d. What the Lord destines, he buys--some old
iron, a bundle of rags, an old sack, or else a hide. The hide is
stretched and dried, and is taken to the town, to Abraham-Elijah the
tanner. And on all these one either earns or loses money.

Abraham-Elijah the tanner, a man with a bluish nose and fingers as black
as ink, laughs at Nachman, because he is so coarsened through living
with Gentiles that he even speaks like them.

* * *

Yes, coarsened. Nachman feels it himself. He grows coarser each year.
Oh, if his grandfather Reb Arya--peace be unto him!--could see his
grandson. He had been a practical man, but had also been a scholar. He
knew whole passages of the Psalms and the prayers off by heart. The Jews
of those times! And what does he, Nachman, know? He can only just say
his prayers. It's well he knows that much. His children will know even
less. When he looks at his children, how they grow to the ceiling, broad
and tall like himself, and can neither read nor write, his heart grows
heavy. More than all, his heart aches for his youngest child, who is
called Feitel, after his father. He was a clever child, this Feitel. He
was smaller in build, more refined, more Jewish than the others. And he
had brains. He was shown the Hebrew alphabet once, in a prayer-book, and
he never again confused one letter with the other. Such a fine child to
grow up in a village amongst calves and pigs! He plays with Kuratchka's
son, Fedoka. He rides on the one stick with him. They both chase the one
cat. They both dig the same hole. They do together everything children
can do. Nachman is sorry to see his child playing with the Gentile
child. It withers him, as if he were a tree that had been stricken by
lightning.

* * *

Fedoka is a smart little boy. He has a pleasant face and a dimpled chin,
and flaxen hair. He loves Feitel, and Feitel does not dislike him. All
the winter each child slept on his father's stove. They went to the
window and longed for one another. They seldom met. But now the long
angry winter is over. The black earth throws off her cold white mantle.
The sun shines; and the wind blows. A little blade of grass peeps out.
At the foot of the hill the little river murmurs. The calf inhales the
soft air through distended nostrils. The cock closes one eye, and is
lost in meditation. Everything around and about has come to life again.
Everything rejoices. It is the Passover eve. Neither Feitel nor Fedoka
can be kept indoors.