AUNT NAOMI Jewish Fairy Tales and Fables By AUNT NAOMI. Preface the peoples of the world have their fairy tales and fables, their legends and their folk-lore, but perhaps no literature is richer in this respect than that of the Jews. Hebrew lore has, indeed, been a source of inspiration to the writers of many lands for ages, and yet Jewish children of to-day have very little opportunity to read the beautiful stories to be found in the Talmud and the Midrash, those vast treasuries of Hebrew learning. It is in the hope of meeting this want that I have written these fairy tales and fables. Mostly they are based on parables of the Tal mud and the Midrash, and these, although they have been entirely re-written in a manner best suited for children, have becn treated 8 10 PREFACE with the greatest possible respect. The central allegory of each story has been left unsullied to convey the beautiful moral as intended by the great Rabbis who originally invented them for the interest of their pupils. A few of the stories are almost entirely original, chiefly The Ragged Pedlar, which is inspired by an old Rabbinic saying, and The Enchanted Donkey and Honeims Magic Shoes, which are based on Oriental legends. AUNT NAOMI. Contents How REWARDF OOLEDB RUIN . PAGB 15 Illustrations PACE May it please Your Majesty, he said, here is your royal crown . 21 The basket began to roll over and over along the rope . 45 Pinkus was thrown from the donkeys back on the top of the tower . 57 This is no longer a garden, this is a wilderness, exclaimed the King . 105 Bow your heads, said the Princess, to this man of learning and wisdom, for he has taught me a lesson I shall never forget 143 THE SLAVE WHO BECAME A KING. The Slave who became a King DAM was the name of a slave whose master was one of the kindest that ever lived. He was very anxious to make his slave happy. Adam, he said, one day, although thou art a slave, and it rests with me to do with thee what I will, I never forget that thou art a man, made in the same likeness as I, thy master. Has it ever occurred to thee that thou art a man, an ordinary man, apart from being a slave 16