Fantasy fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Fiction; Space and time -- Fiction
'No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his
peers,' Puck insisted. 'There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or
Christian--the Law that was signed at Runnymede.'
'Why, that's Magna Charta!' Dan whispered. It was one of the few
history dates that he could remember.
Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a whirr of his spicy-scented
gown.
'Dost thou know of that, babe?' he cried, and lifted his hands in
wonder.
'Yes,' said Dan firmly.
'Magna Charta was signed by John,
That Henry the Third put his heel upon.
And old Hobden says that if it hadn't been for her (he calls everything
"her", you know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes jail all
the year round.'
Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding
language, and at last Kadmiel laughed.
'Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,' said he. 'But tell me now,
and I will not call you a babe but a Rabbi, why did the King sign the
roll of the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.'
Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn.
'Because he jolly well had to,' said Una softly. 'The Barons made
him.' 'Nay,' Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. 'You Christians
always forget that gold does more than the sword. Our good King signed
because he could not borrow more money from us bad Jews.' He curved
his shoulders as he spoke. 'A King without gold is a snake with a
broken back, and'--his nose sneered up and his eyebrows frowned
down--'it is a good deed to break a snake's back. That was my work,'
he cried, triumphantly, to Puck. 'Spirit of Earth, bear witness that
that was my work!' He shot up to his full towering height, and his
words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice that changed its tone almost
as an opal changes colour--sometimes deep and thundery, sometimes thin
and waily, but always it made you listen.
'Many people can bear witness to that,' Puck answered. 'Tell these
babes how it was done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or
Fear.'
'So I saw in their faces when we met,' said Kadmiel. 'Yet surely,
surely they are taught to spit upon Jews?'
'Are they?' said Dan, much interested. 'Where at?'
Puck fell back a pace, laughing. 'Kadmiel is thinking of King John's
reign,' he explained. 'His people were badly treated then.'
'Oh, we know that.' they answered, and (it was very rude of them, but
they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel's mouth to see
if his teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King
John used to pull out Jews' teeth to make them lend him money.
Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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