And this is the story of how the highwaymen had become highwaymen:

Once a famine was raging.
And a man came into the town and cried out: Anyone who wanted to eat should come to him.
And many people came to him.
He did everything cunningly, and if he realized that certain people would be useless to him, he sent them away.
He told one man:
"You can be an artisan."
And he told another:
"You can work in a mill."
And he picked out intelligent young men and took them into the forest.
And there he talked them into becoming highwaymen: "There are roads running from here to Leipzig and Breslau and other places, and there are always merchants driving by. We can rob them and get money."
That was how the highwayman, who had come to the town, talked them into becoming highwaymen.

And now these highwaymen attacked the son who could not walk and his servants, that is, the assistant and the driver.
The assistant and the driver were able to run away, and they escaped.
The son, however, remained in the wagon.
The highwaymen came over and asked him: "Why are you sitting?"
He answered: "I can't walk." So they took away his money box and the horses.
And he remained in the wagon.
The assistant and the driver, who had run away, decided that since they had started with landowners, why should they return home? They might end up in chains. They would be better off remaining there, in the place they had escaped to, they could be an assistant and a driver.

And the son, who could not walk and had remained in the wagon, ate whatever was left of the food he had taken from home, the dry bread. But when it was gone and he had nothing left to eat, he reflected: "What can I do?" And he threw himself off the wagon to eat grass.
And he slept alone out there every night.
He was terror-stricken.
And the terror sapped his strength.
And now he couldn't even stand, he could only crawl.
And he would eat the grass all around him.
And so long as he could reach the grass around him and eat it, he would keep eating it.
And when the grass around him was gone, he crept further on and ate there.
And thus he kept eating the grass for a time.
Once he came to an herb and he had never eaten anything like it before.
He liked the herb very much.
So he decided to pull it out by the roots.
Under the roots, there was a diamond.
And the diamond was rectangular.
And each side of the diamond had a different virtue.
And on one side of the diamond, it was written that whoever held it on that side would be carried to the place where day and night come together, that is, where the sun and the moon come together.
And the diamond carried him there, and he arrived at the place where day and night come together.
He looked around and he saw that he was in the place where the sun and the moon come together.
He could hear the sun and the moon conversing.
The sun was lamenting to the moon: "There is a tree that has many branches and fruits and leaves.
"And every branch and every fruit and every leaf has a special virtue.
"This one has a virtue for bearing children, that one has a virtue for business.
"One can heal a certain illness, and another can heal another illness.
"Each bit of the tree is good for something else. And the tree has to be watered.
"If it is watered, it will have all its virtues.
"But not only don't I water the tree, I shine upon it, which makes it dry out."
The moon said to the sun:
"You worry about things beyond you. I want to tell you my problem: I have a thousand mountains.
"And around the thousand mountains there are a thousand more mountains.
"And that is the place of the demons.
"And the demons have legs like chickens.
"And they have no strength in their legs.
"So they take strength from my legs.
"And that's why I have no strength in my legs.
"And I even had a dust, which is a remedy for my legs.
"But a wind came along and carried it away."
The sun said to the moon:
"Is that what you're worried about. I can tell you a remedy:
"There is a road.
"And many roads branch off from that road.
"One road is the road of saints.
"And when a saint travels that road, the dust of that road is shaken under each step he takes.
"Every time he takes a step, he picks up that dust.
"And there is a road of heretics.
"And when a heretic travels that road, the dust of that road is shaken under each step he takes.
"And there is a road of madmen. And when a madman travels that road, the dust is shaken under his feet.
"And thus there are many roads.
"And there is a road of saints who suffer: They are led in chains by the landowners and they have no strength in their legs. If the dust of that road is shaken under them, they will have strength in their legs.
"Thus, you should go there. For there is a lot of dust there, and you will have a remedy for your legs."
The sun said all that to the moon.
And the young man, who had no strength in his legs, heard it all.
Then he looked at the other side of the diamond.
He saw that on this side it was written that whoever held the diamond on this side would be carried to the road from which many roads branched off, that is to say, the road that the sun had described to the moon.
So he held the diamond on this side.
And his legs were on the road whose dust is a remedy for legs.
And he was instantly healed.
He walked along and took up the dust from all roads, and he tied up each dust in a separate packet.
Now the dust of the road of saints was also tied up in a separate packet; and that was how each dust from each of the other road  was tied up. 
He made up packets of each dust and he took all these packets  along.
And he made up his mind and went to the forest where he had been waylaid.
