Yiddish Folktales

by Beatrice Weinreich

  To choose between the two winners, the princess ordered fifty candles lighted in a row. She said that whichever apprentice could blow out the candles with a single breath would be her husband. Both brothers, however, blew them out in a single breath. Next the princess said to the older apprentice, “Take the moon out of the sky and hang it from the tip of the palace roof.”

  He replied, “First braid me a rope of sand so I can use it to hang the moon from the tip of the palace roof.”

  The princess said to the younger apprentice, “Go up to the sun and bring back one of its coals so I can use it to heat my oven.”

  He replied, “Harness the wind to your chariot so I can use it to drive up to the sun for a coal to heat your oven.”

  The princess said to the older apprentice, “Sew me a dress without any seam.”

  He replied, “Give me a length of silk made of smoke, and I’ll sew you a dress without a seam.”

  The princess said to the younger apprentice, “Sew me a coat without taking my measurements.”

  He replied, “Give me an endless length of thread and I’ll sew you a coat without taking your measurements.”

  Well, the princess still didn’t know which of the two to marry. So they cast lots for her, and the lot fell to the older apprentice. He became the king, and his brother was made the viceroy.

  One day the king said to the viceroy, “Let’s take a trip back to our old home and see what’s going on there.”

  “A good idea,” the viceroy said.

  They wore shabby clothing over their royal garments, and stuck needles and threads into their lapels. They took shears and pressing irons with them and rode away to the village of their father, the squire.

  They arrived in the evening and asked for a place to sleep. They were told, “You can sleep in the kitchen behind the oven.” To which they replied, “Good.” Just then the squire sent for them, and the brothers were taken to a room where their father was sitting with the priest and a group of noblemen.

  The squire said, “Tailor boys, tell us an interesting tale.”

  So they began the story of a magic duck and related all that had happened to them from the time when they ate its liver and wing to the time when the older brother became king and the younger one became the viceroy. And when they had finished their tale, they threw off their ragged clothes and stood revealed in their imperial garments. Everyone fell to his knees before them and bowed down.

  The squire and the priest were beheaded, while the cook was taken with great honor to the royal palace and made prime minister.

  From that day to this

  They have lived content

  And have never again

  Known any want.

  28

  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

  Once a rich man who had no children went to consult a wonder rebbe. The rebbe said, “You were born with either of two fates: you can be rich, or you can have children. It’s up to you. If you have children, you’ll have to be poor. Choose.”

  The man replied, “I prefer to have a child.”

  The rebbe said, “Go back home. In nine months your wife will give birth to a son.” A few months after he returned home, all the man’s goods were destroyed in a fire and he became poor. And in nine months, his wife gave birth to a son.

  The family struggled for thirteen years to keep their home together. Then, seeing that nothing could be done about their poverty in that town, the father and son decided to beg their way in the wide world. They went from town to town until finally they arrived at the city of Odessa.

  In Odessa, they went to the House of Beggars, where all the poor folk seemed to be delighted by something. The father asked them, “What makes you all so happy?”

  “Don’t you know?” they said. “There’s a rich man in town who makes a banquet for poor folk once a week. If you like, you can come too.”

  So the father and son went to the banquet and had plenty to eat and drink, the best of everything. At one point a coach drawn by four beautiful horses drove up. A sorcerer stepped out and began to astonish the guests by turning himself into a horse, then an elephant, then a lion, then a cat. He kept the company entertained until two o’clock in the morning.

  When the father was ready to leave, the son said, “I won’t move from this place until you apprentice me to the sorcerer.” The father first reasoned with him, then wept, but the son was stubborn. “Apprentice me to the sorcerer,” he said.

  So the father ran after the sorcerer’s coach and lay down in front of the horses. “Sir,” he said, “my son won’t move from his place unless he can become your apprentice.”

  And the sorcerer drew up a contract agreeing to teach the boy sorcery for three years. “When the time is up,” said the sorcerer, “You can come and get him.”

  Three years later the father arrived at the sorcerer’s house. The path to the door was guarded by wild animals, but he loved his son so much that he walked bravely past them. In the house he found his son sitting with the sorcerer and the sorcerer’s daughter.

  The sorcerer recognized the father at once. “You’ve come for your son,” he said. “Well, you may have him only after you have passed a test. I will turn my daughter and your son into doves, and if you can tell me which of them is your son, you can have him. If you fail, he stays with me forever.”

  The father was very angry and ran from the house, ran and ran until he came to a forest where he lay down and wept bitterly. Then he fell into exhausted sleep. He dreamed that somebody was poking him, and he awoke to see a gray old man standing by his side. “Why were you crying, my friend?” the old man asked.

  The father told him all that had happened. “I sacrificed everything I owned for a child,” he concluded, “and now I’ll lose him forever if I fix on the wrong dove.”

  The old man said, “Leave the forest and you’ll come to a field of rye. Pluck several stalks and take them with you to the sorcerer’s. Tell him that you’re ready for the test, and when he presents the doves to you, throw the kernels of rye in front of them. Watch carefully: The dove that gobbles up the rye is the sorcerer’s daughter. The bird who is your son will eat slowly because he is yearning to be with you.”

