222 LERNER
star-like eyes. Her hair was the color of ripe corn in a word, she was fair as Abigail and our Mother Rachel in one, winning as Queen Esther, pious as Leah, and upright as our Grandmother Sarah.
But although the bride was beautiful, she found no fault with her bridegroom; on the contrary, she es- teemed it a great honor to have him for a husband. All the Kabtzonivke girls envied her, and every Kabtzonirke woman who was "expecting" desired with all her heart that she might have such a son as Ezrielk. The reason is quite plain: First, what true Jewish maiden looks for beauty in her bridegroom? Secondly, our Ezrielk was as full of excellencies as a pomegranate is of seeds.
His teachers had not broken his bones for nothing. The blows had been of great and lasting good to him. Even before his wedding, Seinwill Bassis's Ezrielk was deeply versed in the Law, and could solve the hardest "ques- tions," so that you might have made a Rabbi of him. He was, moreover, a great scribe. His "in-honor-ofs," and his "blessed bes" were known, not only in Kabtzonivke, but all over Kamenivke, and as for his singing !
When Ezrielk began to sing, poor people forgot their hunger, thirst, and need, the sick, their aches and pains, the Kabtzonivke Jews in general, their bitter exile.
He mostly sang unfamiliar tunes and whole "things."
"Where do you get them, Ezrielk?"
The little Ezrielk would open his eyes (he kept them shut while he sang), his two big blue eyes, and answer wonderingly :
"Don't you hear how everything sings ?"
