that give out a pleasant, pungent odour."

As he spoke, he sniffed the air that was not yet either pleasant or
pungent.

"Well, why are you silent?" he asked. "Say something nice. Sing a song.
Well, I was also a boy once, and mischievous like you. I also had a
teacher. Ha! ha!"

That Mazeppa had once been a mischievous boy and had had a teacher we
could not believe. It was curious. Mazeppa playful? We exchanged
glances, and giggled softly. We tried to imagine Mazeppa playful and
having a teacher. And did his teacher also----? We were afraid to think
of such a thing. But Elya stopped to ask a question:

"'_Rebbe_,' did your teacher also flog you as you flog us?"

"What? And what sort of floggings? Ha! ha!"

We looked at the teacher and at each other. We understood one another.
We laughed with him, until we were far from the town, in the broad
fields, close to the forest.

* * *

The fields were beautiful--a Garden of Eden. Green, fragrant grass,
white boughs, yellow flowers, green flies, and above us the blue sky
that stretched away endlessly. Facing us was the forest in holiday
attire. In the trees the birds hopped, twittering, from branch to
branch. They were welcoming us on the dear day of "_L'ag Beomer_." We
sought shelter from the burning rays of the sun under a thick tree. We
sat down on the ground in a row, the "_Rebbe_" in the middle.

He was worn out. He threw himself on the ground, full-length, his face
upwards. His eyes were closing. He could hardly manage to speak.

"You are dear, golden children.... Jewish children.... Saints.... I love
you, and you love me.... Oh yes, you l-love me?"

"Like a pain in the eyes," replied Elya.

"Well, I know you l-love me," went on the teacher.

"May the Lord love you as we do," said Elya.

We were frightened, and whispered to Elya:

"The Lord be with you!"

"Fools!" he said with a laugh. "What are you afraid of? Don't you see he
is drunk?"

"What?" queried the teacher, one of whose eyes was already closed. "What
are you saying? Saints? Of course.... The guardian of Israel. Hal! Hal!
Hal! Rrrssss!"

And our teacher fell fast asleep. The snores burst from his nose like
the blasts from a ram's horn, sounding far into the forest. We sat
around him, and our hearts grew heavy.

Is this our teacher? Is this he whose glances we fear? Is this Mazeppa?

* * *

"Children," said Elya to us, "why are we sitting like lumps of stone?
Let us think of a punishment