A fascinatingly colorful carpet. Friedrich Torberg. At the center of this magical historical novel is the legendary figure of the high Rabbi Loew. Only he can solve the riddle of God's punishment that descends upon the Jewish city of Prague in 1589 as a great child mortality. Seeking counsel, he invokes supernatural powers, which lead him to a transgression he himself committed - one night under the stone bridge. Within the circle of this transgression, a whole microcosm unfolds - vibrant characters, from the fools and beggars who populate the alleys and taverns of the "Golden City" to Emperor Rudolf himself and his beloved, the beautiful Jewess Esther. Yet none of the characters grasp the complex web of love, guilt, and atonement: Only the reader sees it all - sovereign and almost godlike alongside the masterful narrator.