A YOUNG VAMPIRINO LEARNS WHY

And Jonathon walked on into a different place. The being who was Eleanor Roosevelt was no longer with him. The Resurrected John Lennon was gone too. But he felt their presence as he went forward. The terrific immensity that is Saturn tempered. Huge clouds disappeared, til a soft path lay before him. He stepped down upon it and felt solid ground. Simple creatures, like unto the animals of the field moved through the bushes. Squirrels ran off before him and larks took to the sky. And it was a blue sky, lit by the light of a warm, gold sun. 

Vines grew upon the hills, each heavy with sweet fruit that perfumed the air with contentment and gladness. Soon he heard a voice. A man was quietly singing. And three heartbeats later, he saw the man, tall, spare and rich in years, though in no way bent with decrepitude. A vintner he was. Jonathon watched, as he lovingly pruned false growth. And when he was through, he put away his knife and held out his hand........Welcome - he said.........Jonathon took the hand and smiled.......What is this place? - asked the young Andalucian.........Do you not know it? - said the learned peasant.  Look to the hills. Inhale the vapors. Taste of the berries..........He offered of the choicest growth and Jonathon ate. Tears filled his eyes, as he remembered. 

These grapes are our grapes - he said....... For the bounty about him was that of his childhood. And the dry, rich wine made from this fruit was the drink of Andalucia and of the lands beyond the peaks as well. Now it was known that the Great Teacher, the philosopher of The Faith, Solomon ben Isaac, kept vineyards over the mountains in a place called Provencal. Jonathon, accompanied by his guardian-servant Johannan was bound  for that selfsame  land at the time of his transformation. And yes, he had encountered 'Rashi' (an abbreviation of Rabbi Solomon Isaaci) earlier in the quest, but never upon his native earth, if, in fact, this was that place. 

Now imagine not a sage dressed as Shylock, look to other dreams, for Proclaimers of The Unity were not like that then. The rabbi had a trim, white beard and his head was wrapped in a roughly woven sun cloth as any tiller of the field might wear. No robes. No silks. But a farmer's tunic over lose worn trousers. And Jonathon followed him up over a hill and down into a valley, toward a fine, stone house, such as chevaliers or bishops might own. A servant opened the stout doors and they went inside, passing through the great hall and into a smaller 'beit safer' (library or school). Other students, already waiting, nodded graciously as they sat down.

But twixt a heartbeat, Jonathon saw an anomaly. A small lizard scurrying 'cross the slate flooring had six legs, not as might be found on a creature suffering a life-long malady, but growing straight and true from a body meant to bear them. So he quietly said - Tell me, sir, what manner of place is this?...............

But the figure of Great Rashi did not answer, though one of the students began to chuckle.....