the stove, took it out to the yard, and started digging a hole in the frozen ground.

While I was digging, my apprentice turned up. "What are you doing, boss?" he asked, turning ashen as a corpse. "I know my business," I said, and I buried the bread in his presence.Then I went home, took my savings out of hiding, and distributed them to my children. "I saw your mother tonight," I said, "and she turned black, poor thing." They were too surprised to say a word. "Well," I said, "forget that a man named Gimpel ever existed." I put on my parka, put on my boots, and held the prayer shawl bag in one hand and the My cane, kissed the doorpost holy scroll.People are amazed when they see me on the street.

"Where are you going?" they asked. "To see the world," I replied, and so I left Frampole. I roamed everywhere, and no good man ignored me.Many years passed, and I was old and gray-haired; and I heard many stories, many lies and falsifications, but as I grew older I learned more and more that there were no lies.Things that don't exist in reality will meet in dreams.What happens to one person may not happen to another person; if it doesn't happen today, it might happen tomorrow; if it doesn't happen next year, it might happen a century later.What's the difference?I used to hear stories where I'd say, "That's not going to happen." Then within a year, I'd hear that kind of thing happened somewhere.

Going from place to place, eating at strange tables, I used to tell implausible stories that would never happen: about devils, magicians, windmills, and the like.The children followed me and called, "Grandpa, tell us a story." Sometimes they asked me to tell stories by name, and I tried to satisfy them.A fat boy said to me once, "That's the story you told us before." Little rascal, he was right. Things in the dream are the same as before.It has been many years since I left Flampol.But as soon as I closed my eyes, I was there.Who do you think I saw?Elka.She was standing by the washtub, as she had been when we first met.But her face was radiant, and her eyes were as bright as the eyes of a saint.She said strange things to me, said strange things.As soon as I woke up, I completely forgot about it.But as long as the dream continues, I feel comforted that she answered all my questions and her words turned out to be correct.I cried and begged her: "Let me be with you." She comforted me and told me to be patient.This day is not too far away.Sometimes she touches me, kisses me, cries into my face.When I woke up, I could still feel her lips and taste the saltiness of her tears.

Undoubtedly, this world is entirely a fantasy world, but it is only a stone's throw away from the real world.I lay in my hut, and there was a door for carrying corpses at the door.The gravediggers had their shovels at the ready.The grave awaits me, the maggots are hungry; the shroud is ready - I carry it with me in the begging bag.Another beggar waiting to inherit my straw bedding.When the time comes, I will happily leave.This will become a reality.There was no dispute, no mockery, no deceit.Praise God, not even Gimpel could be deceived there.