“I don’t know if I can afford to buy anything today,” answered Muttie.
“Tell you what”, said Moishe, “How many ruples do you have?” Muttie put his hand in his pocket, the one that didn’t have a hole in it, and found the ruples that he had been paid for “shlepping” his last load of logs. “Sixteen ruples,” Muttie replied. Before he could put them back in his pocket, the one that didn’t have a hole in it, Moishe had snatched them out of his hand!
“Perfect”, Moishe said. “Congratulations, you’re now the proud owner of this perfect little grey horse.”
Muttie, now a bit confused, looked at his empty hand, glanced at the little grey horse and guess what happened? Yup, not only did he get a wink, the horse also gave him a big smile!
“You won’t regret this”, said Moishe, as he handed over the halter.
“What’s his name?” Muttie asked.
”Name? You want a name?” answered Moishe. “Here we just call them Ferde.” quickly walking away while counting the ruples. He couldn’t believe his good fortune. His very first sale. Ever. Chana his wife would be so proud of him. Not to mention that now he could go to the General Store and buy food for his family. What was he going to buy? Beets and cabbage of course. That’s all the General Store had! That’s all they ate.
Muttie led the little grey horse out of the field and over to where he had left the wood.
“What shall I call you?” Muttie said still looking a bit confused. “I know, I’ll call you Ferdele” (Which, we all know, is an affectionate Yiddish term for horse.)
As Ferdele and Muttie walked to the woodpile, Ferdele had a big smile on his face – a great big one. When they got there, Muttie loaded the wood onto his back and began to walk to the lumberyard with Ferdele by his side, smiling the whole way. After all, he was happy that Muttie hadn’t loaded the wood on his back.
“Ferdele, we have a problem,” said Muttie, as they passed the General Store. “I spent my last ruple to buy you, and now we have no money to buy supper.” Ferdele winked at Muttie, lowered his head (because, as you know, Muttie was short) and whispered in his ear. Yes, that’s right. Not only could Ferdele wink and smile, he could also speak!
“Tell the owner of the General Store,” Ferdele said softly in Yiddish, “we’ll deliver cabbage for him if he’ll give us a few – and a little bit of hay.” Muttie couldn’t believe his ears. Had Ferdele really spoken? Not important, thought Muttie. It was a good idea and they did have to eat, so inside he went to speak with Yossi the General Store owner. Yossi agreed. It was a good deal for everyone.
