Stone Men

by Nicki Weiss

Grandma tells Arnie how a poor peddler saved a village from being destroyed by soldiers with the help of the stone men he always made on his journeys.

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stone Men by Nicki Weiss – Hindi language translation by Arvind Gupta- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of Russia under the Rule of the Czar. Russian Christians and Russian Jews were not treated at par. Jew villages were attacked, burnt and destroyed by Russian soldiers. The book begins when a small child Arnie requests his grandmother to tell him a new story tonight. His granny narrates the story of Isaac the peddler, who lived in the old country. He carried lace, cloth, utensils, nails, buttons, shoes, underwear, screw, candle, etc. with him on his trolley. Initially Isaac had a donkey on which he carried his home need items for villagers to purchase. Isaac was popular because the delivered items to buyers without haggling for its price. Whatever amount the purchase paid for his goods was satisfactory price for him. When his donkey died, he placed his goods on a handheld trolley and traveled long and lonely distances between villages. At the beginning of the village, Isaac made men out of stone to keep him company. Isaac left an old cap or old glove at the flag post on the stone man. Isaac would talk to these stone men about himself. In the village, he would meet Auto, Max or Leena but he would never talk to them. He would deliver the goods of their choice, collect the payment and move on to the next village. During his journey, Isaac reached Bruria village when the Passover Festival was near. Estor the Pastor’s wife purchased a large pot, Abe purchased black thread. They talked about attack by Czar soldiers on Jew community in Mordake village. Isaac made a stone man and moved to another village. By evening, he was about to take out his foldable bedroll, he found that soldiers sitting in front of a campfire and are talking in the shade of trees. Isaac understood in a moment that this is a sign of danger for Jew residents of Bruria village. For the whole night, Isaac constructed stone men on a hillock at the border of Bruria village. When the Czar soldiers arrived early morning, they found genuine soldiers are blocking their way and are ready to respond to their attack. The Czar soldiers did not expect that Jews townspeople could get soldiers to protect them. The Czar horse mounted soldiers viewed them and withdrew to their barracks. Thus, Isaac was able to save the townspeople of Bruria. In the morning, the people of Bruria woke up and saw the receding soldiers. They were happy. They provided respect to Isaac. Coloured illustrations help the reader in relating to the story. I have read the Hindi language translation of this book.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isaac the peddler made stone men to keep him from being lonely. That's how he saved a village.