Page:Etta Block - One-act plays from the Yiddish (1923).pdf/69

 Well, of course, well! He isn’t sick. He is only cutting teeth. I have a wolf-tooth in my sack. We’ll tie it round his little neck. And you—big, big girl—think you’re the mamma already, and so you cry!&emsp;(She peers under the pillow at the bread.)&emsp;Aha! It stirs! Let’s see what’s doing in the oven. Nu—not enough wood. Go and bring in a few pieces of wood.&emsp;(Fraidele goes out. The old woman opens her sack and searches in it.)&emsp;Troubles everywhere! In the town little children die! In the villages the mammas die! Troubles everywhere—wherever you go!…Such a foolish little child to cry into the bread.

&emsp;(returns with an armful of wood) Will four more pieces of wood be enough?

Throw it into the oven. If it gets too hot we can cool it off a bit. No need to stint on the wood.&emsp;(Fraidele tends the fire.)&emsp;In already? Then, come here. Here’s a wolf-tooth on a string. Go in and put it round his neck. Here.

Is it really from a wolf, the little tooth?

From a she-wolf, the front tooth. Go in and put it on him.

I’ll go right now.&ensp;(She goes into the other room.)

&ensp;(searching in the sack) Measles are going round and pox is going round.