THE CONVERSATION OF TWO GHOSTS*
THE MAYSE-BOOK
This happened to a pious Jew, who once, on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah
[New Year's] gave a ducat to a poor man for the year had been one of great
dearth. His wife was so angry at what he had done that he was simply frightened
of going home again. So he went to spend the night in the graveyard.
In the middle of the night, he heard the ghosts of two girls talking
to one another:
"Come on, let's float over the worlds and eavesdrop on God to find
out what kind of a year it will be."
The other replied: "I can't go with you, I've been buried in a shroud
of reeds. Why don't you go and than tell me everything you've heard."
The ghost flew off alone, and after a while she came back and said
to her friend:
"I heard that the man who sows his grain in the first half of Heshvan
[late October] will have his entire crop destroyed by hail."
When the pious man heard this, he sowed his grain in the second half
of Heshvan (early November). A hailstorm ruined all the crops that had
been planted in the first half of Heshvan. But the pious man's grain, which
had been sown in the second half of Heshvan, was saved.
The next year, the pious man went back to spend the night in the graveyard
and hear what the ghosts said to one another.
All at once, he heard one ghost say to the other:
"Come on, let's go and hear what will be happening in the world this
year."
The second dead girl replied: "I've already told you, I can't move
because I'm all bound up in a shroud of reeds. Why don't you go and then
tell me everything you've heard."
So she left and then after a while she came back and told the other:
"I heard that the man who sows his grain in the second half of Heshvan
will have his crop devastated by a hailstorm."
The pious man went home and sowed all his grains in the first half
of Heshvan. A hailstorm destroyed all the crops that had been sown in the
second half of Heshvan, but it didn't hurt the pious man, for he had sown
earlier.
His wife was amazed, and she asked him:.
"Dear husband. How can it be that all the crops were ruined, but not
yours? There is more here than meets the eye."
So he told her the whole story, about eavesdropping on the two ghosts
and hearing what they said, and how one of them couldn't move because she
had been buried in a shroud of reeds.
Not long after that, the pious man's wife had a fight with the mother
of the dead girl who had been buried in a shroud of reeds. Now women often
get into fights. And the pious man's wife yelled at the mother: "Just go
and see your poor daughter, who was buried in a shroud of reeds."
Two days later, the pious man once again went to the graveyard to hear
the two ghosts conversing. Once again, one dead girl said to the other:
"Come on. Let's go and hear what will be happening this year."
"Forget about it. The secret is out, people have been eavesdropping
on our conversations."
 
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