the rabbi wanted to give me up in place of the famous Avremel. For
they caught my oldest brother Simhah, may he rest in peace. And
Simhah was a privileged person; he was not only the Shohet of the
community and a great Lamdan, but also a married man, and the father
of four children to boot. Only then, it seems, my parents
understood what the rabbi had understood before: that it was not
fair to deliver up my brother when I, the ignorant fellow, the lover
of dogs, might take his place. A few days later mother came and
took us home. As to the rest, others had seen to it.--



Here the old man stopped for a while. He was puffing and snorting,
tired from the hard walk uphill. Having reached the summit, he
turned around, looked downhill, straightened up, and took a deep
breath. "This is an excellent way of getting rid of your tired
feeling," said he. "Turn around and look downhill: then your
strength will return to you."--







IV

We had left the coach far behind, and had to wait till it overtook
us. Meanwhile I looked downhill into the valley below: it was a
veritable sea of slush. The teams that followed ours sank into it,