Fables of a Jewish Aesop: Translated from the Fox Fables of Berechiah Ha-Nakdan (Nonpareil Book)

This charming book is the English translation of the long-famous Hebrew Fox Tales of Berechiah ben Natronai ha-Nakdan, a Jewish philosopher, Biblical commentator and Hebrew grammarian who lived in France during the late twelfth or early thirteenth century.Berechiah s stories were drawn largely from non-Jewish sources, the collections of fables in the Aesopic tradition which were widely circulated in Europe during the Middle Ages. Although it is impossible to trace the exact source of each fable, W.T.H. Jackson in his introduction points to several possible sources. Among them are such Latin fable collections as the Romulus fables and the fables of Avianus, the Indian fables collected in the Panchatantra, and the fable collection of Marie de France. There is good reason to believe that this last collection provided Berechiah with his main source.To these traditional sources Berechiah added has own narrative details and his own style of writing. With the language of the Old Testament, the author, in the fashion of Biblical commentators of the Middle Ages, used every possible opportunity to introduce Biblical quotations and allusions. Moses Hadas s translation of the work beautifully preserves the Biblical character of the original by using the language of the King James Version of the Bible and by incorporating the passages of the King James Versions which correspond to Berechiah s Hebrew quotations. The result is a translation which reflects the style of the original and retains the Biblical flavor highly appropriate to the gentle and at times ironic advice which the fables convey. The reader of the English translation can thus appreciate what is perhaps the most interesting aspect of Berechiah s work the change which Aesop s fables underwent when viewed in the mirror of medieval Hebrew culture.