“Nay,” replied Bear, sullenly.  “Wherefore should I give thee my right hand?”

“Because,” said the Rabbi, and his tones trembled, and it seemed to him that the dead man’s face grew sterner.  “Because I wish thee to swear across the body of Chayah’s father that thou wilt marry her.”

“Nay, that I will not,” said Bear.

“Will not?” repeated the Rabbi, his lips growing white with pity.

“Nay, I will not take any oaths,” said Bear, hotly.  “I love the maiden, and I will keep what I have promised.  But, by my father’s soul, I will take no oaths!”

“Bear,” said the Rabbi in a choking voice, “give me thy hand.  Nay, not to swear by, but to grip.  Long shalt thou live, and the Most High shall prepare thy seat in Gan Iden.”

So the old man and the young clasped hands across the corpse, and the simple old Rabbi perceived a smile flickering over the face of Chayah’s father.  Perhaps it was only a sudden glint of sunshine.

The wedding-day drew nigh, but lo!  Chayah was again dissolved in tears.

“What ails thee?” said her brother Naphtali.

“I cannot follow the custom of the maidens,” wept Chayah.  “Thou knowest we are blood-poor, and I have not the wherewithal to buy my Bear a Talith for his wedding-day; nay, not even to make him a Talith-bag.  And when our father (the memory of the righteous for a blessing) was alive, I had dreamed of making my chosan a beautiful velvet satchel lined with silk, and I would have embroidered his initials thereon in gold, and sewn him beautiful white corpse-clothes.  Perchance he will rely upon me for his wedding Talith, and we shall be shamed in the sight of the congregation.”

“Nay, dry thine eyes, my sister,” said Naphtali.  “Thou knowest that my Leah presented me with a costly Talith when I led her under the canopy.  Wherefore, do thou take my praying-shawl and lend it to Bear for the wedding-day, so that decency may be preserved in the sight of the congregation.  The young man has a great heart, and he will understand.”

So Chayah, blushing prettily, lent Bear Naphtali’s delicate Talith, and Beauty and the Beast made a rare couple under the wedding canopy.  Chayah wore the gold medallion and the three rows of pearls which her lover had sent her the day before.  And when the Rabbi had finished blessing husband and wife, Naphtali spake the bridegroom privily, and said: 

“Pass me my Talith back.”

But Bear answered:  “Nay, nay; the Talith is in my keeping, and there it shall remain.”

“But it is my Talith,” protested Naphtali in an angry whisper.  “I only lent it to Chayah to lend it thee.”

“It concerns me not.”  Bear returned in a decisive whisper.  “The Talith is my due and I shall keep it.  What!  Have I not lost enough by marrying thy sister?  Did not thy father, peace be upon him, promise me two hundred gulden with her?”