lad, whom he had chosen as a companion, he acquired knowledge of the
plumage and the cries and the habits of birds, and whither he was to
seek their nests: it had become his ambition to possess all the wild
birds' eggs, one that was easily satisfied till he came to the egg of
the cuckoo, which he sought in vain, hearing of it often, now here, now
there, till at last he and the shepherd lad ventured into a dangerous
country in search of it and remained there till news of their absence
reached Magdala and Dan set out in great alarm with an armed escort to
recover his son. He was very angry when he came upon him, but the
trouble he had been put to and the ransom he had had to pay were very
soon forgotten, so great was his pleasure at the strong healthy boy he
brought back with him, and whose first question to Rachel was: are there
cuckoos in Magdala?--Father doesn't know. His grandmother could not tell
him, but she was willing to make inquiries, but before any news of the
egg had been gotten the hope to possess it seemed to have drifted out of
Joseph's mind and to seem even a little foolish when he looked into his
box, for many of his egg shells had been broken on the journey. See,
Granny, he said, but on second thoughts he refused to show his chipped
possessions. But thou wast once as eager to learn Hebrew, his
grandmother said, and the chance words, spoken as she left the room,
awakened his suspended interests. As soon as she returned she was beset
by questions, and the same evening his father had to promise that the
best scribe in Galilee should be engaged to teach him: a discussion
began between Dan and Rachel as to the most notable and trustworthy, and
it was followed by Joseph so eagerly that they could not help laughing;
the questions he put to them regarding the different accomplishments of
the scribes were very minute, and the phrase--But this one is a Greek
scholar, stirred his curiosity. Why should he be denied me because he
knows Greek? he asked, and his father could only answer that no one can
learn two languages at the same time. But if he knows two languages,