The Hasidic Anthology: Tales and Teachings of the Hasidim

Title

en_US The Hasidic Anthology: Tales and Teachings of the Hasidim

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US Louis I. Newman in Collaboration with Samuel Spitz

Creator

en_US Newman, Louis I See all items with this value

Date

2016-01-25T19:29:06Z

en_US 2002-12

en_US 1934

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:29:06Z

Date Issued

en_US 1934

Abstract

en_US This huge book with a broken spine is a venerable old anthology of stories and sayings, including eight acknowledged fables. The helpful indices stretch from 551 to 720. In #37.7 we find an adaptation of Aesop's Two Travelers and the Bear story. This version has just one hunter, who drinks up the price of the bear's skin beforehand and misses shooting the bear because he is drunk. And #66.1 is a version of the Aesopic story of the lion and the man. Here two cubs find a picture of Samson breaking a lion in two. They ask their father about this creature stronger than ourselves. He answers--for me, in surprising fashion--by saying that the picture should assure them that the race of lions is the strongest of creatures, for when once a stronger creature appears, it is pictured as a miracle. Exceptions prove the rule. I gather that the logic here is this: you picture the unusual. Reverse the picture's power relationship, and you will see what normally happens. In #79.1 we have a version of the Aesopic tale about the mouse and her son. In this version, the son goes out twice and is frightened, by a rooster and a turkey respectively. Each time the parent reassures him that this is not the enemy. Without naming a cat, the mother goes on to describe the cat as the mouse's enemy. This description sets up an easy transfer, I believe, to humans: Our enemy keeps his head down like an exceedingly humble person; he is smooth and soft-spoken, friendly in appearance and acting as if he were a very kind creature. In #86.1 we find a traditional fable changed slightly for the specific purpose of defending a man who borrowed from the church repair fund to give it to dowries for dowerless brides. The fable describes the court's quest in a time of epidemic to find the offender. After beasts of prey confess and are absolved, a sheep (not a donkey) confesses to eating a little hay from her owner's mattress. She is condemned to death. The fable at #115.11 is new to me. A hen sits on goose eggs, and the chicks believe themselves young hens. Once they wander to a pool and enter it immediately. The hen shouts in warning, but the goslings answer We are in our element. Also new to me is #137.4. A lioness tells her cub that he need fear no living being except the man. The cub sees an old man and asks about him, only to hear He was a man. The cub sees a child and asks, but hears He will be a man. Then a hunter appears, and mother says This is the dangerous being and runs with the cub to her den. The story at #142.4 has the lion compelled to forego food so long that he breath is no longer sweet. He inquires about his breath of the ass and the wolf. The former is truthful and the latter flattering; the lion devours both. The fox answers that he has a catarrh and cannot smell. Finally #202.6 is another new story: the lion becomes enraged at his subjects. They ask the fox to placate the King by telling him an appropriate fable. The fox replies that fear has caused him to forget his fables. Hence the beasts had to wait on the lion themselves.

Identifier

en_US 5143 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/80725

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Charles Scribner's Sons

en_US New York, NY

Subject

en_US BM198 .N48 1934 See all items with this value

en_US Collection See all items with this value

Type

en_US Book, Whole