THE DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES
Barlaam and Joshaphat.--The Fables of Bidpai.--Abraham Ibn
Chisdai.--Berachya ha-Nakdan.--Joseph Zabara.
The folk-tales of India were communicated to Europe in two ways. First,
there was an oral diffusion. In friendly conversation round the family
hearth, in the convivial intercourse of the tavern and divan, the wit
and wisdom of the East found a home in the West. Having few
opportunities of coming into close relations with Christian society, the
Jews had only a small share in the oral diffusion of folk-tales. But
there was another means of diffusion, namely, by books. By their
writings the Jews were able to leave some impress on the popular
literature of Europe.
This they did by their translations. Sometimes the Jews translated
fables and folk-tales solely for their own use, and in such cases the
translations did not leave the Hebrew form into which they were cast. A
good example of this was Abraham Ibn Chisdai's "Prince and Nazirite,"
compiled in the beginning of the thirteenth century. It was a Hebrew
version of the legend of Buddha, known as "Barlaam and Joshaphat." In
this the story is told of a prince's conversion to the ascetic life. His
father had vainly sought to hold him firm to a life of pleasure by
isolating him in a beautiful palace, far from the haunts of man, so that
he might never know that such things as evil, misery, and death existed.
Of course the plan failed, the prince discovered the things hidden from
him, and he became converted to the life of self-denial and renunciation
associated with the saintly teaching of Buddha. This story is the frame
into which a number of charming tales are set, which have found their
way into the popular literature of all the world. But in this spread of
the Indian stories, the book of Abraham Ibn Chisdai had no part.
Far other it was with the Hebrew translation of the famous Fables of
Bidpai, known in Hebrew as _Kalila ve-Dimna_. These fables, like those
contained in the "Prince and Nazirite," were Indian, and were in fact
birth-stories of Buddha. They were connected by means of a frame, or
central plot. A large part of the popular tales of the Middle Ages can
be traced to the Fables of Bidpai, and here the Jews exerted important
influence. Some authorities even hold that these Fables of Bidpai were
brought to Spain directly from India by Jews. This is doubtful, but it
is certain that the spread of the Fables was due to Jewish activity. A
Jew translated them into Hebrew, and this Hebrew was turned into Latin
by the Italian John of Capua, a Jew by birth, in the year 1270.
Moreover, the Old Spanish version which was made in 1251 probably was
also the work of the Jewish school of translators established in Toledo
by Alfonso. The Greek version, which was earlier still, and dates from
1080, was equally the work of a Jew. Thus, as Mr. Joseph Jacobs has
shown, this curious collection of fables, which influenced Europe more
perhaps than any book except the Bible, started as a Buddhistic work,
and passed over to the Mohammedans and Christians chiefly through the
mediation of Jews.
Another interesting collection of fables was made by Berachya ha-Nakdan
(the Punctuator, or Grammarian). He lived in England in the twelfth
century, or according to another opinion he dwelt in France a century
later. His collection of 107 "Fox Fables" won wide popularity, for their
wit and point combined with their apt use of Biblical phrases to please
the medieval taste. The fables in this collection are all old, many of
them being Æsop's, but it is very possible that the first knowledge of
Æsop gained in England was derived from a Latin translation of Berachya.
Of greater poetical merit was Joseph Zabara's "Book of Delight," written
in about the year 1200 in Spain. In this poetical romance a large number
of ancient fables and tales are collected, but they are thrown into a
frame-work which is partially original. One night he, the author, lay at
rest after much toil, when a giant appeared before him, and bade him
rise. Joseph hastily obeyed, and by the light of the lamp which the
giant carried partook of a fine banquet which his visitor spread for
him. Enan, for such was the giant's name, offered to take Joseph to
another land, pleasant as a garden, where all men were loving, all men
wise. But Joseph refused, and told Enan fable after fable, about
leopards, foxes, and lions, all proving that it was best for a man to
remain where he was and not travel to foreign places. But Enan coaxes
Joseph to go with him, and as they ride on, they tell one another a very
long series of excellent tales, and exchange many witty remarks and
anecdotes. When at last they reach Enan's city, Joseph discovers that
his guide is a demon. In the end, Joseph breaks away from him, and
returns home to Barcelona. Now, it is very remarkable that this
collection of tales, written in exquisite Hebrew, closely resembles the
other collections in which Europe delighted later on. It is hard to
believe that Zabara's work had no influence in spreading these tales. At
all events, Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans, all read and enjoyed the
same stories, all laughed at the same jokes. "It is," says Mr. Jacobs,
"one of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin. These
folk-tales form a bond, not alone between the ages, but between many
races who think they have nothing in common. We have the highest
authority that 'out of the mouths of babes and sucklings has the Lord
established strength,' and surely of all the influences for good in the
world, none is comparable to the lily souls of little children. That
Jews, by their diffusion of folk-tales, have furnished so large an
amount of material to the childish imagination of the civilized world
is, to my mind, no slight thing for Jews to be proud of. It is one of
the conceptions that make real to us the idea of the Brotherhood of Man,
which, in Jewish minds, is forever associated with the Fatherhood of
God."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Jacobs.--_The Diffusion of Folk Tales_ (in _Jewish Ideals_,
p. 135); _The Fables of Bidpai_ (London, 1888) and _Barlaam
and Joshaphat_ (Introductions).
Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 174.
BERACHYA HA-NAKDAN.
J. Jacobs.--_Jews of Angevin England_, pp. 165 _seq._, 278.
A. Neubauer.--_J.Q.R._, II, p. 520.
ZABARA.
I. Abrahams.--_J.Q.R._, VI, p. 502 (with English translation
of the _Book of Delight_).