Behold him trembling with fright, the heartless
wretch! Serves him right.
If my body happened to bear some mark of his cruelty I would
conceal it carefully from my mother, lest she should quarrel with
him. Moreover, to betray school secrets was considered a great
"sin."
One night, as I was changing my shirt, anxiously manoeuvering to
keep a certain spot on my left arm out of her sight, she became
suspicious
"Hold on. What are you hiding there?" she said, stepping up and
inspecting my bare arm. She found an ugly blotch. "Woe is me! A
lamentation upon me!" she said, looking aghast. "Who has been
pinching you?"
"Nobody."
"It is that beast of a teacher, isn't it?"
"No."
"Don't lie, Davie. It is that assassin, the cholera take him! Tell me
the truth. Don't be afraid."
"A boy did it."
"What is his name?"
"I don't know. It was a boy in the street."
"You are a liar."
The next morning when I went to cheder she accompanied me
Arrived there, she stripped me half-naked and, pointing at the
discoloration on my arm, she said, with ominous composure:
"Look! Whose work is it?"
"Mine," Shmerl answered, without removing his long-stemmed
pipe from his wide mouth.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51