The Eleventh Commandment

Maria H. Krisztinkovich is a retired University of British Columbia
senior library assistant.

This enchanting book offers 22 anecdotes about one “holy man
Krause,” a devout Mennonite “whom surely the wasps wouldn’t have
the nerve to attack for he has a Bible in every pocket.” Thiessen and
Schroeder spin their stories with irresistible humor. Schroeder’s
English rendering of the original Low German is literary art and
elevates this book above ethnography. Instead of footnotes, an original
form of explication is woven gently into the tapestry of the prose. The
meandering stories tell about the pioneer Mennonites in Manitoba “when
there were still more watermelons than churches.” Vivid word-pictures
abound, as in the image of a drought “so severe that cows gave
butter-dumplings instead of milk.” Candid glimpses of this world make
Mennonites seem human and likable. Through these simple stories, genre
scenes develop, like so many Brueghel paintings: for example, the one of
the hapless Mrs. Preacher-Peter, whose pickled crabapples exterminate
her geese. Gleaming expressions animate the Prairie atmosphere and its
robust, peasant lifestyle. There is a Canadian ring to this prose,
despite the Mennonite cast of characters. The tone of loving frankness
is never offensive, even when stating home truths. A book cover
engraving by K. Gwen Frank is a further credit to this publication.