“I’m going to say yes, on the weapons,” said Salarino.

“Counting on that one, really, since we didn’t sort the pie part out,” added Gratiano.

“I didn’t know there was going to be a bloody quiz,” said Salarino. “We’re woefully unprepared for it.”

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what must he endure for the wrong? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, then how should he endure it, by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will do better than your lesson. Revenge!”

“Well, if that’s how you feel,” said Gratiano, “I suppose that the pie ploy wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

“Might just as well have put ham in it and eaten it ourselves,” said Salarino, as he glanced around and began to draw his long dagger. “What is that?”

A soft jingle sounded from down the canal behind Gratiano and the tall man turned just in time to see a monkey dressed in black, bounding down the walkway behind him, little bells jingling on its tiny jester hat as it approached. It leapt into the air, landed on his shoulder, slapped him with a tiny monkey paw, grabbed his hat, then jumped to the ground and made for Salarino, tossing a tight parchment bundle in the air as it passed Shylock, who clutched the paper to his chest.

Salarino drew his dagger to intercept the simian if it leapt for his face as it had Gratiano’s, but instead the monkey ran by on its hind feet, wiping its paw on Salarino’s boot before scampering down the canal, then up a drainpipe until it disappeared over the roof.

“A monkey?” said Gratiano, stunned and hatless.

“Ha!” said Salarino. “He wiped shit on your face.”

“Well, he wiped shit on your boot.”

“He gave me a letter,” said Shylock.

Gratiano swiped at his face, which was smeared with a dark brown streak. He sniffed his fingers. “It’s not shit. It’s sticky. Smells of pitch.”

Shylock broke the seal and did not notice that there was a menorah pressed into the wax. “I don’t have my spectacles,” said Shylock. “I can’t read this. What does it say?”

Salarino snatched the parchment away from Shylock and held it out to catch the last of the twilight. “It says, ‘Don’t be afraid. You are safe.’ ” He tossed the letter into the canal. “Well, that’s a load of monkey bollocks, because you are most definitely not safe. Grab him, Gratzi.”