[Children of the Ghetto by I. Zangwill]@TWC D-Link bookChildren of the Ghetto CHAPTER II 11/49
Dutchmen were not behind the door when the Almighty gave out noses, and their deceitfulness is in proportion to their noses." The company murmured assent, and one gentleman, with a rather large organ, concealed it in a red cotton handkerchief, trumpeting uneasily. "The Holy One, blessed be He, has given them larger noses than us," said the _Maggid_, "because they have to talk through them so much." A guffaw greeted this sally.
The _Maggid's_ wit was relished even when not coming from the pulpit.
To the outsider this disparagement of the Dutch nose might have seemed a case of pot calling kettle black.
The _Maggid_ poured himself out a glass of rum, under cover of the laughter, and murmuring "Life to you." in Hebrew, gulped it down, and added, "They oughtn't to call it the Dutch tongue, but the Dutch nose." "Yes, I always wonder how they can understand one another," said Mrs. Belcovitch, "with their _chatuchayacatigewesepoopa_." She laughed heartily over her onomatopoetic addition to the Yiddish vocabulary, screwing up her nose to give it due effect.
She was a small sickly-looking woman, with black eyes, and shrivelled skin, and the wig without which no virtuous wife is complete.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|