Every Jew’s harp has a life. After so many playing hours, it breaks apart. And it always does so in the same way: the thong that makes the instrument hum breaks at its base. A short while before the break, one can feel it coming. The tone changes. It becomes duller and duller. And then the thong snaps. Ouch! This has been happening with one Jew’s harp of mine after another as of late. It just happened once again, and I am starting to panic. Where will I find a new batch of these instruments to last me another decade or so? Italy is close enough, and the primordial instrument is still popular over there, but who will get it for me? It is high time, too. The dwindling batch of Jew’s harps I have at hand goes back many a decade. Seventies? Eighties? If I could get a hundred new ones right now, they would surely last me till my last breath. Even though I have no idea how to solve this problem, its clarity fills me with hope of its eventual resolution. At least I know exactly what I want. But who could get me a hundred Jew’s harps in a jiffy?