  The father did as he had been told, and everything happened as the gray old man said.

  After the father had chosen the dove who was his son, the sorcerer said, “Yes, you’ve picked out your son. But you can’t have him unless you sign a contract that he will perform no magic in my lifetime.”

  The father agreed to the contract, and he and his son went on their way. Then the son said, “Father, you’re very poor. Let me turn myself into a horse so you can take me to market and sell me. You’re certain to get a good price. But when you’ve sold me, be sure to take my bridle off; otherwise I’ll be a horse forever. When you’ve taken off the bridle, I’ll turn into a dove and fly after you. And when I spot you, I’ll fly down and turn into a human again.”

  So the son turned himself into a horse and his father led him to market. A great many dealers were interested in the horse. But the sorcerer was also there and saw what was going on. Disguising himself, he went up to the father and asked, “How much do you want for your horse?”

  “A thousand rubles,” said the father.

  “Let me try him out to see if he’s worth it,” said the sorcerer.

  “Go ahead,” said the father.

  The sorcerer jumped on the horse and said, “You’ll see your son about as soon as you can see your own ears. You signed a contract and you’ve broken it.” With that he lashed the horse and rode away.

  When the sorcerer arrived home, he kept the animal in his stable. He beat it and watered it, but gave it no food. Then one day the rich man in Odessa sent for him again to perform tricks at another banquet for the poor. Before leaving, the sorcerer told his daughter to give the horse ten lashes and some water every day.

  Yet the next morning when the daughter entered the stable, she was moved by the horse’s bea
uty. She caressed his head and removed his bridle. As soon as he was free of the bridle, the horse turned into a human and she recognized him at once. “Give me some water,” he said. And when she went to get the water, the boy turned himself into a dove and flew away.

  The sorcerer on the way to Odessa saw the dove in flight above him. At once he understood what had happened and he turned himself into a hawk and flew in pursuit, upon which the dove turned himself into a ring and dropped into the sea. The hawk transformed itself into a duck with a copper bill and searched for the ring in the sea. The ring, meanwhile, moved toward the shore, little by little, until it washed up on a beach. There it was spotted by the king’s daughter, who had come to bathe. The duck, seeing her put the ring on her finger, flapped his wings and said to himself, “I’ll not be able to get him now, but just wait, I’ll use all my powers to get him back.”

  Once she was at home, the king’s daughter felt the ring squeezing her finger. So she tugged and tugged at it until it fell to the ground, where it turned into a young man.

  “Don’t be frightened,” he said to her. “I’m human, and I’m a sorcerer. But a more powerful sorcerer is coming who means to kill me. He’ll promise you mountains of gold for me, but it’s only a trick. When he tries to take me, I’ll turn into a ring again. Put the ring on your finger, and if he tries to grab it from you, throw it to the ground and it will turn into a pea. Then he’ll become a hen and try to eat me. But if you put your foot on the pea, it will turn into a polecat and wring the hen’s neck.”

  And that’s what happened. And they threw the hen’s carcass into the street. The boy went back to the sorcerer’s daughter and married her, and they are alive and well to this day. Now the boy rides to Odessa instead of the sorcerer and performs tricks for the poor folk.

  The boy’s father lives with them and is happy and has no need to go begging any more.

  29

  The Beggar King and the Melamed

  In the city of Amsterdam there once lived a king and this king knew several languages, the Jewish sacred tongue, Hebrew, among them. Going to bathe in the river one day, he happened to pass through the Jewish ghetto. There was a small house where a traditional Jewish schoolteacher, a melamed, was teaching children the passage, “God topples the mighty to the ground and raises the lowly to the heavens.”

  Getting out of his coach, the king went into the house and asked the melamed what those words meant. The meaning was, the melamed replied, that God can turn a king into a beggar and a beggar into a king. Hearing this, the king was very angry. “Prove it to me personally and I’ll reward you,” he said. “But if you can’t, I’ll have you beheaded.”

  The melamed said he would indeed prove it, on condition that the king stay away from his house for at least five days. And the king promised.

  As it happened, this melamed was one of the thirty-six holy men without whom the world could not exist, a lamed-vov tsadek, and he sat down and prayed.

  Meanwhile the king went on his way to the river and, after turning his clothes over to a servant, jumped into the water. In a minute a demon out of hell assumed the king’s shape and emerged from the river. The demon called the servant to bring him his clothes, then dressed himself in the royal garments and rode home to the palace.

  When the true king had had a good swim, he came out of the water and called his servant, but there was neither sound nor reply. The king shouted louder and louder and ran about trying to find his clothes and the carriage. Naked, he searched for hours until he was frozen. Finally he went home, still without clothing. The peasants in the street were amazed at the sight of a naked man shouting that he was the king. One even started to strike him with a whip, but an old peasant stopped him and then gave the king a ragged coat to cover himself.

