220 r Libby Garshowitz
exquisite stature, perfectly hewn, “Did he come from the pleasures of
Paradise (ha-va mi-ma ̔adan ̔eden),... its sole survivor?” (ll. 308–16).
Yoshefe is truly unique, but the reader can only smile at the profuse hype
and flattery, replete with similes and metaphors, comparing him with the
phenomena of creation and pristine Eden, beautiful like the young dam-
sels themselves: “fair like the moon and pure like the sun.” The reader,
however, cannot ignore Yemima’s gibe at Yoshefe’s lack of poetic skill. He,
unlike them, cannot string together a coherent poetic stich! Yemima con-
tinues to enchant her lover with her tales (meshalim) of love, and all three
settle down and “play as is the habit of hedonistic lovers” (mesahaqim ke-
mishpat ha-hosheqim, l. 317).
This idyllic situation, however, is soon disturbed with the arrival of
another chevalier, bloody sword drawn, whacking away at trees, shriek-
ing and screaming, “splitting mountains with his strength and hurling
down cedars with his breath, dispersing all in his path” (ll. 317–19), ready
to do battle to save Yoshefe, who appears to be in no imminent danger.
There is no explanation for why his sword is bloodied. There has been no
report of any battle, nor does the new arrival appear to have suffered any
visible wounds. Our author, however, adds an ironic touch to the entire
scene: a once-shamed Yoshefe will now have his illusory honor restored
by a man, not a woman (ll. 321–24).^46 Yemima challenges Yoshefe to fight
the newcomer, apparently fearing a new rival (ll. 317–26), another young
woman in male disguise, roles she and Yefefia had previously assumed.
The two men battle aggressively, shrieking, overheard by all, although no
one else is present! The newcomer turns out to be none other than young
(na ̔ar, ll. 88, 389) Masos, from whose house Yoshefe had been kidnapped,
the procurer (sokhen) of all of Yoshefe’s wealth and the proprietor of the
original love nest. The two men rejoice and kiss at discovering each other
(l. 327) and return to Yefefiya and Yemima. Jacob ben Elazar continues
with the burlesque of Masos’s “bloody battle” and scoffs at his implied
chivalry by turning the “red” of the lover’s seductive lips and cheeks into
the “bloody red” of an idle sword.
With the men’s return to the by-now fearful and tearful women, the
farce continues. The women fear that Yoshefe has been captured or mur-
dered by the new arrival but are overjoyed to find that this is not the
case. The ménage à trois quickly turns into a ménage à quatre, again at
Masos’s house, and they continue their former debauchery of eating and