Two brothers lived in Cou$y in the year 893(1). Moses was a scholar and poor and Haim very rich. The latter asked his brother to act as his adviser and he would provide for his family. One day Haim asked Moses to go with him on a ship for he wished to speak to him privately. A storm arose and carried them to the frozen or congealed part of the sea. There they stuck. A number of ships had also been driven thence. Putting a plank between one ship and another, they crossed over into these ships, but found the people dead and their names written on the walls of the ship. Moses made a list of them while Haim gathered up all the riches found in the ships. At the end they came to a very high wall. Moses cut a hole with his knife to make a foothold and then working up gradually reached the top. Haim endeavoured to follow but the jewels pulled him back. They called to one another but could not hear each other, so high was the wall. So Haim crawled back to his ship which was richly laden with food. Moses found himself in a big forest, wandered through it for thirty days, living on the fruit until he reached a white plain and saw a castle in the distance.
A young man came out to meet him dressed in white. It was a dead pupil of his, who told him that the place he saw was the Earthly Paradise and he would ask the elders for permission to allow him to enter. Meanwhile Moses walked on and came to a mountain in which was a cave whose entrance was covered by a curtain. He lifted the curtain a little and saw that it was the cave of the storm winds. They started blowing, uprooted many of the trees of the forest, and blowing over the congealed part of the sea, drove the ship into running water. Thus saved, Haim returned home with the riches and told the story and provided for his brother’s wife and children. Meanwhile, the dead man came out again and told Moses that the elders had refused him entrance for having lifted the curtain and loosed the storm without permission. The young man directed him the way he was to take to reach human habitation and gave him an apple from the Tree of Life. As soon as he smelled it, he felt invigorated and he knew that through it the dead could be brought to life. Walking along, he came to a town where he found the Jews in mourning. The king’s daughter was lying dangerously ill, having been given up by all the physicians. The king had asked the Jews to pray to God to heal his child. Should they fail, they would all be driven from the country in what they stood up. Moses at once sent a message to the king that he would heal the princess. They first laughed at him, for he looked very poor in his tattered garments, but he went in and slowly causing the girl to smell the apple, was able to restore her to life. After a few days the king, overjoyed, asked him what reward he desired and offered him money and high position at court. Moses refused both; riches only brought care and anxiety in watching over them and high position only brought envy. He only wanted to be appointed governor of Cougy, his native town. The king first thought it too little but Moses insisted and he granted it and sent word that a large palace should be built for the new governor. The work lasted a year. Moses had told the princess not
to reveal the secret of her cure, otherwise she would die. Asked by the king she refused to tell the secret. At the end of the year the king asked Moses to accompany him on a short sea trip. Moses remembering his first adventure trembled but accepted. The king wanted to obtain the secret from him. After much hesitation Moses revealed it and gave him the apple to smell. The old king at once felt revived and young again. Moses, frightened that the king might retain it and proclaim himself a god, pretended to slip and let the apple fall into the sea. The king comforted him over his loss, as well as the princess and all. He then went to Coucy, where no one recognised him. He was first lodged in the house of his brother, the richest man in the town. The latter had arranged to marry his niece, Moses’ daughter, to a young man from a college. Moses, hearing of it, asked to be invited to the wedding. When he came the young man displeased him but there was another far superior in every way. So he made himself known, married his daughter to the man he had chosen and sent the other away richly laden with presents. He then returned to his study but remained known as the Lord of Cougy, having freed the town from all taxes and dues.
F.—MIDRASH (rabbinic interpretive commentary) DECALOGUE. (See P.7 §18.)