Duck’s Feet

Even when he was only five years old, R' Heschel of Cracow was very bright.

One afternoon, little Heschel saw his mother roasting a succulent duck in the kitchen.  His mouth was watering.  He looked at her with pleading eyes.  "That smells so delicious, and I am so very hungry.  Can I please taste a little piece?"

But his mother replied, "You will have to wait for supper, just like everyone else."

Heschel kept staring at the duck.  When his mother wasn't looking, he stuck his hand into the pot and grabbed a leg.  Then he quickly ran out of the kitchen and ate it up.

That evening, the whole family sat down together to eat dinner.  When the mother brought out the roast duck, everyone noticed that one leg was missing.  "What happened to the leg?"  Heschel's father asked.  Knowing his son, he already suspected where the leg had gone.

"Maybe this duck had only one leg," Heschel suggested.  "It could be, you know."

His father and mother decided not to say anything.  The next morning father and son went for a walk in the forest.  They came upon a beautiful lake and watched the swans and ducks swimming.  Heschel saw a duck standing on the shore, on one leg.  "Look, Abba.  That duck has only one leg-just like the one we had for supper last night.  You see, it is possible for a duck to have only one leg.

The father took Heschel by the arm, and they approached the lake.  Suddenly, the father clapped his hands, startling the duck.  It put down its other leg and ran away-of course, on both legs.

"You see, every duck has two legs."  Heschel's father pointed out.

Without missing a beat, Heschel replied, "Well if you had clapped your hands last night, maybe that duck also would have shown us its other leg."

 

 

 

 from: More Jewish Bedtime Stories by Shmuel Blitz