yed as well: Resh wo-Osher
al-titten li, that is, "Give me neither _poverty_ nor riches." Aha!
poverty is no advantage, either, and what does the holy Gemoreh say but
"Poverty diverts a man from the way of God"? In fact, there is a second
misfortune in the world, and one he knows very well, one with which he
has a practical, working acquaintance, he and his wife and his children.

And Reb Nochum pursued his train of thought:

"So there are two contrary misfortunes in the world: this way it's bad,
and that way it's bitter! Is there really no remedy? Can no one suggest
any help?"

And Reb Nochumtzi began to pace the room up and down, lost in thought,
bending his whole mind to the subject. A whole flight of Bible texts
went through his head, a quantity of quotations from the Gemoreh,
hundreds of stories and anecdotes from the "Fountain of Jacob," the
Midrash, and other books, telling of rich and poor, fortunate and
unfortunate people, till his head went round with them all as he
thought. Suddenly he stood still in the middle of the room, and began
talking to himself:

"Aha! Perhaps I've discovered a plan after all! And a good plan, too,
upon my word it is! Once more: it is quite certain that there will
always be more poor than rich--lots more! Well, and it's quite certain
that every rich man would like to be rid of his misfortune, only that
there is no one willing to take it from him--no _one_, not any _one_, of
course not. Nobody would be so mad. But we have to find out a way by
which _lots and lots_ of people should rid him of his misfortune little
by little. What do you say to that? Once more: that means that we must
take his unfortunate riches and divide them among a quantity of poor!
That will be a good thing for both parties: he will be easily rid of his
great misfortune, and they would be helped, too, and the petition of
King Solomon would be established, when he said, 'Give me neither
poverty nor riches.' It would come true of them all, there would be no
riches and no poverty. Ha? What do you think of it? Isn't it really and
truly an excellent idea?"

Reb Nochumtzi was quite astonished himself at the plan he had invented,
cold perspiration ran down his face, his eyes shone brighter, a happy
smile played on his lips. "That's the thing to do!" he explained aloud,
sat down by the table, blew his nose, wiped his face, and felt very
glad.

"There is only one difficulty about it," occurred to him, when he had
qui