Copyright © 1988 by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Schocken Books Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1988.
All photographs are from the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yiddish folktales.
Bibliography: p.
1. Jews—Europe, Eastern—Folklore. 2. Folk literature, Yiddish—Translations into English. 3. Folk literature, English—Translations from Yiddish. 4. Folk literature, Yiddish—Europe, Eastern. I. Weinreich, Beatrice. II. Wolf, Leonard.
GR98.Y52 1988 398.2’089924047 88-42594
eISBN: 978-0-307-82826-2
v3.1
For
Nienke and Alex
Kate and Max
Stephanie, Don, and Barbara
Acknowledgments
It is with a wish to honor the memory of the tellers and collectors of the stories and with a sense of privilege that I share these folktales, which managed miraculously to survive the destruction of the community in which they were told.
It is also with a wish to honor the memory of my mentors, Uriel and Max Weinreich, who I felt were constantly looking over my shoulder these past years.
Many colleagues, friends, and family members have helped me along the way. First and foremost, I feel extremely fortunate in having Leonard Wolf as translator-collaborator on this volume. It has been a pleasure to work with him. Many times he would call simply to share his enjoyment and excitement in a group of tales I had sent along for translation. Many times I would call only to express how delighted I was with his marvelous translations.
I am deeply grateful to Samuel Norich, director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, for freeing me from other duties so that I could concentrate on this project, and for his continued support during difficult moments. For their constant and warm words of encouragement and their good advice, I owe a debt of gratitude to my folklorist colleagues Dov Noy, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, and Eleanor Gordon Mlotek.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Sara Bershtel of Pantheon Books for initiating this project and for involving YIVO in it. She and her assistant, Julia Bogardus, together with copyeditors Mary Barnett and Ed Cohen efficiently smoothed out rough edges in the manuscript. And special praise for the fine illustrations goes to the art department at Pantheon.
The library, archival and research staff at YIVO generously gave their assistance whenever called upon. I thank them one and all. My YIVO colleagues David Rogow, Lucjan Dobroszycki, and Zachary Baker earn special mention for helping me put order in the Polish and Russian spellings of place names. I am also grateful to Sheyndl Fogelman for the skill with which she handled the typing of the Yiddish manuscript, to Shari Davis and Lorin Sklamberg for their technical assistance, and most particularly to Jeff Shandler, who in the last weeks, when time pressures threatened ominously, came to the rescue with research and editorial assistance, always cheerfully given.
And what would I have done without the readiness of good friends like Ulrike Abelson, Rosaline Schwartz, and Kate Resek, who lent a friendly ear whenever I needed to test an idea. Sydney Weinberg, Marcia Vevier, Sylvia McKean, and Eleanor Gordon Mlotek, in addition, were there whenever I asked them to cast a critical eye over a rough draft, and I am particularly grateful to them for this.
I also wish to thank Don, Stephanie, and Barbara Weinreich for their encouragement, patience, and good advice during various steps along the way. Don gets special thanks for all the time he spent teaching me how to use his computer, and for getting two otherwise incompatible computers—Don’s and Leonard Wolf’s—to “talk” to each other.
