[Poet and physician. He was born in the city of Barcelona about the middle of the twelfth century. As a writer he is best known by his Sefer Sha’ashu’im (Book of Delight) which is a store-house of folk-lore and science. In this book, which is written in rhymed prose, Ibn Zabara shows himself abreast of the sciences of his day. His style is fluent and pleasant. He is also the author of liturgic and secular poems.]

Jacob the Broker and the Necklace^[153]

There was a Jew in Cordova whose name was Jacob the broker. That man was good and faithful, readily obedient to the command of the judge. One day a necklace of choicest stones and pearls was committed to his care that he should sell it for five hundred pieces of gold. And it came to pass that, while he was carrying the necklace in his hand, a lord, one of the king’s nobles, met him, and said to him: ‘Jacob, what kind of a necklace is this?’ He replied: ‘My lord, it was handed over to me that I should sell it.’

‘For how much wouldst thou sell it?’

He replied: ‘For five hundred pieces of gold.’

The nobleman said to him: ‘Wilt thou give it to me for four hundred?’

He replied: ‘I cannot, for its owner warned me not to take for it less than five hundred pieces of gold.’

Whereupon the nobleman said: ‘Take it to my house, and if it is good in the sight of the mistress of the house, I will buy it.’

So he walked with him until he reached the gate of his house. The nobleman then said: ‘Stand here, until I have brought out unto thee the money or the necklace.’ He entered the house, and closed the door behind him. The Jew waited until evening, but nobody came forth from the door of the nobleman’s house.

And it came to pass at the going down of the sun that Jacob went to his house full of grief, so that death would have been pleasant unto his soul; care settled in his heart, and wounded it. He came home, and passed the night lying on the ground. He ate no bread, neither he nor his wife and children, and put not off his garments. He closed not his eyes and eyelids, and turned about as clay under the seal. He rose early in the morning to go to the house of the lord, and behold, he was coming forth from his house. When Jacob saw him, he ran to meet him, and said unto him: ‘My lord, dost thou desire to buy the necklace, or wilt thou return it unto me that I may sell it to another man?’ But he said: ‘Which necklace? Hast thou seen one of the children of Anak?’^[154] And Jacob said unto him: ‘The pearl necklace which thou tookest yesterday from my hand.’ Whereupon the nobleman said unto him: ‘Madman, lunatic, as my soul liveth, and as the king’s soul liveth, were it not that I regard my honor, I would have lifted up thy head from off thee, and would have covered thee with the blood of thy liver.’

And it came to pass, when Jacob saw his anger and the roughness of his words, that terrors of death fell upon him. He turned back, and fled from before him, for he saw that he sharpened his eyes upon him. He went to the house of the judge his master. The judge looked at him, and behold, grief bit him with its teeth, so that it changed his likeness and the appearance of his countenance. And the judge said unto him: ‘What ails thee that thou art so changed? Art thou afflicted in aught?’ He replied unto him: ‘My lord, I am in great distress; but I cannot tell my trouble unto thee, lest thou shouldst declare me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth.’ And the judge said unto him: ‘Tell it to me, for in my sight thou art trustworthy in all thy words, and righteous in whatsoever thou sayest.’ Whereupon he related to him all that had happened to him about the necklace, so that his soul chose strangling. The judge then said unto him: ‘Put away vexation from thy heart, and remove grief from thee; be not in pain, and cry not in thy pangs, for I shall restore the necklace unto thee.’

And it came to pass in the morning that the judge sent for the nobles, elders, sages, and wise men of the city to come to the court; for it was his custom to send sometimes for the wise men, and to discuss points of law with them. And they all came to his house to hear the words of his understanding and his wisdom. Now before they came, he said unto his servant: ‘When that nobleman comes, take his shoe,^[155] and go to his house, and say unto his wife: “My lord thy husband sent me to thee that thou shouldst give him the necklace which he bought yesterday or the day before yesterday; for he desires to show its goodness and beauty; behold, he gave me his shoe for a testimony and for a sign.”’ When the woman saw her husband’s shoe, she gave him the necklace. The servant brought it to his master, and hid it in his bosom until the men went out from the house of judgment. And it came to pass, when they went out, that his master said unto him: ‘Hast thou brought the necklace?’ And he replied: ‘I have brought it;’ and he took it out from his bosom, and gave it to him. Then he sent and called Jacob the broker, and said unto him: ‘Be still, and groan not, for I have restored the necklace unto thee, and have taken out from the house of the nobleman the thing he gained by oppression.’ When the Jew saw it, he kissed his hands and blessed him. He carried it to his house, joyful and glad of heart.