ndles."

So every weapon shaped to the injury of the ancient tree of Judaism will
recoil ineffectual, unless her sons and adherents themselves furnish the
haft. There is consolation in the thought. Even in sad days it feeds the
hope that the time will come, whereof the prophet spoke, when "all thy
children shall be disciples of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of
thy children."

A JEWISH KING IN POLAND

There is a legend that a Jewish king once reigned in Poland. It never
occurs to my mind without at the same time conjuring before me two
figures. The one is that charming creation of Ghetto fancy, old Malkoh
"with the stout heart," in Aaron Bernstein's _Mendel Gibbor_, who
introduces herself with the proud boast: _Wir sennen von koeniglichein
Gebluet_ ("We are of royal descent"). The other is a less ideal, less
attractive Jew, whom I overheard in the Casimir, the Jewish quarter at
Cracow, in altercation with another Jew. The matter seemed of vital
interest to the disputants. The one affirmed, the other denied as
vigorously, and finally silenced his opponent with the contemptuous
argument: "Well, and if it comes about, it will last just as long as
Saul Wahl's _Malchus_ (reign)."

Legend has always been the companion of history. For each age it creates
a typical figure, in which are fixed, for the information of future
times, the fleeting, subtle emotions as well as the permanent effects
produced by historical events, and this constitutes the value of
legendary lore in tracing the development and characteristics of a
people. At the same time its magic charms connect the links in the chain
of generations.

The legend about Saul Wahl to be known and appreciated must first be
told as it exists, then traced through its successive stages, its
historical kernel disentangled from the accretions of legend-makers,
Saul, the man of flesh and blood discovered, and the ethical lessons it
has to teach derived.

In 1734, more than a century after Saul's supposed reign, his
great-grandson, Rabbi Pinchas, resident successively in Leitnik,
Boskowitz, Wallerstein, Schwarzburg, Marktbreit, and Anspach, related
the story of his ancestor: "Rabbi Samuel Judah's son was the great Saul
Wahl of blessed memory. All learned in such matters well know that his
surname _Wahl_ (choice) was given him, because he was chosen king in
Poland by the unanimous vote of the noble electors of the land. I was
told by my father and teacher, of