And finally, this book would not have been possible without a generous grant to the YIVO Institute from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Beatrice Silverman Weinreich
A Note on the Illustrations
Many of the illustrations in this book were taken from examples of papirn-shnit (paper-cutting), a traditional Jewish folk art that was popular in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Poland and Russia. Various Jewish customs and holidays were associated with these paper-cuts. The mizrakh, the most impressive and intricate form, was hung on the eastern wall of homes and synagogues to indicate the direction of Jerusalem. Menorahs and lions occur frequently as conventional symbols for the Jewish people. Architectural elements, such as columns and the façades of buildings, sometimes appear as idealized representations of Jerusalem and its ancient Temple. Shvueslekh (“little Shavuoths”) and reyzelekh (rosettes) comprise another type of paper-cut, either rectangular or circular, used to decorate windows in the home on Shavuoth and in the booths erected for the celebration of Succoth. Other illustrations, such as the gravestone rubbings made by Monika Krajewska in Poland or the lithographs by Yudovin and Malkin, depict similar folk motifs as found in the stonecutter’s art. Some of the symbols that appear on East European Jewish tombstones tell us about the people whose lives they commemorate. A learned man is represented by holy books; two hands spread in the form of the priestly blessing indicate that the deceased was a Kohen, a descendant of the Kohanim (the priests of biblical Israel); a hand pouring liquid from a pitcher is a symbol for a Levite, whose ancestors were members of the tribe of Levi, who assisted the Kohanim in sacrificial ritual. A broken branch or broken candles tell us that the person buried beneath the stone died at a young age.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Illustrations
