"What else does it?" I asked, perplexed
"It's the fingers of the other hand, those that are jumping around."
"Is it?"
I did not understand, but I was deeply impressed all the same. The question bothered me all that evening. Finally I submitted it to my mother: "Mamma, Naphtali says when you play on a fiddle it is not the bow that makes the tune, but the fingers that are jumping around. Is it true?"
She told me not to bother her with foolish questions, but the retired soldier, who had overheard my query, volunteered to answer it.
"Of course it is not the bow," he said
"But if you did not work the bow the strings would not play, would they?" I urged.
"You could play a tune by pinching them," he answered. "But if you just kept passing the bow up and down there would be no tune at all."
I plied him with further questions and he answered them all, patiently and fondly, illustrating his explanations with a thread for a violin string, my mother looking from him to me beamingly
When we were through she questioned him: "Do you think he understands it all?" "He certainly does. He has a good head," he answered, with a wink. And she flushed with happiness