The Jewish Book of Fables: Selected Works
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Authors
Craft, Dana
Leviant, Curt
Steinbarg, Eliezer
Issue Date
2003
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
There is an alphabetically ordered T of C at the front listing the fifty-five fables here. Twelve colored illustrations are gathered at the beginning. There are also perhaps a dozen black-and-white illustrations along the way; true to the bilingual character of the book with texts facing each other, these illustrations are mirror images of each other on facing pages. The best of these illustrations may be Over the Trough (121). These stories--or almost all of them--are fables and they are very enjoyable. The translator uses rhyming verse well for fable's trenchant impact. Let me mention a few of the best. In Aesop and the Ass (9), the ass begs for a rest. Aesop pontificates on, and the ass drops dead! In The Bayonet and the Needle (21), the needle cannot understand what the bayonet can make out of the people it sews. In The Crow and the Canary (63), the crow asks the other birds to be patient with the canary's attempts to learn to caw. In The Sacrifice (147), a cow means to echo a lion's song but his mooing is taken by animals to be an insult. In A Story Without an End (175), a donkey is beaten because he does not stand, and he does not stand because he is being beaten. And in The Umbrella, the Cane, and the Broom (183), the owner hears these three arguing over who is superior, and he asks about his worth. They each agree that God made him to cater to me. I enjoyed this book!
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Publisher
Syracuse University Press
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Identifier
5070 (Access ID)