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Two Tunes for Three Hundred Rubles

In a small town once, there was a man who had a daughter for whom he wanted to make a match. When a young scholar was proposed to him, he offered three hundred rubles as dowry and three years of kest, room and board. The terms of the marriage contract were agreed to and the marriage took place.

After the wedding, the young husband lived with his wife at his in-laws’ home and continued his studies. When the three years were over, the wife said, “We can’t keep living in my parents’ house. Why don’t you go into some sort of business?”

“What sort of business?” asked the husband.

“My father has a horse and wagon,” said his wife. “He’ll let you have them and you can be a trader in the villages.”

The young man took the three hundred rubles, harnessed the wagon, and went off to buy and sell things in the villages. On the outskirts of town he saw a shepherd tending his sheep. The shepherd was singing a little melody:

The young husband listened to the tune and thought, “If I buy that melody, I’ll be able to sell it to the cantor in town for three times what I will have to pay for it.” So he got down from his wagon and said, “Shepherd, how much do you want for that melody?”

“A hundred and fifty rubles,” was the reply.

The scholar paid the money without hesitation. Then he got back into his wagon, took the reins in his hands, and called out, “Giddyap.”

And so he went on his way.

As he drove along, he met a cowherd who was pasturing oxen. The cowherd was piping a lovely melody on his flute:

The young husband reined in his horse and thought, “If I put the two melodies together, I’ll make three times whatever they cost me.” So he asked the cowherd, “How much do you want for that melody?” And the cowherd replied, “I want a hundred and fifty rubles.”

The young man slapped his hand against his forehead and cried, “Oh dear, I’ll spend all of my wife’s dowry and have to return empty-handed.”

Just the same, he paid over the money, took the melody, got back on his wagon, and drove off, crying “Giddyap.”

When he got home it was almost dawn. As he drove along, he remembered that a man named Berish the Tailor lived nearby. “Hmm,” he thought. “I know what I’ll do. I’ll go to Berish the Tailor and get him to stitch the two melodies together. Then I’ll sell them to the town cantor for twice as much money.”

He went to the tailor’s window and knocked. “Reb Berish,” he called, “Open up.”

The tailor cried, “Who’s that knocking at my window?”

“It’s me, Moyshe,” he said.

“What do you want?” asked the tailor.

“I want you to do some stitching for me.” And he sang:

“Is that it?” asked the tailor.

“No,” he said, “I have more.”

“What else?”

And so he sang:

Reb Berish unwound his measuring tape and heated his pressing iron. Then he cut and stitched and ironed the two melodies. The young man paid him a few groshn, got back on his wagon, and drove home.

When he came to the house, he knocked at the door and called, “Get up, Sorele. It’s me, your husband, I’m back.”

So she got up and came running to the wagon to see what sort of merchandise he had bought. Finding the wagon empty, she asked “Where is the merchandise?”

“I have it,” he said.

“Where is it?” she asked.

And so he sang:

“That’s what you bought?” she cried.

“No,” he said. “There’s more.”

And so he sang:

Hearing that, she ran wailing to her father. “I’ve got to divorce that husband you gave me,” she cried. “He took the three hundred rubles of my dowry and gave them away for a couple of melodies.”

Her father ran to the rabbi, who sent for the young man and his wife. The rabbi asked the young man, “What did you do with the money?”

“Dear Rabbi, I made a purchase.”

“What did you buy?”

And so he sang:

The rabbi said, “That’s all you bought?”

“No,” said the young man, “there’s more.”

“What else?”

And so he sang:

And so the rabbi gave her the divorce.

* * *

GlossaryReb: The traditional title prefixed to a man’s name; comparable to “Mister” in English.

* * *

AnnotationsTELLER: Mikhoel Filrayz, Warsaw, Poland, (no date recorded)
COLLECTOR: Shmuel Lehman.
SOURCE: Prilutski and Lehman (1933), no. pp. 355–60.

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