En route from Minsk to Pinsk, trickster Hershel hasn't enough money for a meal after spending his last kopek for a place to sleep, so he threatens the innkeeper: ``If you will give me nothing to eat, I shall have to do what my father did.'' Terrified, the woman goes to her neighbors, who contribute food. Once Hershel has eaten, her fear is allayed, but not her curiosity: ``You must tell me what is was your father did.'' ``Well, naturally, my father went to bed with an empty stomach!,'' replies the clever rogue. Greene's narration of this Jewish tale is lively and economical, fine for sharing aloud. O'Brien's pen drawings, which capture the humor and old-world flavor in lively crosshatched detail and softly glowing nighttime colors, are rendered broadly enough to use with a group. (Picture book. 4-10)