And when he got there, he chose a tall tree that was close to the road from which the highwaymen went out to rob people.
And he took the dust of saints and the dust of madmen and mixed them together and shook the mixture on the road. 
And he climbed up the tree and perched there to see what would happen.
He then saw the highwaymen coming along the road.
Those were the highwaymen whose chief had sent them out to rob.
And when they arrived at that road, the instant they stepped on the dust, they turned into saints.
They began shouting about the years they had spent robbing and killing so many people.
But since there was dust of madmen in the mixture, they turned into mad saints.
They began arguing with one another.
One man said: "It was your fault that we killed people."
And the other said: "It was your fault."
And they argued and fought until they all killed one another.
Then the chief sent out other highwaymen.
And the same thing happened to them: They all killed one another.
And the same thing happened each time.
Until they were all killed.
Until the young man, who once had no strength in his legs, and who was now perching in the tree, realized that none of the highwaymen were left. Only the chief of the highwaymen, who had talked them into becoming highwaymen, and one other.
So the young man climbed back down the tree, cleared the dust from the road, and shook the pure dust of saints, and then he climbed up the tree again and perched there.
And the chief of the highwaymen, who had sent out all his highwaymen, and they had all killed one another, he was very surprised that he had sent them all out and none had come back.
He made up his mind and went out himself with the one remaining highwayman.
And as soon as he came to the road where the son had shaken the dust of saints, he turned into a saint and began shouting at the other that he had killed so many people and robbed so much.
He made strenuous efforts at penance and greatly repented what he had done.
And when the son, who was sitting in the tree, saw that the chief was so remorseful and was doing such great penance, he climbed down from the tree.
When the highwayman saw another human being, he screamed at him: "How miserable I am, for I have done such terrible things. Help me! Give me a penance to do."
The son replied: "Give me back the money box you stole from me."
For the highwaymen had always written down every theft they had committed as well as the name of the victim.
The chief replied: "I'll give it back to you right away. I'll even give you all the stolen treasures that I have, but give me a penance."
The son said: "Your penance will merely be to go into the town and shout and tell the people: `I am the man who called out back then and made many highwaymen and robbed and murdered so many people.' That will be your penance."
And the highwayman gave him all the treasures and went to the town with him and did what the son had told him to do.
There, in town, he was condemned to be hanged for killing so many people, so that others might learn a lesson.
Then the son, who once had no strength in his feet, made up his mind to go to the two thousand mountains and see what was happening there.
When he arrived, he stopped at a distance from the two thousand mountains.
He saw that there were millions upon millions of families of demons. For they were fruitful and multiplied and had offspring like human beings, and there were very many of them.
And the son saw their king, who sat on a throne, and no mortal man born of a woman ever sits on such a throne.
And he heard the demons telling about their pranks.
One demon told that he had injured a child.
Another told that he had injured a man's arm.
And another told that he had injured a man's leg.
And there were further pranks just like those.
Meanwhile, the son saw that a father and mother were walking and weeping.
And someone asked them:
"Why are you weeping?"
They answered that they had a son who would go away at a certain time and come back at a certain time. But now, a great deal of time had passed and he still had not come back.

And all three of them, the father and the mother and the son, were all demons.
The parents were brought to the king.
The king ordered that messengers be sent throughout the world to find the son.
And when the parents left the king, they met a demon who had traveled with their son, that is to say, the demon they met was a friend of their son's and had traveled with him. But when they met him now, he was alone.
And he also asked them:
"Why are you weeping?"
And they told him why.
Whereupon he said to them:
"Let me tell you a story. We had a small island in the ocean, and that was our place. But then the king who owned the island came and wanted to build palaces there.
"And he laid a foundation.
"Your son suggested that we injure him.
"So we went and took away the king's strength.
"The king consulted doctors, but they couldn't help him.
"So he began consulting wizards.
"Now there was one wizard who did not know my family, so he couldn't do anything to me. But he did know your son's family, so he caught him and he is torturing him horribly."
He was brought to the king - the demon telling this story.
And he told his story to the king too.
The king said:
"Give that king his strength back."
The demon replied:
"One of our demons had no strength, and so we gave him the king's strength."
The king said:
"Have them take away his strength and give the strength back to the king."
He was told: "The demon who was given the king's strength has turned into a cloud."
The king ordered them to call the cloud and bring it here.
So they sent a messenger to the cloud.

