"Исаак Башевис Зингер. Taibele and her demon " - читать интересную книгу автора

"Your husband is dead. I followed in his funeral procession myself."
The voice of the teacher's helper boomed out. "It is true that I cannot go
to the rabbi to testify and free you to remarry, for the rabbis don't
believe our kind. Besides, I don't dare step across the threshold of the
rabbi's chamber - I fear the Holly Scrolls. But I am not lying. Your husband
died in an epidemic, and the worms have already gnawed away his nose. And
even were he alive, you would not be forbidden to lie with me, for the laws
of the Shulchan Aruch do not apply to us."
Hurmizah the teacher's helper went on with his persuasions, some sweet,
some threatening. He invoked the names of angels and devils, of demonic
beasts and vampires. He swore that Asmodeus, King of the Demons, was his
step-uncle. He said that Lilith, Queen of the Evil Spirits, danced for him
on one foot and did every manner of thing to please him. Shibtah, the
she-devil who stole babies from women in childbed, baked poppyseed cakes for
him in Hell's ovens and leavened them with the fat of wizards and black
dogs. He argued so long, adducing such witty parables and proverbs, that
Taibele was finally obliged to smile, in her extremity.
Hurmizah vowed that he had loved Taibele for a long time. He described
to her the dresses and shawls she had worn that year and the year before; he
told her the secret thoughts that came to her as she kneaded dough, prepared
her Sabbath meal, washed herself in the bath, and saw her needs at the
outhouse. He also reminded her of the morning when she had wakened with a
black and blue mark on her breast. She had thought it was the pinch of a
ghoul. But it was really the mark left by a kiss of Hurmizah's lips, he
said.
After a while, the demon got into Taibele's bed and had his will of
her. He told her that from then on he would visit her twice a week, on
Wednesdays and on Sabbath evenings, for those were the nights when the
unholy ones were abroad in the world. He warned her, though, not to divulge
to anyone what had befallen her, or even hint at it, on pain of dire
punishment: he would pluck put the hair from her skull, pierce her eyes, and
bite out her navel. He would cast her into a desolate wilderness where bread
was dung and water is blood, and where the wailing of Zalmaveth was heard
all day and all night. He commanded Taibele to swear by the bones of her
mother that she would keep the secret to her last day. Taibele saw that
there was no escape for her. She put her hand on his thigh and swore an
oath, and did all that the monster bade her.
Before Hurmizah left, he kissed her long and lustfully, and since he
was a demon and not a man, Taibele returned his kisses and moistened his
beard with her tears. Evil spirit though he was, he had treated her
kindly...
When Hurmizah was gone, Taibele sobbed into her pillow until sunrise.
Hurmizah came every Wednesday night and every Sabbath night. Taibele
was afraid that she might find herself with child and give birth to some
monster with tail and horns - an imp or a mooncalf. But Hurmizah promised to
protect her against shame. Taibele asked whether she need to go to the
ritual bath to cleanse herself after the impure days, but Hurmizah said that
the laws concerning menstruation did not extend to those who consorted with
the unclean host.