They said to him, “Do you hear the roar of the beasts of the desert?  There is the zoo.”

He walked and walked until he arrived.  He asked to get in.  They said to him, “Ticket.”  He bought a ticket, they let him in.

He got in and ran to the lion cage.  He saw the lion roaring, he took out a piece of paper, and started to sketch.

The zoo director came to him and said, “Go! Yalla!”

He said to the director, “I want to make a statue of a lion on the grave of Trumpeldor.”

The director said to him, “Bala Trunkeldor, bala ishi” [Arabic: “Not Trunkeldor, not anyone.”  The pronunciation is deliberate; there is no “p” in Arabic].

“Yalla, yalla.”  He left.

Melnikov didn’t know what to do.  He went to the chief rabbi of Cairo and asked advice.  The rabbi said to him, “My son, go to the Minister of Trees, Fields, and Animals.”  Melnikov put on a suit, he took an arabiyeh [Arabic: cart] and went to the Minister of Agriculture.

Melnikov came and asked him, “How much?”

The minister said, “What you give, you give.”

Melnikov said, “I’ll make a drawing of you so they won’t forget you even after you die.”

The minister said, “Good!” and sent for the zoo director.  The director came and saw Melnikov with the minister and started to sweat.

Melnikov said, “He’s really OK.  But law is law.  You can’t go against the law.”