A Fallen Tevye
DISCLAIMER….this monologue is not to be published, copyrighted, or sold as It is simply a fan fiction. The writer's of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF own all copyrights.
"Hello, again, my friend. You didn't expect to find me in Oregon?" Tevye
lifted his hand, "When a fiddler takes one wrong step he falls, and when a
man pulls one too many times on that ball of string, he falls." The man
invited his old friend to sit in a chair under the front yard's weeping willow.
"The string first got pulled when I invited a stranger into my home to teach
my girls. I thought when I'd refused to acknowledge Chava was alive when
first told of her marriage I'd got my footing sure. But my soft words of
blessings as she left with the stranger allowed my eldest to holler she'd
write to her.' Leaning back the gray haired man sighed, "Golde died on the
trip over to America. My Golde, sharp tongue woman that she was had a
heart of gold. She was good and proper wife. My girls, the youngest two,
stayed with me in New York, and Motel and Tzietel, lived nearby. Then a
string appeared back in front of me. One I should have not reached out to
touch." A moment passed before he sang softly.
'If I were a rich man…. Lord who made the Lion and the lamb, would it
spoil some vast eternal plan, If I were a wealthy man?" another sigh escaped
his mouth. "I should not have wished that, or at least I should not have
hollered that last question." His eyes filled with moisture. "Why not?"
Taking a deep breath he went on. "Land, I was offered more land than I ever
thought possible, I'd have that big house, huge barn, and plenty of animals. Motel urged me to stay back east, but I just had to grab that string. He
reluctantly came with me, my daughter, and their children. My two
youngest begged to stay in New York with relatives, and I let them.
I loved the land shown to me, and my second daughter seemed okay
with it though Motel was a different story. Said the land was beautiful
but….we had no Jewish community around us. We were talking about going
back when a woman we'd never seen shown up with Hodel's children. She
told us my second to oldest had died in Siberia, and Perchik too. She also
brought things to Tzietel from Chava, who had wound up leaving the old
world with Fyedka, and coming to America. She'd died in Montana."
The sun began to set and Tevye once again lifted his hand, "You have to
leave, so, let me cut the rest of the story short. I found out first hand just
how tight that string can pull itself around a body. I fell in love with
Monique. A gentile." A half-hearted smile came to his mouth, "You are
shocked? I was too. The thing I'd condemned the hardest I'd fallen prey to. I
found myself unable, or unwilling, to make a break. The one saving grace
with my family was the odds against her having a child. But still, I now pay
the price for wanting wealth above family.
I have my land, big house, animals and barn. I have a woman who loves
me, cooks my food kosher, she makes sure I have time to read the Torah,
and not once has she refused to save up money to take me up to the worship
with fellow Jews up north twice a year, but she's very clear, and firm, on not
converting.
To top things off Motel, Tzietel and the children all moved back to New
York. My whole; other than my second wife of course, is back east. And
while they still communicate with me via letters, or phone calls, they do not
come out to visit. My house is now divided." Letting tears fall slowly he
whispered, "On the one hand I do dearly love Monique, and want to see her
happy, but on the other…" The man's shoulders sagged, "Be
wiser than I my friend, do not lose your step on that roof, and do not touch
that string." With that Tevye watched his friend leave with the look of
someone having taking away a shiny pearl, one not to be carelessly given
away.
