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Show Acting Alone Page 265 hear their mythology in the form of simple tales and parables from the older man's bearded mouth: A rabbinical student (Dr. A.'s future father) saves a young niece of the Rothschilds from drowning in an ice-skating pond. He realizes, as he dries himself off before frostbite can set in, that he has awakened a mighty and beneficent genie from its slumber. He shrewdly keeps his figurative foot wedged in the Rothschilds' metaphorical door long enough to consult with the people of the shtetl. He speaks with everybody, seeks the collective wisdom of all the Mendel/ Sholom Aleichem/Peretz characters: he sits at the feet of his beloved rabbi, who has gained much world-wisdom shtupping everybody's wife with almost Carte Blanche; he patiently deciphers the babbling of the hallowed village idiot, who in turn consults with wise ghosts and with Yahweh; the Yeshiva boys, driven insane by overexposure to Torah and Talmud, are flattered by Dr. Abraham's future father's attention; he subjects himself to the barrages of the yentas who secretly run every aspect of this particular shtetl's life, except for what goes on in the ritual bathhouse; and the men in the bathhouse bathe with him and tell him secrets. The people all agree that a girl's life is worth the most extravagant of rewards. With no thought for his own individual advancement, Abraham wants to know, What could be the best reward for the entire shtetl, price no consideration? Someone points out that the Cossacks have recently been given totally free rein by the mighty Czar and are planning a series of raids and pogroms soon, the likes of which no Jew has ever seen. Our shtetl |