A young unmarried חסיד named מאיר spent the ימים טובים by his Rebbe, the מעזריטשער מגיד . When it was time to leave and he went into the Rebbe for יחידות , he told the Rebbe about the difficulties he was having finding a wife. Because he was so poor, no one wanted to marry him.

" צאתכם לשלום ," said the Rebbe. "Accept the first שידוך that is suggested to you."

On his way home מאיר spent the night in a village inn, where he found a group of bored people wasting their time in drinking and talking about silly things. Being cold from his journey, he found a seat in a corner next to the stove. He tried not to let them notice him but the mischief-makers spotted him, and asked him where he was from and what he was doing. He gave them the name of his home town, and told them that he had just visited the מעזריטשער מגיד . "What did you want from the Rebbe, and what did he answer you?" they asked.

He told them: "I asked the Rebbe for a ברכה that ה ‘ should let me meet my באשערט , and he told me that I should agree to the first שידוך that is suggested to me."

At this, one of the men jumped up and exclaimed: "Excellent! I've got a great שידוך for you. My sister is a really nice girl , and she has a dowry of hundred silver rubles -- and she's here right now! If you're agreeable, we can shake hands on it." Now in fact this good-for-nothing wasn’t related at all to the young woman; she was the daughter of the wealthy innkeeper, who was not home at the time. מאיר answered: "Fine, I agree."

The prankster ran into the kitchen, explained the joke to her and asked her to join in, saying it would be excellent for the inn's business, because they would buy lots of mashke to celebrate. She innocently agreed, and when she came into the main room, there loud cheers and applause.

They had a great time toasting לחיים and offering מאיר their ברכות , all the while snickering behind his back. Then one of them came up with a better idea: "Why don't we arrange the חופה straight away? Then we can have a really great party!" But one of his friends thought of a problem: "None of us know how to write a כתובה or run the חופה ."

מאיר , overhearing them, promptly volunteered that he knew how to do both. This made them laugh even harder. They took a clean tablecloth and held it up with four broomsticks over the heads of the couple as a חופה . מאיר wrote out the כתובה ; and then he married the giggling young lady כדת משה וישראל .

In the morning he heard one of the servants saying: "Here comes the 'father of the כלה ' at the front door!" The young man walked towards the innkeeper, and said, "How do you do, שווער !" The innkeeper was a bit surprised: "Who is this? What is he talking about?" he asked.

His daughter, who had come out to say hello to him, explained: "This young man has been providing us with a little entertainment, and last night we had a engagement and a חופה , just for fun! You'll be pleased with how much extra food and mashke was sold."

Her father did not like the sound of what he heard, and asked a lot questions to find out exactly what had happened. When he heard her answers, he shouted furiously at מאיר : "Fool! What's the idea of marrying this young lady? Those idiots may not understand what a כתובה means and a חופה in front of witnesses, but if you are a חסיד and a ישיבה בחור , you should certainly know better. Didn't you realize that they were making fun of you?"

And, to make his point clearer, he slapped the poor young man across the face. Soon enough though, he realised that he had to do something. He changed the way he was speaking and asked מאיר politely to give his daughter a גט , and promised him twenty silver roubles. To his surprise, the obviously poor young man quickly refused. He offered more money, but מאיר still refused. "You might as well stop trying," said מאיר finally. "Let me tell you what is really going on. My Rebbe told me to agree to the first שידוך that was suggested to me, and that's what I did. This crowd may have treated the whole matter as a joke, but I took it seriously. I accepted the offer according to the Rebbe's instructions, and I certainly will not agree to give your daughter a גט unless the Rebbe tells me to. If you don't agree to the שידוך , let us go to the Rebbe together; let him decide."

The upset innkeeper realized he had no choice but to travel to Mezeritch. When they arrived, he complained to the מגיד : "I was away from home, and along came this poor בחור , who believed a bunch of jokers who told him my daughter was their sister, and he accepted their suggestion to marry her. Then they set up a חופה , and he married her in front of witnesses! I offered him some money to give her a גט , but he won't agree without asking you. I am now willing to offer him one hundred silver rubles, as long as he gives my daughter a divorce."

"I'll discuss the matter with the young man," said the Maggid.

When the innkeeper returned a few hours later, the Maggid told him: "I discussed the divorce with the young man, and he agrees - only that you give him a thousand silver rubles. But what about your daughter? Isn't it time that she got married? Allow me to suggest an excellent שידוך I have in mind for her. I personally know that this young man is a תלמוד חכם and ירא שמים , comes from a very special family, and is himself a very nice and kind man..."

"I shall gladly accept whomever you recommend, Rebbe," said the innkeeper, who had the greatest respect for the מגיד .

"There is only one thing wrong with the new חתן ," continued the מגיד . "He was very poor, and so he looked quite weak. But now that, too, has been fixed. You see, he has just gotten a thousand silver rubles, which he will bring into the marriage. This way you will lose nothing at all...".

"You see," concluded ר ‘ דובער , "there's no need for a גט and another marriage. I promise you: it is a match made in heaven. May you both journey home happily."

The innkeeper took the Rebbe's advice to heart, went home happily with his son-in-law, and the newly married couple lived their life together happily.