Satan in Goray - Isaac Bashevis Singer [62]
on the wall opposite. Groaning, as of a woman in labor, issued from the chimney of Levi's house. On Thursday imps overturned the dough troughs, spilling the dough for the white Sabbath bread; they threw handfuls of salt into the pots where dinner was being cooked, ripped the mezuzot from door posts, and held weddings in desolate places. Imps would hang on to the wheelspokes of a wagon, dragging the wagon back and blinding the horse. Disguising themselves as he-goats, they danced to meet the women returning from the bathhouse. Late one afternoon when Chinkele was on her way to prayers in the women's section, she saw a black- skinned beast crawling at her in the light of the rising moon. She tried to run, but the monstrosity reared up on its hind legs, like a man, and pursued her until she fell into a ditch. The next evening the same creature scared some children in the street. One of the boys heard the beast shout something in a gentile tongue. Everyone immediately understood that this was a werewolf. Some whispered that it was the mad lord Zamoyski, for once the werewolf fired a pistol and threw down some gold ducats. They ran off to tell Reb Gedaliya and Rechele the Prophetess about this--but there, also, evil reigned. Rechele had been impregnated by Satan. She confessed this herself to her husband: Samael had come to her at night, and had violated her. A destroyer demon grew in her womb. She bade Reb Gedaliya probe her belly, and he discovered that, indeed, it was tight as a drum. Rechele also told Reb Gedaliya that she no longer menstruated, and she showed him where the demons had made seven braids in her hair. At first Reb Gedaliya would not believe Rechele, and maintained that she imagined it all. At night he would kindle many lights in her room, place amulets everywhere, and recite various adjurations, for he wished to remain with Rechele. But the moment he lay at her side all the candles were extinguished, and he received a blow on the temples that flung him out of bed. Then he would hear a voice cry: "Touch her not, for she has made a covenant with me! Arise and go quickly!" From then on Reb Gedaliya avoided all intercourse with Rechele and left her alone. He even drove Chinkele away and took instead a mute servant girl, to keep people from discovering this latest disgrace. Because his beloved wife had been stolen from him, Reb Gedaliya began to drink and slept all day on his bench bed. His friends fell away from him, and he would certainly have been driven out of town if the butchers had not sided with him. Meanwhile, horrifying things happened to Rechele. Every night Satan visited Rechele to torment her. He was black and tall, fiery-eyed and with a long tail; his body was cold, his lips scaly, and he exhaled pitchfire. He ravished her so many times that she was powerless to move. Then, rising, he tormented her in numerous ways. Pulling the hairs singly from her head, he wound them about her throat; he pinched her in the hips and bit her breasts with his jagged teeth. When she yawned he spat down her throat; he poured water on her bedsheet and pretended she had wet her bed. He made her show him her private parts and drink slop. He seduced her into reciting the explicit name of God and blaspheming Him; on Friday nights he forced her to desecrate the Sabbath by tearing paper and touching the Sabbath candlesticks. Sometimes Satan told Rechele obscene tales, and Reb Gedaliya on the other side of the wall would hear her loud, mad laughter resounding at midnight. Once, Reb Gedaliya opened the door of the Holy Ark to take out the Torah scroll, only to find the scroll mantle slashed, and a piece of dung lying within.... Rechele suffered extraordinary tortures. At times the evil one blew up one of her breasts. One foot swelled. Her neck became stiff. Rechele extracted little stones, hairs, rags, and worms from wet, pussy abscesses formed on the flesh of her thigh and under her arms. Though she had long since stopped eating, Rechele vomited frequently, venting reptiles that slithered out tail first. At times she barked like