Introduction
PART ONE
Naked Truth and Resplendent Parables: Allegorical Tales
1. Naked Truth and Resplendent Parable
2. A Bit of Herring, a Pinch of Salt, and a Morsel of Bread
3. Things Can Always Get Worse
4. The Luck That Snored
5. The Fever and the Flea
6. Why Dogs Chase Cats and Cats Chase Mice
7. Wisdom or Luck?
8. Pleasing All the World
9. Poverty Grows and Grows
10. The Sacrifice of Isaac and the Caretaker of Brisk
11. The Treasure at Home
12. A Fable of a Bird and Her Chicks
13. Letting In the Light
14. Bad Luck
PART TWO
A Rooster and a Hen, Let the Story Begin: Children’s Tales
15. The Pain in the Neck: A Nonsense Tale
16. The Six-Pointed Homentash: A Purim Tale
17. A Tale of Two Brothers
18. Stones and Bones Rattle in My Belly
19. Sóre-Kháne at the Tip of the Church Tower
20. Little Bean
21. A Topsy-Turvy Tale
22. Clever Khashinke and Foolish Bashinke
23. The Granny Bear
24. Moyshele and Sheyndele
25. Next Time That’s What I’ll Say
26. The Naughty Little Girl
PART THREE
Magic Rings, Feathers of Gold, Mountains of Glass: Wonder Tales
27. Hang the Moon on My Palace Roof
28. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
29. The Beggar King and the Melamed
30. Of Nettles and Roses
31. The Demon and Sosye
32. How Much Do You Love Me?
33. The Master Thief
34. T
he Orphan Boys
35. Two Brothers Who Went to the Devil
36. The Snake Bridegroom
37. The Princess and Vanke, the Shoemaker’s Son
38. The Foolish Youth and Elijah the Prophet
39. The King’s Lost Daughter
40. The Magic Fish and the Wishing Ring
41. The Hunchbacks and the Dancing Demons
42. The Princess of the Third Pumpkin
43. The Orphan Boy Who Won the Bride
44. Forty Hares and a Princess
45. The Merchant’s Son and the Demons
46. The Ram, the Basket, and the Stick
47. The Golden Feather
PART FOUR
Justice, Faith, and Everyday Morals: Pious Tales
48. The Tale of a Stingy Woman
49. The Wheat Poured In at the Door
50. In Heaven and Hell
51. The Miracle of the Tree
52. The Poor Man’s Ruble
53. Blood and Water
54. A Letter to God
55. The Seven Good Years
56. Set a Trap for Another
57. A Succos Tale
58. Only Eleven Little Fish
59. A Passover Tale
60. A Shocking Tale of a Viceroy
61. The Leper Boy and Elijah the Prophet
62. The Trustees
63. A Tragic Tale
64. Upon Me
65. The Ballad of the Faithful Wife
66. The Iron Chest
67. Water Wouldn’t Hurt
68. The Unlearned Villager
69. Holding On to One-Quarter of My World
70. The Poor Rabbi and His Three Daughters
PART FIVE
Nitwits, With, and Pranksters: Humorous Tales
71. The Clever Girl: A Riddle Tale
72. Then Where’s the Cat?
73. The Best for My Wife
74. The Coat of Patches
75. The Bishop and Moshke: Another Riddle Tale
76. Good Manners and Foolish Khushim
77. Khushim and His Bride
78. The Tale of a Leaf from the Tree of Knowledge
79. Reb Hershele and the Goose Leg
80. Hershele Ostropolyer and the Sabbath Caftan
81. Why Khelmites Are Fools
82. The Angel Spills the Jar of Fools
83. A Shoyfer in Khelm
84. The Hill Pushed Away
85. How Khelmites Lighted Up the Night
86. The Melamed’s Trunk
87. The Rolling Stone
88. A Cat in Khelm
89. Khelmites Who Refused to Tread on Snow
90. The Sundial
91. A Khelm Compromise
92. A Bridge in Khelm
93. Sowing Salt
94. Two Cows for a Melody
95. Froyim Greydinger, the Magic Stick, and the Pot of Soup
96. What Makes Tea Sweet: An Exercise in Logic
97. The Visitor from the World Beyond
98. The Ten Women
99. The Congregation Loves Jam
100. Motke Khabad Needs a Place to Live
101. Why the Head Turns Gray before the Beard
102. The Love Potion
103. Skotsl Kumt: Skotsl’s Here
104. The Clever Little Tailor
105. Two Tunes for Three Hundred Rubles
106. Some True Miracles of God
PART SIX
Sages, Tsadikim, and Villains: Legends
107. Sabbath in Paradise
108. The Baal Shem Tov and the Herdsman
109. Yisroel, the Child Rebbe
110. The Disciple Who Went Astray
111. The Rebbe’s Melody
112. Don’t Go into the Mud in the First Place
113. The Missed Moment of Redemption
114. The Mekarev Rebbe Gets Even with a Stingy Woman
115. The Happy Pair and the Baal Shem Tov
116. The Fleet-Footed Tomeshef Rebbe
117. The Right Order Is Important
118. Reb Khaim Urbakh Rocks a Cradle on Yom Kippur
119. Rain and the Rebbe of Stolin
120. The Miracle of the Dry Well
121. The Reincarnation of Queen Esther
122. The Penitent and the Rebbe of Tshekhenove
123. The Boy Who Put Two Socks on One Foot
124. The Power of the Mourner’s Prayer
125. The Curious Disciple
126. A Common Piece of Earth
127. Reb Malkiel and the 702 Candles
128. A Modern Miracle
129. How Judah Halevi Entered Heaven Alive
130. Rabbi Joshua and the Emperor of Rome
131. A Wonderful Legend of a Cave
132. Waiting for the Messiah
133. The Torah of My Servant Moses
134. Rabbi Jonathan and the Minister: A Disputation
135. He Has Only One Weakness
136. The Rabbi Shows Respect for His Shoemaker
137. Evening the Score
138. Reb Leybele of Mir Goes to the Marketplace
139. Napoleon the First and the Jewish Officer
140. Napoleon in Vilna
141. Nafol tipol: Napoleon, You Will Fall
142. The Cantonist’s Mother and Nicholas the First
143. Czar Nicholas Decrees the Burning of the Talmud
144. Emperor Franz Josef and the Innkeeper’s Infant
145. The Poor Man and Rothschild
146. Rothschild’s Shoes
147. Rothschild’s End
PART SEVEN
Elves and Dibbuks, Ghosts and Golems: Supernatural Tales
148. The Shoemaker and the Shretelekh
149. The Synagogue, the Church, and the Town Hall