Now the young man, who once had no strength in his legs, and had come here and seen all these things - he made up his mind: "Let me go and see how these demons can become clouds."
He followed the messenger and came to the city where the cloud was.
The messenger asked the cityfolk: "Why is there a cloud like that in the city?"
They replied:
"There is never any cloud here in the city. A cloud has only been covering the city for a while now."

And the messenger came and called to the cloud.
And the cloud went away from there.

And the young man, who once had no strength in his legs, made up his mind: He would follow them and listen to what they said.
And he heard the messenger ask the cloud: "Why is it you became a cloud?"
And the cloud answered:
"Let me tell you a story."

Once upon a time there was a wise man.
And the emperor of the land was a great heretic.
And he turned the entire land into heretics.
So the wise man went and called together his entire family and said to them:
"You can see that the emperor is a great heretic. He has turned the entire land into heretics. He has even turned some of our family into heretics. Let us therefore go into the desert so that we can remain with our faith in God Blessed Be He."
His family agreed.
And the wise man spoke a NAME, that is to say, he pronounced one of the many names of the Good Lord Blessed Be He - and he soon brought them to the desert by saying that NAME.
But he didn't like the desert.
So he spoke another NAME –
And they were brought to another desert, But he didn't like that desert either,
So he spoke another NAME.
And he brought them to still another desert,
And this desert he did like.
In this desert, they were close to the two thousand mountains. The wise man went and executed a circle, that is to say, he made a ring around the mountains so no one could get to them.
And there is a tree, and if that tree were watered, then nothing would remain of us demons.
That is why our fellow demons always dig night and day to keep any water from getting to the tree.
The other asked him:
"Why do we have to stand here day and night digging? If we dig just once to keep the water from coming, isn't that enough?"
He answered:
"There are orators among us, sham speakers.
"And these speakers go and cause fights between the king and another king.
"And these fights lead to wars.
"And the wars lead to earthquakes. 
"And the earth around the ditch around the tree falls in.
"And so water can get to the tree.
"That is why we always have to stand here digging."
And if a king is enthroned over us demons, we play all sorts of pranks for him and have a wonderful time.
One demon jokes about hurting a baby and about the woman in childbed grieving over it.
And the next one plays other pranks.
And thus they play all kinds of pranks.
And when the king is in a good mood, he strolls about with the princes of the realm and he tries to tear out the tree.
For if the tree didn't exist, we would be very happy.
And the king gathers all his strength to pull out the tree.
But whenever he comes to the tree, the tree utters a loud scream.
And the king is terror-stricken. 
He has to turn back. 
Now once we had a new king. 
And the demons all played wild pranks for him. 
And he was in a very good mood. 
So he gathered all his courage and he wanted to tear out the entire tree. 
He went strolling with his princes, and he really gathered all his courage, and he went to tear out the tree. 
And just as he came to the tree, the tree uttered a great shriek at him. 
The king was terror-stricken.
He turned around.
And he was furious as he went back.
Then he looked and saw people sitting there.
These were the wise man and his people.
The king sent his servants to hurt them. 
And when the wise man's family saw them, they were terribly frightened. 
But the wise man told them: "Don't be afraid." 
And when the demons arrived, they could not get close to them because of the circle around them. 
So the king sent other messengers. 
But they could not get close to them either. 
The king was furious and he went out himself. 
But he could not get close to them either. 
So he asked the old man to let him come in to them. 
The old man said: 
"Since you've asked me, I will let you in. But it's not proper for a king to come alone, so I'll let you come in with one other." 
And the old man opened a tiny door for them. 
They entered. 
Then he closed the circle again. 
The king said to the old man: 
"How do you come to settle in my territory?" 
The old man said: 
"Why is this your territory? It's my territory."
The king said to the old man:
"Aren't you afraid of me at all?"
The old man said: 
"No. "
The king said again:
"You're not afraid?"
And he instantly stretched out into the air.
He became very tall, as tall as the sky, and was about to devour him.
But the old man said:
"I'm still not afraid of you. But if I like, you'll be afraid of me."
And he went and prayed a bit.
And there were great clouds and great thunderbolts.
And the thunderbolts killed all of them.
They killed all his princes of the realm, and only the king remained, and the man who had come into the circle with him.
The king begged the old man to make the thundering stop.
The thundering stopped.
The king spoke and he said to the old man:
"Since you are such a man, I will give you a book of all the families of the demons. For there are miracle-workers who know only about one family: and they don't even know the entire family. So I'll give you a book containing all the families,. for they are all registered with the king. Everyone who is born is registered with the king."
The king sent the demon remaining with him for the book.
Thus, the old man had done right in letting him in with one other, for whom else could he have sent for the book?
The demon brought back the book.
The old man opened the book and he saw that it contained millions upon millions of demon families.
The king promised the old man that they would never harm any of the old man's family.
And he asked him to bring him the portraits of his entire family.
He said that when a child was born into the family, they should instantly bring him the child's portrait so that they would not harm any of the old man's family.
When the time came for the old man to leave the world, he called his children and told them his will and said:
"I am leaving you this book. And you can see that I am able to use it in a holy manner, and yet I do not use it, I have faith in the Good Lord, and you should not use the book either. Even if one of you is able to use it in a holy manner, he should still not use it, he should have faith in the Good Lord."
Then the wise man died.
And the book was handed down and came to his grandson.
And this grandson was able to use the book in a holy manner.
But he had faith in the Good Lord, and so he did not use the book, just as the old man had willed.

