Yiddish Folktales

by Beatrice Weinreich

“I’ll do it,” said the sorceress. And off she went to the palace of the stepdaughter. Using her magic, the sorceress found her way inside and to the bedroom where the princess lay sleeping beside her baby. The sorceress took out a long, sharp knife, cut the baby into four parts, and put the bloody instrument into the princess’s hand.

  Later the prince, wondering why his wife was still sleeping, went into her bedroom and found the murdered baby and the sleeping princess holding the knife. The prince shouted, “What have you done? What have you done?”

  The princess, awakened, looked around bewildered. Seeing the corpse of the baby, she cried, “No, no! I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it.”

  But nobody would believe her, because, after all, who else could have done it? Besides, no more roses grew in her footsteps, no more water turned to gold when she washed, and her breath did not perfume the air when she spoke. The water spirits’ magic had been destroyed by the sorceress’s evil deed.

  The king commanded that the princess’s eyes be put out. Then the mutilated body of her baby was placed in a sack and given to her, and she was driven from the palace.

  Weeping bitterly, the blinded princess found her way into a forest. When she sensed that night was falling, she sat under a tree and sang softly to herself like one of the birds in the boughs above. Singing thus, she fell asleep. As she slept, her own mother appeared to her in a dream and said, “My child, you have suffered much and you are destined to suffer more. But soon you will gain some relief. In the morning you will find yourself sitting beside a well. Touch some of the well water to your eyes, then take more water and wash the body of your baby.”

  In the morning the princess followed her mother’s instructions. And when she touched some of the well water to her eyes, her sight returned. And when she washed her baby’s body, it came alive again. Happy to be carrying her living baby, she made her way through cities and towns and villages, earning her keep by singing wherever she went.

  Eventually the princess tired of wandering. For her growing child’s sake she settled in a large city, where she found work with a family of rich people.

  Sometimes she sang as she worked, and always her song told the story of her life. Everyone who heard her was deeply moved.

  Now it happened that her rich employer, who was a friend of the king, gave a banquet to which he invited the king and his son, the prince. The guests were entertained by singers with all kinds of songs. “These songs are very beautiful,” the young prince said, “but none tell of lives that are anything like mine. Ah, what I would give if I could hear a song that resembled in some way the story of my life.”

  At this the hostess said, “There is a young woman working for me who often sings a song that resembles the story of your life.”

  The prince begged his hostess to send for the young woman. The servant, finely dressed and very beautiful, came in and began to sing, and the prince was transfixed as he heard episode after episode of a song that touched on his own life. Then the singer came to the part that told how she had married the king’s son, how he had cast her away, and what had happened to her afterward.

  Hearing it all, the prince wept and wept. Then, taking the singer by the hand, he said, “This is she. This is my true and blameless wife, whom I love dearly.”

  And so they were united once more. And they lived happily ever after.

  31

  The Demon and Sosye

  There was a man whose great sorrow was that Sosye, his wife, was a terrible shrew. Though he wanted to get rid of her, he didn’t know how. He talked it over with a good friend, who said, “Listen, there are demons in your well. Why don’t you throw Sosye in? Let them have her.”

  And that’s what he did. But three days later it occurred to him that it would be only decent to pull his wife’s body out and give it a proper burial. So he tied an anchor to a rope and lowered it into the well. When he pulled the rope up, he found a demon clinging to the anchor. He would have thrown the demon back, but it cried, “No, please don’t! Three days ago a woman named Sosye fell in, and she’s down there driving all of us to distraction.”

  When it saw that the man was listening, the demon said, “Don’t throw me back and I’ll make you rich. Here’s how. I’ll go haunt the houses of the nobility; then you can come and say that you know spells and incantations for exorcising demons. You’ll recite some words, I’ll disappear, and the nobles will pay you a fat fee. But remember, we can do this only three times. Any more and it won’t work.”

  “Very well,” said the man, and he let the demon go.