150. The Transmigrating Soul
151. Who’s Milking the Cows?
152. The Passover Elf Helps Great-Grandmother
153. The Old Shul in Motele
154. The Blacksmith and the Horses with Human Hands
155. The Mysterious Gold Chain
156. The Unquiet Grave
157. The Large Stone Synagogue of Berditshev
158. The Golem of Vilna
159. The Baal Shem Tov and the Gilgl
160. The Shretele That Took a Little Nip
161. The Lost Hat and the Pile of Gold
162. The Miracle of the Beer Keg
163. How Doves Saved a Synagogue from Fire
164. The Calf That Turned to Gold
165. A Cave That Leads to the Land of Israel
166. Late-Night Spooks
167. The Demon Sheep
168. The Dibbuk Melody of Tolne
169. The Missing Bridegroom
170. Two Hrubeshoyv Legends
171. Why the Rebbe’s Pipe Must Be Kept Lighted
172. Luckily, the Rooster Crowed Late
173. Neither Eat nor Drink What a Demon Offers
174. A Balshem Drives Out a Dibbuk
175. Lantekh, the Bridge Hobgoblin
176. The Demon and the Willow Twigs
177. The Sleepy Tailor and the Zmore
178. The Last Dibbuk
Glossary
Annotations to the Tales
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author
Introduction
Some of them began in the age-old, reassuring way, Amol iz geven, “Once upon a time.” Others began, S’iz an emese mayse, “This is a true story.” And they were told on all sorts of occasions. Comic and sentimental tales were told at weddings by the entertainers known as badkhonim. In the synagogue, grandfathers told stories about the Patriarchs and Elijah the Prophet to their grandsons during the intervals between early and late-evening prayers. Mothers and grandmothers told tales of wonder and magic around the stove in winter. Kheyder-students told scary ghost and demon tales when their teacher left for evening prayers. Teachers told stories of God’s wonders; preachers and rabbis told homely parables to illuminate the great truth
s, and the disciples of Hasidic rebbes told tales about their leaders that showed how wise and holy they were. Seamstresses and tailors, market-vendors and wagon drivers spun yarns to while away the hours as they worked.
Amol iz geven. Once upon a time.
This volume presents a selection from the wealth of Yiddish folktales and legends told in the Yiddish-speaking world of Eastern Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of the tales in their present versions have never been printed before in any language and most of them appear here in English for the first time. Together they offer us a privileged entry into a vibrant and vital community. The Jews of Eastern Europe—some seven million people by 1939—lived throughout a vast territory, from Poland in the west to Russia in the east, from Latvia in the north to Rumania in the south. Jewish communities in size from derfer (villages) of a few families to shtetlekh (towns) to cities of hundreds of thousands. The ideological spectrum of these Jews was equally diverse. Numerous Hasidic groups, as well as their opponents, the misnagdim (rabbinic traditionalists), followed a variety of observance. During the nineteenth century a secularized Jewish population also emerged, and by the beginning of the twentieth, there were more than a dozen major Jewish political movements in Eastern Europe, ranging from the Jewish Labor Bund to the various Zionist parties.
Yet diverse and decentralized as this population was, the vast majority of East European Jewry were united by their mame-loshn (mother tongue), Yiddish. Hebrew and Aramaic were the languages of sacred texts and prayer; Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, and a half-dozen other languages were used for communicating with non-Jewish neighbors and government bureaucracy. But the vernacular was Yiddish, the language of daily life, the language, too, in which an extensive oral and written literature, religious as well as secular, was created.
The Yiddish tales included in this volume were drawn largely from the documentary efforts of folklorists and amateur collectors who, in the decades before and between the two world wars, wrote down thousands of legends, fables, jokes, and stories as they heard them from hundreds of gifted tellers. Though collected in this century, these stories embody a far older heritage of Jewish narrative art.
Throughout Jewish history there has been a continuous reciprocal relationship between stories communicated by word of mouth and stories in writing. An example of this is “The Trustees,” one of the pious tales in this collection. This tale, recorded in 1926 in Poland, is a variant of a tale that appears in a book of moral literature published in 1707 in Yiddish (Simkhes hanefesh); and an even earlier version of this tale is found in a Hebrew book published in Salonica in 1521 (Yalkut shimeoni).1 Other tales in this collection can be traced back to agodes, stories and legends from the Jewish oral tradition that were written down some fifteen hundred years ago in Babylonia and Judea by the sages of the Talmud. The Talmud, in fact, is our earliest evidence of the fundamental role of storytelling in Jewish life. Over the centuries, in Eastern Europe as well as in other Jewish communities, stories from the Talmud and other rabbinic works re-entered the oral tradition in a variety of ways: preachers used them in their sermons, teachers read them to their pupils, parents told them to their children.
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