EVENTS SEPTEMBER 5, 1942. ENTRY SEPTEMBER 12, 1942. FROM SYMKA BERSON, Ever since Menkes struck flint and lit the fire, and we waited and waited, and then the two men stood up saying they had heard laughter from beyond the furnace, I have been haunted by that idea; and now, by easy stages, I have heard from Symka what happened:
It was pitch-black in the hole. The three had just settled down. Rapaport held the big, wooden mixing spoon in his right hand; his left arm encircled Symka’s frail body. She lay with her head on Rapaport’s shoulder. The boy, curled up on the other side of Rapaport, was whimpering a little. Rapaport had entrusted the pan to David. Rugs and blankets sheltered the three from the damp earth.
A distant sound, echoing as if from another place and time, came down the tunnel. It was a clanking and squeaking sound—a metallic door being opened. Then a ghostly, reverberating whisper (which we had heard from the other end) :
—— Are you settled?
Symka says she shuddered as Rapaport answered. The second whisper from above:
—— Then we will light up.
The young boy began to cry.
Rapaport, nudging David: —— Listen! I will tell you a story. Listen! It is about a grasshopper and an ant.
David’s thin whine stopped. A tiny crackling sound could be heard coming down the tunnel.
Rapaport: —— Once there was an ant, who was carrying home to his family a very large breadcrumb, about six times his own size. He was walking backwards, dragging the breadcrumb, and I can tell you he was proud of himself. But all of a sudden he heard a deep and loud voice, above him, saying, Tsk-tsk-tsk! You are a tiny fellow to be carrying such a load. Let me help you. The ant looked up and saw a big, friendly-looking grasshopper, and he said in his squeaky voice, Thank you. You are very kind. The grasshopper roared, Allow me; and he picked up the breadcrumb and, in one enormous gulp, ate it. That was a cruel, unfriendly act, the poor little ant said. The grasshopper turned on the ant and shouted, Hold your tongue and feelers! I see you’re a strong little ant. I have work for you—and you had better do it, too, or I’ll eat you as quickly as I did the breadcrumb. It appeared that the grasshopper wanted to travel, and he gave the ant the task of carrying his belongings, which were wrapped in part of a birch leaf and made a bundle even larger than the breadcrumb. The grasshopper would take a big hop and while the ant was painfully dragging the leaf-case across to where the grasshopper had landed, the grasshopper would snooze. When the ant arrived, he would get up, yawn, stretch his leapers, and hop several more ant-kilometers away. The poor ant got no rest and was very worried about his family.
Rapaport paused. The crackling coming down the tunnel had grown very loud; it seemed as if the fire were approaching closer and closer. But the dark hole was still cool, and now it was lit up by a flickering, dim, reddish, reflected light.
—— One day the ant came up to the grasshopper and saw that he had landed after the last hop right next to a puddle. It was a small puddle, and the ant knew that the grasshopper could hop across a puddle ten times larger, but he said, I’ll wager a year of my servitude that you can’t jump across that puddle. The grasshopper laughed so hard that he rolled over on his back, and then he got up and, scarcely bending his leapers, he whipped himself across the puddle and far beyond it. When the ant caught up, he put the leaf-case down and shook his head and said, I didn’t think you could do it. The next morning the grasshopper and the ant had breakfast beside a low wall. The ant had seen the grasshopper jump three times as high as this wall, but he said, I’ll wager two years of my servitude that you can’t hop over that wall; whereupon the grasshopper said, What a foolish ant! You didn’t think I could jump over that puddle yesterday. And he snapped his leapers and went up four times as high as the wall and over. The ant got over the wall as over a mountain range, and when he came down to the grasshopper, he said in grudging admiration, Oi, you are a remarkable jumper, I must admit.
Now a steady roar could be heard in the tunnel. Rapaport spoke louder.
—— The next day the travelers came to a narrow stream, and the ant said, I‘ll wager four years of my servitude you can’t hop across that stream. The grasshopper said in sarcastic mimicry, I’m a remarkable jumper, and without a moment’s hesitation he bounded across the stream with many meters to spare. The ant crossed on a twig and came up to the grasshopper, saying You are the most talented of all grasshoppers. The same thing happened the next day at a narrow country road. This time the ant wagered eight years of slavery. You notice, he said, that I am betting double or quits each time. The grasshopper said, Ha ha! Do you think the most talented of all grasshoppers cannot hop over this mud-track, this footpath? And he whisked across the road easily. So they traversed a great distance, and the wagers grew more frequent and the ant’s admiration after each successful jump grew more and more extravagant until, on the bet which bound the ant in service for eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two years, after the grasshopper had made the leap without accident, the ant, on catching up, said, I am sure there is nothing you cannot do.
It was pleasantly warm in the burrow now. Fresh air was drawing in through the ventilation pipe. The steady roar went on.
—— The day after that, the grasshopper and the ant came to the edge of the sea, and the ant said quietly, I will wager you double or quits—sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four years of servitude or not one minute more—that you can’t jump across that sea. The grasshopper stood up. There was a wild look in his eye. He shouted, There is nothing I cannot do! And, bending his leapers double, with pearls of sweat on his green forehead, he gave a mighty jump—into the sea, where he drowned. The ant just smiled a little ant-smile, picked up the grasshopper’s belongings, and started for home.
It was then that David uttered a high, piercing, happy laugh, and said:
—— It’s nice in here. Tell me another story.