  The demon kept its word and haunted a count’s palace so effectively that the household was turned topsy-turvy. Then Sosye’s husband showed up and said to the count, “My lord, for a fee, I can recite certain spells and incantations that will drive away the demon who haunts your castle.”

  “If you can do that,” said the count, “I’ll reward you well.”

  With that, Sosye’s husband recited spells and incantations and the demon promptly left the castle. As he had promised, the grateful count gave him a rich reward.

  Sosye’s husband and the demon played this trick on a second nobleman and then on a third. As a result Sosye’s husband acquired a considerable reputation as an exorcist and a lot of money besides.

  Then one day he was called in to exorcise the demon for a fourth time. But the demon said, “Too bad for you. I warned you the trick would work three times only. Now I’m here to stay for good.”

  Sosye’s husband stood sadly for a while, lost in thought, then he brightened and called in a loud voice, “Sosye, my wife, come back.” When the demon heard the name Sosye, it took to its heels and ran off.

  And the exorcist was richly rewarded again.

  32

  How Much Do You Love Me?

  Once upon a time there was a rabbi and his wife who had three daughters. The rabbi, wanting to know how much his daughters loved him, said to the oldest, “Rokhele dear, how much do you love me?” To which she replied, “As much as gold.” He went to his second daughter. “Khavele dear, how much do you love me?” “As much as silver,” she replied. Then he said, “Sorele dear, how much do you love me?” And she said, “Father, I love you as much as food that has been properly salted.”

  When he heard, “as much as food that has been properly salted,” he drove her out of his home.

  Sorele went weeping. Night overtook her and she had no place to go, but still she walked on. Then she met an old man, who was really Elijah the Prophet.

  “Where are you going, my child?” he asked.

  So she told him her story. “I see,” he said. “Here, take this little stick. Keep on this road until you come to a house where you hear someone making the blessing over wine. Then be sure to say ‘Omeyn,’ amen. But no matter who asks you into the house, don’t go unless it is the rabbi himself. Then, you may go in. When you are inside, go up to the attic and hide the stick there. Then whenever you need anything, take the stick out and say, ‘Stick, open!’ And whatever you want will appear before you.”

  When he had done speaking, he disappeared. She went on until she saw the house and heard someone making the kidesh over the wine. Three times she responded “Omeyn.”

  Hearing an omeyn from outside, the people in the house were startled. The rabbi’s wife went out and invited the girl in, but she refused. It was not until the rabbi came out and repeated the invitation that she entered.

  Inside she crouched sadly beside the oven. The rabbi’s wife brought her food, but it did not cheer her. The next morning the rabbi, his wife, and his son dressed up and left the house to attend a wedding. The girl wanted to go too, so she went up to the attic and, taking out her stick, said, “Stick, open!” The stick opened, revealing a basin of water and a bar of golden soap. When the girl had washed, she said again, “Stick, open!” and it opened to present her with a costly set of clothing. The girl dressed in an exquisite gown and put on a pair of golden shoes. Looking absolutely beautiful, she
went to the wedding.

  There she dazzled the rabbi’s son, who did not recognize her as the beggar maiden living in his own house. But though he asked her several times to say who she was, she always turned the conversation to something else.

  Finally he said to his mother, “That beautiful girl won’t tell me her name, but I have a plan to find out who she is.”

  He fetched some pitch and used it to smear the doorsill of the house. When it came time for the wedding guests to leave, the beautiful maiden started hastily toward home. But when she crossed the threshhold, one of her shoes stuck in the pitch, and she had to go on wearing a single shoe. The rabbi’s son picked up the other one and put it in his pocket.

  Meanwhile Sorele went up into the attic, changed into her old clothes, and came back down again.

  The rabbi, his wife, and their son returned from the wedding. The son said, “See, I have the beautiful maiden’s shoe. I’m off into the wide world to find her.” He searched high and low for a maiden who could wear the golden shoe, but he couldn’t find one. At last he returned home in despair.

