their eyes were as bright as if a candle were shining in them.
A great to-do erupted in the village, for now all of the families who had something to sell gathered up their goods, ran to the well at the big meadow and hoped for good business there. His father told him that Galilee was known for the sweet wine, for olive oil, wool and for the good grain that grew here. Grain was not only for the daily bread, but also for sacrificial offerings, as his father always emphasized. Since his father was rabbi, he had other things to do in the village rather than tend to the sales of home-made goods. His family was supported by the village, as it had been for generations and always would be.
Joshua jumped up and ran down the path. It would take some time before the merchants had unloaded the wares which they could possibly sell in Nazareth from the backs of their camels and spread them out for display. There were a lot of merchants this time. This meant lots of smells, laughter and yelling. He had learned a few words of the foreign language just by listening. According to his father he was very talented in languages, not just in writing. Only very few people had such a good ear for and intuitive sense for languages, as he has once mentioned in praise. Of course that rarely happened with him.
Now it became louder in the normally so quiet Nazareth. When everything had been unloaded and set up for sale, the game of trade began. This, as he knew, included lots of discussions, haggling, laughter and cursing. Joshua saw bags filled with caraway and ginger, pepper and healing herbs, coriander und thyme. There was also copper and iron ore which was especially interesting for the smith. His father would mainly look at the frankincense, of which there were many varieties. Now he also saw Joseph, the father of Jesus, who was looking at some unusual kinds of wood. He already had a few smaller knives in is hand and had cast an eye on the ore lying next to him. He was accompanied by Jossi und Judah, the brothers of Jesus, who were learning from him how to distinguish the quality of the wares.
But Joshua was more interested in the people. He paid attention to the gestures, to the laughter, he considered their eyes. He could not get enough of seeing different faces. He paid attention to the conversations and enjoyed the various dialects. However he mainly heard the Greek language, which was the official language for trade throughout the Roman Empire. They were just learning this in school. That is why it was important to master this language. Joshua stood in the middle of all of the people, enjoyed the atmosphere and perked his ears.
“What, you demand four Sesterzes for this lesser quality? It is not even worth three ...”
“… caraway … sixteen As, there’s no way I would pay more.”
“Very well. Let’s finalize the deal then. Sixteen As. May the Lord bless our trade.”
“ … you son of y drunken whore. What is that supposed to be? …“
“Are you trying to insult me?”
“ … this … is not a salad. … Those are weeds that the goats have shat on.”
“…usury! May God burn your lineage and extinguish you from the face of the earth.”
Then Joshua heard the voice of his father, who had just bought his frankincense, as usual.
“We have a deal. Four denars and six lepta. Cyrus, you have the best quality as always. God bless our business. May I bring you a bowl of goat milk later on?”
Then Joshua saw Jesus approaching him with a smile.
“Is it not interesting? When caravans come then there is really a lot going on here. You should have seen the market in Alexandria. This meadow would not have been large enough to contain all of the merchants.”
“That large?” Joshua was impressed. He thought that this was already very large, but could hardly imagine a market even larger than the meadow. Maybe Jesus had fibbed a little.
“You would have enjoyed it. There were a lot of merchants in Alexandria who dealt in fine papyrus. Nothing like the scraps that I saw Samuel has.”
“Even more beautiful?”
“Yes, and they also had very fine parchment. I had not even seen such fine parchment in the library of Alexandria.”
“What is a library?”
“A place where many different writings are stored.”
“Such a place exists?”
“Oh yes, Joshua. I loved the many writings, and especially the place itself, for it was very quiet.”
“I would also like to see a lirba…“
“Library.”
“Yes, exactly, I would also like to see such a place sometime. It must be the most beautiful place in the world.”
“I have only seen few places more beautiful.”
Joshua looked around and became aware of the bustle around him again.
“Yes, but I enjoy just as much being among people, seeing the various colorful clothes and faces and hearing the different languages.”
“That is something we have in common Joshua. I like that too. As you can imagine I especially like spending time with the Egyptians if there are any around.”
“Where are these people journeying to?”
“They are continuing on to Damascus. A long way. Well, I have to get going. Joseph is already waiting back there with my brothers. God protect you my friend.”
“God protect you too Jesus.” Those were wonderful words which would nourish Joshua for a long time. He was happy that Jesus was his friend. That which he radiated, the nice conversations that he had with him now and then were all very fulfilling. Jesus was someone special. He knew this for sure. But now he too to get going, for he did not want such a harmonious day to end in pain. Fear drove him home.
∞
The family of the rabbi had just finished their evening meal. Samuel felt very good today. He had made a good trade earlier in the day. Now he still wanted to bring a bowl of goat milk to Cyrus, the merchant, in the caravansary. Things would have calmed down there by now. He set out on his way there after making sure that his children were getting ready for bed.
“Sarah, I will be right back.”
“Very well, but you will probably meet someone along the way anyway with whom you will talk half the night about the conditions around here. See you later.”
Samuel had walked out briskly into the alleyway. How dared his wife speak to him that way! After all these were serious topics, however of course women knew nothing about such matters. Only a few more feet across the stream and then he had reached the large courtyard whose doors were fortunately still open. They would be closed in a few moments so that the travelling merchants could not be robbed. After all there were plenty of thieves in this area. And one should not underestimate the zealots. And he, the rabbi of the village was responsible for the safety of the merchants. If anything were to happen to them it would quickly become known far and wide, and pretty soon then no more caravans would pass through Nazareth.
After he had brought Cyrus the bowl of milk, he met Jacob in front of the caravansary, who, just like him, was there to check and see whether everything was
