He saw the merchant and money-changer Eleazar
taking down his window-shutters while his assistant sprinkled water
on the ground before the shop. Amram greeted him, "A fine morning,
cousin Eleazar."
"I cannot say," answered the tradesman sulkily. "The Nile has
remained stationary, and begins to sink. The times are bad."
"Bad times are followed by good times, as our father Abraham knew;
and when Joseph, Jacob's son, foresaw the seven lean years he
counselled Pharaoh to store up corn in the granaries...."
"May be, but that is a forgotten tale now."
"Yes, and have you also forgotten the promise which the Lord gave to
his friend Abraham?"
"That about the land of Canaan? We have waited four hundred years
for its fulfilment, and now, instead of receiving it, Abraham's
children have become bond-servants."
"Abraham believed through good and through evil days, through joy
and through sorrow, and that was counted to him for righteousness."
"I don't believe at all," Eleazar broke in, "or rather, I believe
that things go backwards, and that I will have to put up my
shutters, if there is a failure in the crops."
Amram went on with a sad face, and came to the market, where he
bought a millet loaf, a piece of an eel, and some onions.
When the market-woman took the piece of money, she spat on it, and
when Amram received his change, he did the same.
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