A Model For Joking and Well-Wishing
As
many flies and mosquitoes as are raised in summer
As
many pills as people take in the world
As
many pennies as go from hand to hand yearly
As
many percentages as the usurer takes in his lifetime
As
many hairs as are on a donkey and leaves on an oak
As
many ugly (i.e. harsh) tongues as there are in a quarrelsome old woman’s mouth
As
many crabs and snails as the ocean’s water covers
As
many fashions as change for people in a lunatic [asylum]
Finally,
as many fish as there are in the sea: That many, and no more years of life I
wish you, and that many thousands
My
Dear Girlfriend!
There
is not a word in the Luck[1]
dialect
With
which I, today, about your health
Would
be able, with a sigh, to beseech God
May
everything that is in the world
Bring
happiness, sweeten life
Everything
that gives rise to prosperity
May
God weave for you into one happiness.[2]
[1] Luck, Ukrainian spelling Lutsk, is a fairly good-sized
city in modern-day northwest Ukraine.
[2] Or “good fortune”
So many prayers were ascended to Heaven on behalf of Grammy Gera...no wonder she lived such a long life.
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