Quote 8 of 13

From The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten

The famous Duvner _maggid_, a _gaon_, was asked by an admiring
student: “How is it that you always have the perfect parable for
the topic under discussion?”

The _gaon_ smiled.  “I'll answer with a parable.” And he
told the following story:

A lieutenant of the Tsar's cavalry, riding through a small _shtetl_,
drew his horse up in astonishment, for on the side of a barn he saw a
hundred chalked circles---and in the center of each was a bullet hole!
The lieutenant excitedly stopped the first passerby, crying,
“Who is the astonishing marksman in this place?  Look at all
those bull's-eyes!”

The passerby sighed.  “That's Shepsel, the shoemaker's son, who
is a little peculiar.”

“I don't care what he is,” said the lieutenant.
“Any man who can shoot that well---”

“Ah,” the pedestrian said, “you don't understand.
You see, first Shepsel shoots---_then_ he draws the circle.”

The _gaon_ smiled.  “That's the way it is with me.  I don't
search for a parable to fit the subject.  I introduce the subject for
which I have a perfect parable.”
		-- _The Joys of Yiddish_, p. 126

Tags: circles pedestrian cavalry lieutenant tsar shoemaker astonishment parable marksman bullethole passerby shtetl idontcare gaon joysofyiddish