Print
Word
PDF
|
Ivanhoe Chapter 10
Despite much attention from squires and pages, the Disinherited Knight will still not show his face. He looks to his own squire for help, but this squire is masked like his master. After dinner, five men show up, wanting to speak with the Knight. The five men are the squires of the five challengers whom the Knight beat that day. They offer their masters' armor, according to the laws of chivalry. The Knight asks for a ransom, and accepts only half, offering the rest to the squires. Also, he will not accept anything from Brian de Bois-Guilbert, because he feels that they have not yet finished their fight.
The Knight calls his attendant Gurth, and Gurth he is! The Knight gives him some gold, and tells him to give it to Isaac the Jew. Gurth reluctantly agrees to find the Jew. In the town of Ashby, Isaac and his daughter stay with a Jewish family. Isaac is troubled, angry at the money Prince John forced him to give up. The unfairness of their situation as Jews frustrates him, but Rebecca feels differently:
"These Gentiles, cruel and oppressive as they are, are in some sort dependent on the dispersed children of Zion, whom they despise and persecute. Without the aid of our wealth they could neither furnish forth their hosts in war nor their triumphs in peace; and the gold which we lend them returns with increase to our coffers. We are like the herb which flourisheth most when it is most trampled on." Chapter 10, pg. 93
Isaac continues to pout as a visitor is announced. It is Gurth, with the money from the Disinherited Knight. Isaac is shocked to see a Christian repay a Jew. He and Gurth then haggle over the amount. As Gurth departs, Rebecca secretly stops him. She gives him money to repay the Knight, and some for himself! Gurth leaves happy, if a bit bewildered.
