temporar ypoet who senses such collisions.” After this search he produced
a sketch of the missing person, and a rhetoricall yreworked version of this
sketch ended up as the first of the four retellings of the Old Testament story.
If we compare the published version with the sketch, it is immediately
obvious that Abraham’s inhuman brutalit yhad originall ybeen depicted in
much more elaborate fashion; it was as though a terrifying episode, an ap-
palling primal scene, had broken through the armor of repression and been
granted its freedom. On this page of the present volume, where the text is
divided into two columns, the final form of the first retelling of the Old
Testament tale is in the left-hand column, while the sketch is reproduced
in the right-hand column: “It was earl ymorning. Abraham arose earl y. He
had the donkeys saddled, left his tents, and Isaac was with him, but Sarah
watched them from the window as the ywent down the valle yuntil she
saw them no more. The yrode in silence for three da ys. On the morning
of the fourth da yAbraham said not a word, but lifted up his e yes and saw
Mount Moriah in the distance. He left the servant boys behind and went
alone up the mountain, taking Isaac b ythe hand. But Abraham said to
himself, ‘I will not conceal from Isaac where this path is leading him.’ He
stood still, placed his hand upon Isaac’s head in blessing, and Isaac bowed
down in order to receive it. And Abraham’s countenance was fatherly, his
gaze was gentle, his speech admonitory. But Isaac could not understand
him. His soul could not be lifted up. He clasped Abraham’s knees. He
pleaded at his feet, he begged for his young life, for his sanguine hopes. He
called to mind the jo yin Abraham’s house, he called to mind the sorrow
and the loneliness. Then Abraham lifted the bo yup, walked hand in hand
with him, and his words were full of consolation and exhortation. But Isaac
could not understand him. He climbed Mount Moriah, but Isaac did not
understand him. Then Abraham turned awa yfrom him for a moment,
but when Isaac looked upon and when he again turned to him, he was unrecog-
Abraham’s countenance the nizable to Isaac. His eyes were wild. His counte-
second time, it was trans- nance was chilling. The venerable locks of his hair
formed. His gaze was wild. bristled like furies above his head. He seized Isaac
His ver yform was terror. b ythe breast. He drew the knife. He said: ‘You
He seized Isaac b ythe breast, thought it was for the sake of God that I was going
threw him to the ground, to do this? You were wrong. I am an idolater. This
and said: ‘Stupid boy, do you desire has again awakened in my soul. I want to
think I am your father? I am murder you. It is my desire. I am worse than any
an idolater. Do you think cannibal. Despair, you foolish boy, who imagined
this is God’s command? No, that I was your father. I am your murderer, and
it is m ydesire.’ this is m ydesire.’