  The king went to his palace, but the soldiers guarding the gates drove him away, saying, “We don’t allow beggars to approach the king’s residence.” The peasants pitied the refined-looking beggar, but none of them believed him when he claimed to be king. Everyone knew that the king was exactly where he was supposed to be.

  And that was how the king came to be a beggar. When he wanted to sleep, he had to go to the place where all the beggars spent the night. So after two days he left the city and went off to beg in the company of several other poor people like himself.

  Little by little, the king got used to his new life traveling from town to town in the company of beggars. One day he was passing through the capital city again and found himself in the street that led to the river. From the house of the melamed came the teacher’s voice discussing the same passage, and interpreting it to mean that God could turn a king into a beggar and a beggar into a king.

  The king went into the house and begged the melamed’s forgiveness for having doubted him. And he asked the melamed to help him become a king again. The teacher promised that he would. The first thing he did was to trim the king’s matted hair and beard. Then he bathed him and ordered a tailor to make him new clothes fit for a king. After that was done, he told him to go to church and wait outside at the time the king usually went to pray. When he saw the false king’s coach drive up and the imposter enter the church, then he, the real king, should call his coachman by name.

  The king, now dressed like a king, did everything the melamed advised him to do. On Sunday he stood outside the church and waited till the imposter drove up. When the false king was inside the church, and after the first prayer was recited, the real king called the coachman, who drove up at once and helped him into the coach. So the king drove home and no one was any the wiser.

  When the demon-King discovered the trick, he fled back to his place in hell. Then the real king commanded that the melamed be brought to him at the palace. He thanked him for his help and rewarded him royally.

  And from then on, and to the end of his days, that king was a friend to the Jews.

  30

  Of Mettles and Roses

  Once upon a time there was a rich man and his wife who had an only child, a very pretty daughter. When the girl was already well grown, the mother was taken ill and died. After a time the father began to worry because there was no woman to take care of his daughter, and so he decided to marry again.

  At first his new wife loved her stepdaughter and tended her carefully. But when the stepmother gave birth to an ugly daughter of her own, she resented the beautiful child and began to think of ways to get rid of her.

  Now, the rich man, a merchant, traveled frequently on business. Once when he was gone, the stepmother said to the lovely daughter, “Gather up the dirty clothes and wash them in the river outside of town.” Hearing this, the girl wept bitterly. No one ever went to that river because it was said to be under a curse. Nevertheless, she gathered up the clothes and obeyed her stepmother.

  When she got to the river, tears rolled down her cheeks as she worked. Suddenly three water spirits rose out of the water. “Why are you crying?” the first water spirit asked.

  “Because my stepmother has sent me here to get rid of me.”

  “Don’t cry, princess,” said the water spirit. “Go back home. And from now on, the rarest roses in the world will spring up in your footsteps.”

  The second water spirit said, “And when you wash yourself, the water in the basin will turn to gold.”

  The third water spirit said, “When you speak, your breath will perfume the air and please everyone who hears you.”

  Then the water spirits washed the clothes for her, and the pretty daughter went home. Sure enough, roses sprang up in her footsteps as she walked. When she got home she put the clothes away and went to wash herself. And sure enough, the water in the basin turned to gold.

  Her stepmother, seeing this, asked her how it had happened. When the pretty stepdaughter described the water spirits, her breath perfumed the room.

  “Aha,” thought the stepmother, “I’ll send my daughter on the same errand and the same things will happen to her.” But when the ugly daughter came to the ri
ver and the water spirits asked her what she wanted, she replied rudely. “You gave my sister gifts. Now give me some, too.”

  “You want gifts, do you?” said the first water spirit. “Very well, then. When you walk, nettles will spring up in your footsteps.”

  The second water spirit said, “And when you wash yourself, the basin will fill up with frogs.”

  “And when you talk,” said the third water spirit, “your breath will have such a stink that no one will want to listen to you.”

  And that’s how it was. As she went home, nettles grew in her footsteps. And when she washed herself, frogs appeared in the basin. And when she told her mother what had happened, the house filled with such a dreadful odor that her mother ordered her to stop talking.

  Now it happened that in a nearby country there lived a king who had an only son. And this son was looking for a wife, but he had turned down every match that was proposed to him. Somehow he heard of the beautiful girl in whose footsteps roses grew. He discovered where she lived, and the moment he saw her he was enchanted. Not only was she beautiful and well bred, but when she spoke she breathed such a fragrance that talking with her was pure delight. What with one thing and another, they soon arrived at an understanding that she would come to his country and marry him in a month’s time. And at the end of the month, the beautiful girl stole away from her stepmother and her country in the dead of night and married the king’s son in his own land.

  But through consultations with fortune-tellers, the wicked stepmother soon learned of this, and learned that the royal couple lived in great happiness. And later she heard that her stepdaughter had given birth to a child as lovely as she was. Of course, many years had gone by and it all took longer than it takes to tell.

  Needless to say, the wicked stepmother was furious at the news. She sent for a sorceress and said, “Name your price. Just find a way to kill that stepdaughter of mine.”