  “Let me try the shoe,” Sorele said. “Perhaps it will fit me.”

  “Come on,” he said. “As if a shoe like this could fit a beggar girl like you!”

  She snatched it from him and slipped it onto her foot, where it settled as snugly as if it had been sewn for her.

  Seeing this, the rabbi and his wife and son were very unhappy. How could he marry a beggar?

  A few nights later they were sadder still, because each of them had been warned in a dream not to hinder their son’s wedding to the poor girl. The troubled parents went for a walk to consider what to do.

  Left alone in the house with the rabbi’s son, Sorele said, “If you’ll come to the attic with me, I’ll show you who I really am.”

  He followed her up the stairs, and the girl said, “Stick, open!” Suddenly all sorts of wonderful clothes appeared. “Some for you,” she said, “and some for me.”

  Each of them put on the finery and went out for a stroll.

  Later, the rabbi and his wife, out on their walk, met their splendidly dressed son walking with a beautiful girl as richly garbed as he. This frightened them because of the dream that had warned them not to hinder their son’s marriage to Sorele. And here he was walking about with some beautiful and wealthy girl whom they had never seen.

  The two young people returned to the house and changed to their ordinary clothes. When the rabbi and his wife came home, the son said to his parents, “Stop worrying. I’m going to marry Sorele. Everything will be all right.”

  “Well …,” said his parents, in some confusion. “If you are determined, then marry her you will.” And they sat down to address invitations to all the rabbis in the country.

  As the wedding preparations went forward, the girl went to the kitchen and said to the cooks, “Whatever dishes you make, be sure to cook some without salt.”

  Came the wedding day. Rabbis from cities throughout the land arrived. To the amazement of the groom’s parents, the bride, in her fine clothes, looked like a princess.

  After the ceremony people sat about enjoying their food. One of the rabbis, however, did not find the menu to his liking. Seeing his unhappiness, the bride went up to him and said, “Dear guest, what’s the matter? Everyone but you is eating.”

  “Ah,” he said, “no doubt the food is very good, but the dishes have no salt.”

  “Father, dear Father,” she said, “do you remember that I said I loved you as much as food that has been properly salted? Yet you drove me away from home.”

  Her father, hearing these words, dropped into a dead faint. When he came to, he told everyone that the bride was his daughter.

  And there was carousing and merriment until dawn.

  Elijah the Prophet gave the couple a diamond chandelier for a wedding present. And the moment they touched it, they ascended into heaven.

  33

  The Master Thief

  Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons, two of whom were clever while one was a fool. The clever ones could not abide the fool and continually ridiculed him. To make matters worse, the fool drifted into bad behavior, such as stealing goods in the marketplace. When the king learned about this, he drove the fool out of the country.

  The fool traveled on and on until he came to a forest, where he met a band of thieves. “I’m a thief, too,” he said, “so let me join you.”

  “Very well,” they said, and took him into a cave where they gave him food and drink. “Now show us a thievish trick,” they said.

  “Give me a new shoe; then come with me to the highway outside the forest,” said the fool.

  On the highway they saw a peasant driving a horse and wagon. The young thief took one of the shoes, slipped it onto the road where the peasant would pass, and hid in the forest.

  Seeing a shoe lying in the highway, the peasant thought, “One shoe! What good is a single shoe?” and went on. When he was gone, the fool ran out, grabbed the shoe, and ran through the forest for a mile or so. When he was ahead of the peasant again, he darted onto the road, dropped the shoe, and hid in the forest again.

  The peasant, driving by, saw the shoe lying there and said to himself, “Ah, if there are two shoes they might turn out to be useful.” So he got down from the wagon and ran back to look for the other shoe. As soon as he was gone, the fool came out of the woods and drove the horse and wagon to the thieves’ cave.

