Treasure
Published in Issue #11 Translated from Hebrew by the author with Gabriel LevinOriginally written in Russian
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An ancient Czech legend recounts that in the time of King Ladislaus II, in the Golden City of Prague, near the Royal Palace, hard by the Powder Tower, there lived the royal weaver Kokot with his wife and children. He toiled all day long, sighing without cease, and at night he paced to and fro, his footsteps resounding off the walls and the floor in his home. For Kokot’s heart was heavy and his mind burdened by a puzzle he could not solve. In his youth he had learned from his father that his grandfather, who had also been a royal weaver under the previous king, had bequeathed to his grandson Kokot a pot of gold coins which his ancestors had saved up by the sweat of their brow . The grandfather had concealed the pot, and on his death bed had revealed the secret to his son. But before Kokot reached manhood, villains had lured his father to Streletsky Island, where he had been tortured in an attempt to extract from him his secret. The poor fellow died and took the secret with him to the grave. The lawful heir spent many sleepless nights searching for his inheritance, but all in vain.
One stormy, wintry night in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1505 — so the tale runs — a barefoot and ragged, long-bearded old man knocked at the door of Kokot’s home, and introduced himself as Joseph. The elderly Joseph didn’t tell Kokot where he came from, he only asked whether he might be sheltered...
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