Page 139 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

the crew that cuts wood, but it is all right. It is what he
knows how to do and he is strong. With him are Yitz-
chak the butcher and Gedaliah and Natan Borodnik
and their cousin Nemuel. Tzadik the cobbler is doing
what he has always done, making shoes and belts. They
have a cobbler's shop there. He is making a fine pair
of riding boots for the commandant. Size five."
"That is a woman's size!" Esther's mother said with
a laugh.
"Yes, and they have made up a little rhyme about
it. Listen, I will tell it to you:
Breuer wears a lady's shoe,
What a cock-a-doodle-do.

The women began to giggle; Hannah didn't under-
stand the humor.
Gitl held up her hand and the laughter stopped. "And
from Viosk, Naftali the gdldsmith is making rings on
order for all the SS men. He is a very sick man but they
like his work so much, they are leaving him alone."
"And where does he get the gold?" asked a woman
in a stained green dress.
"From the valises, idiot," someone else answered.
"From our fingers," Fayge said suddenly, the first
time she had spoken in days. She held up her hands so
that everyone could see that they were bare. "From
our ears."
"From our dead," Gitl whispered. Hannah wondered
whether anyone else heard her.
"What about the others?" Esther's mother asked.
"I do not remember anything more," Gitl said softly.

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