And the orators, that is to say, the instigators among the demons, tried to instigate the old man's grandson: "Since you have grown daughters whom you can't support or marry off, then make use of the book."
And he did not realize they were talking to him. He thought his heart was talking to him.
So he went to his grandfather's grave.
And he asked him:
"You willed that we should not use the book, that we should have faith in the Good Lord. But now my heart is telling me that I should use the book."
His dead grandfather answered:
"Even though you can use it in a holy manner, it is better for you to have faith in the Good Lord. You should not use the book. The Good Lord will help you."
And the grandson did as his grandfather willed.
One day, the king of the country where the grandson lived became ill. The king called in doctors, but they could not find any cure because of the great heat that was raging there. The heat kept the remedies from working.
The king issued an edict, saying that Jews should pray for him.
So our king, the king of the demons, said: "The grandson is able to use the book in a holy manner, yet he does not use it, so we ought to do him a favor."
And he told me to become a cloud so that the king would be cured by the remedies he had already taken and by the remedies he would still take.
And the grandson knew nothing about it.
And that is why I became a cloud.

And that was the story that the cloud told the messenger.

And the young man who once had no strength in his legs - he followed them and he heard the entire story.

And the demon, the one who had turned into a cloud, was brought to the king.
And the king ordered that his strength be taken and returned to the king whose strength they had taken because he had built on their territory.
So they took away the demon's strength.
And then the son of the demons, that is, the weeping parents, returned.
And he came home wracked and without strength. For he had been terribly tortured.
And he was very angry at the wizard who had inflicted such torments on' him there.
He told his children and his family that they should always lie in wait for that wizard.
Now among the demons, there are orators, that is to say, instigators, and they went and informed the wizard that the demons were lying in wait for him and that he should be careful.
The wizard had cunning designs. He also called in other wizards who knew other demon families so that he could be careful with them.
The demon son and his family were very angry at the orators for telling the wizard the secret.
One day they went to the guards of the king of the son's family with those of the orators.
The children of the son's family went and made an accusation against the orators.
So the king had the orators killed.
The other orators were very angry.
So they went and created sedition among all kings. 
And famine and illness raged among the demons, and pestilence and devastation, and there was warfare among all kings. 
And all this created an earthquake. 
And the whole earth collapsed. 
And the tree was watered utterly. 
Nothing was left of the demons. 
They became nothing. 
Amen.

The enigma of this tale refers to the First Psalm:

Happy the man 
Who never walked in the counsel of the evil 
Nor stood on the road of the sinners, 
Nor sat in the seat of the scorners. 
His only delight is the Law of the Lord, 
And he thinks of His Law all day and all night. 
He will be Like a tree, planted by ditches of water, 
That gives its fruit in its season, 
And its leaf will not wither: 
And all that he does will prosper.

The evil are otherwise! 
They are like chaff that the wind wafts away. 
Thus the evil will not endure the judgment, 
Nor the sinners in the congregation of the saintly. 
For God knows the road of the saintly: 
And the road of the evil shall be doomed.