"Berdl the Goniff and the Great Baby Exchange"
by Martin A. David

At first, the happiness they felt in straightening out the tangled muddle was the only thing on their minds. After a while, thoughts drifted to questions of who might have been the perpetrators of such a scandalous practical joke. Could it have been a drunken Pole or a gang of young boys from the town? Were there demons lurking nearby whose earthly pleasure was causing great confusion among humans? By late afternoon there was only one name on everyone’s tongue. It was the right name, it was Berdl-the-Goniff. Nobody but Berdl could have played such a trick.

And where was our shtetl’s goniff? He had made the very wise decision to go out and explore the countryside. At the moment he was lying out of the hot sun on the cool, moist earth under a bridge many miles from Narodny and chortling so loudly that any passersby would have thought he was mad. Berdl had often wandered out to live among the trees and hills and this was the perfect time for such an excursion. He would be back again before the cold winds began to blow.

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