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a tune without looking at him; but if he says only three, his father is angry, and asks:
"How's that? Why so little, ha?"
And Lebele is silent, and feels guilty before his father.
After that his father makes him translate a Hebrew word.
"Translate Kimlunah !"
"Kimlunah means 'like a passing the night,' " answers Lebele, terrified.
His father is silent a sign that he is satisfied^ and they sit down to supper. Lebele's father keeps an eye on him the whole time, and instructs him how to eat.
"Is that how you hold your spoon?" inquires the father, and Lebele holds the spoon lower, and the food sticks in his throat.
After supper Lebele has to say grace aloud and in correct Hebrew, according to custom. If he mumbles a word, his father calls out:
"What did I hear? what? once more, 'Wherewith Thou dost feed and sustain us.' Well, come, say it! Don't be in a hurry, it won't burn you !"
And Lebele says it over again, although he is in a great hurry, although he longs to run out into the street, and the words do seem to burn him.
When it is dark, he repeats the Evening Prayer by lamplight; his father is always catching him making a mistake, and Lebele has to keep all his wits about him. The moon, round and shining, is already floating through the sky, and Lebele repeats the prayers, and looks at her, and longs after the street, and he gets confused in his praying.
