The Centaur in the Garden

I read the passage from the Bible without a mistake, my voice firm, the fringe of the talit falling over my haunches and hindquarters, one front hoof pawing the ground — as it always did when I was nervous.

“Now,” said my father when I had finished, “you are truly a Jew.”

– from The Centaur in the Garden by Moacyr Scliar. (1980) Translated by Margaret A. Neves. The University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. p. 47. Available from the National Yiddish Book Center.