  Meanwhile the peasant came to the place where he had seen the first shoe. He spent several hours looking for it without success and then went back to his horse and wagon. When he came to the stretch of road where he had left them, he searched high and he searched low, but no luck.

  The fool said to the thieves, “Watch me steal his clothes, too.”

  “All right,” they said. “Let’s see you do it.”

  He killed the horse, cut off its head, and propped the head up in the water of the river nearby.

  The peasant, still running about searching for his horse and wagon, saw the horse’s head sticking out of the water and was overjoyed. “My nag must have drawn the wagon into the river.” With that he took his clothes off and dashed into the water to lead the horse out. In the meantime the young thief stole the peasant’s clothes and carried them to the other thieves.

  When they saw what he had done, they said, “You’re much too clever for us; you could trick us out of everything. So why don’t you just go away? Here, take as much money as you like, but go away.”

  The young thief took a large sum of money, and went from one country to another, learning more and more about his trade, until he became a master thief. One day he came to a kingdom whose king had an only daughter—the most beautiful young woman in the world. The king had decreed that whoever could guess her name within four months could marry her, but anyone who guessed wrong would be sent to prison and fed only bread and water for four years. The young thief discovered that his two clever brothers had tried and failed to guess the princess’s name and now lay in the king’s dungeons.

  “Ah,” said the young thief, “I’ll marry the king’s daughter without having to guess her name.” So he dressed in fine clothing and went to the palace, where he announced that he was a prince who wanted to marry the princess.

  Now the king gave a great banquet, at which the thief was an honored guest. Everyone ate and drank the best of everything and the king granted the thief the usual four months to guess his daughter’s name.

  As the feast proceeded, the young thief stole the king’s wine cup. When the servants were clearing the table, they noticed that it was missing and they reported it at once to the king. He decided that everyone at the banquet would have to be searched. The guests lined up, and the thief got behind a priest who wore a hood that hung down behind his back. The thief slipped the cup into the hood, and of course no one searches a priest, so the holy man went out of the palace with no trouble. The thief followed him and retrieved the cup
from his hood.

  After everyone at the banquet had been searched and the cup had not been found, the king’s counselors decided that he should give another banquet a week later and strew gold coins on the floor. No doubt the thief would be among the guests, and when he tried to steal the coins he could be caught.

  At the banquet the young thief saw the gold coins lying on the floor and noticed that no one bent to pick them up. Well, what do you think he did? He went out and took some axle grease from a wagon and put it on the soles of his shoes. Then he walked about over the coins and got them all because, of course, they stuck to his soles.

  Well, since no one had seen anyone bending down, the king’s counselors proposed giving another banquet a week later. At that time the princess, wearing her diamond earrings, would be put to bed in the garden. If he was there, the thief would certainly try to steal the earrings from her. But the princess would be given a piece of indelible chalk with which to mark the thief when he made the attempt.

  And so it was done. The banquet was held, and after dinner the guests walked about in the garden and saw that the princess was sleeping there. The young thief waited until he was alone. Then he went up to the princess and gently removed first one earring, then the other. But as he did, she marked his coat with the chalk. Seeing what she had done, he grabbed the chalk out of her hand and went about marking the clothes of all the men at the banquet.

  When the king and his counselors looked about to see whose coat had been marked, they discovered marks on everyone’s, including the king’s. And the earrings were missing.

  His counselors then advised the king to hold another banquet. And for that occasion a cabinet decorated with fine gems would be on display, and a paper floor would be built leading to the cabinet. The thief would undoubtedly try to make his way to the cabinet, and he would fall through the paper floor into the cellar.

  Well, during the banquet everything happened just as planned. The young thief stepped on the paper floor and fell into the cellar. What do you suppose he did then? He grabbed up a drum and some drumsticks and created such a tumult that everyone came running. And of course, one by one, the whole crowd fell through the paper floor into the cellar. So again nobody knew who the thief was.