He sits down on the bed, and makes a vow not to say a word to anyone till Sabbath is over—not half a word, lest it cause desecration of the Sabbath. She could never hold her tongue, and the children certainly not; they would at once want to count the treasure, to know how much there was, and very soon the secret would be out of the house and into the Shool, the house-of- study, and all the streets, and people would talk about his treasure, about luck, and people would not say their prayers, or wash their hands, or say grace, as they should, and he would have led his household and half the town into sin. No, not a whisper! And he stretches himself out on the bed, and pretends to be asleep.
And this was his reward: When, after concluding the Sabbath, he stooped down and lifted up the dressing- gown under the bed, there lay a sack with a million of gulden, an almost endless number-the bed was a large one—and he became one of the richest men in the place.
And he lived happily all the years of his life.
Only, his wife was continually bringing up against him: "Lord of the World, how could a man have such a heart of stone, as to sit a whole summer day and not say a word, not a word, not to his own wife, not one single word! And there was I" (she remembers) "crying over my prayer as I said God of Abraham—and crying so— for there wasn't a dreier left in the house."
Then he consoles her, and says with a smile: "Who knows? Perhaps it was all thanks to your 'God of Abraham' that it went off so well."
