Table Of ContentTALES OF SENDEBAR
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JUDAICA
Texts and Translations
First Series
Number Two
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7ALES OF SENDEBAR
,:i,Jo ,,ruo
an Edition and Translation of
the Hebrew Version of the
SEVEN SAGES ·
Based on Unpublished Manuscripts
by
MORRIS EPSTEIN
The Jewish Publication Society of America
PHILADELPHIA
5727- 7967
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Copyright © 196 7 by The Jewish Publication Society of America
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 66-17826
First Edition All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Sol Calvin Cohen
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To
my wife
SHIFRA
- M ishle Sendebar,3 7 4
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PREFACE
Tales of Sendebar ( Mishle Sendebar) is an enormously popular
medieval romance which had its origin in the East and was sub
sequently transmitted westward.
The astonishing vitality of this collection of narratives, whose
central anti-feminist motif portrays woman's purported wicked
ness and wiles, is attested by the existence of eight Eastern ver
sions-Greek, Syriac, Old Spanish, three Persian, Arabic, and
Hebrew-and scores of Occidental versions in all the major
Western languages.
Of them all, the Hebrew is the most important, for it was prob
ably the bridge linking Eastern and Western forms. Yet it has
never been edited from the earliest medieval manuscripts, nor
translated into English.
When I undertook to prepare a new edition along with an
English translation for my doctoral degree in English literature
at New York University (not as far-fetched as it seems, for I was
led to M ishle Sendebar via the Middle English renderings), I had
no idea how fruitf~l and fascinating the project was to become.
I began with the invaluable bibliography in Steinschneider's Die
Hebraischen Ueberset;:,ungen. Correspondence soon unearthed a
richer yield. Photocopies of unknown MSS arrived via ordinary
mail from such unlikely places as the Saltykov-Schedrin Library
in Leningrad and the Jewish Theological Seminary in Budapest.
My study undertook a five-fold task: ( 1) the presentation of a
critical text of M ishle Sendebar based on hitherto unpublished
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MSS (MS. Heb. d. 11 and MS. Bodi. or. 135) in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford; (2) the first translation into English of the
Hebrew version of the Seven Sages; (3) the division of MSS and
printed editions of M ishle Sendebar into two groups, the second of
which contains three stories never before attributed to the
Hebrew version; ( 4) the preparation of a finding-list of all known
MSS and early printed editions of Mishle Sendebar, including four
MSS never before described by scholars and bibliographers; and
( 5) the outline of a new theory respecting the transmission of the
romance from East to West.
This edition thus shows how M ishle Sendebar assumes an im
portance beyond its intrinsic value by investigating another case
in which medieval Jewry conveyed the fruit of Eastern culture to
the Christian world for the benefit of mankind as a whole.
It is further hoped that beyond offering an edition of a Hebrew
text which is closely linked with Western literature, the present
study will help blaze a trail for further investigation of an insuffi
ciently explored folklore area: the transmission of legend and
romance from East to West through Hebraic intermediaries.
As I lay down my pen, the relief which accompanies the com
pletion of an arduous labor is tempered by the sadness of parting
from an old friend. M ishle Sendebar, a voice from the distant past,
has become palpably real to me. The romance won new ac
quaintances for me in libraries and universities in many lands.
They and others have generously aided me in my work.
I am deeply grateful to my teacher and friend, Professor Lillian
Herlands Hornstein, whose enthusiasm was immediate and at
times exceeded mine. Her own scholarship was always a model
for emulation.
To the late Professor Karl J. Holzknecht I owe a debt I shall
never be able to repay. Consummate teacher and kindly friend,
he guided my years of graduate study at New York University.
I.am pleased to record my appreciation for the courtesies ex
tended by the following individuals and institutions: V. M.
Barashenkov, Saltykov-Schedrin Public Library, Leningrad;
A.F.L. Beeston and 0. H. Lehmann, Bodleian Library, Oxford;
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican; Dr. Joshua Bloch,
late chief, and his successor, Abraham Berger, Jewish Division,
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New York Public Library; Mlle. Chabrier, Bibliotheque Na
tionale, Paris; Professor Gerson Cohen, Columbia University;
Miss Anna Kleban, Jewish Theological Seminary of America,
New York; Dr. Maria Teresa Danieli-Polidori, Biblioteca
Palatina, Parma; Jacob Dienstag, Yeshiva University, New York;
A. M. Habermann, Jerusalem; Rabbi I. Edward Kiev and Pro
fessor Moses Marx, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, New York and Cincinnati; Jacob Leveen, British
Museum; Dr. Samuel Lowinger, Ministry of Education and
Culture, Government of Israel; David Mellows, Montefiore
Endowment Committee, Jews' College, London; Riad N. Rayes,
Arab States Delegations; Dr. Alexander Scheiber, Jewish Theo
logical Seminary of Hungary, Budapest.
I extend my sincere thanks to the American Council of
Learned Societies which provided me with two travel grants to
Jerusalem to participate in the Third and Fourth World Con
gresses of Jewish Studies, thus enabling me to study manuscripts
at first hand in Jerusalem and in Rome.
For their genuine interest in my work I am grateful to Pro
fessors Ben E. Perry, University of Illinois, John E. Keller, Uni
versity of North Carolina, and Abraham I. Katsh, New York
University. Professor Salo W. Baron of Columbia was kind
enough to commend my labors to the attention of the Jewish
Publication Society where Drs. Solomon Grayzel and Chaim
Potok have helped enormously in seeing it through the press.
M. Lutzki, to whom Hebrew manuscripts are living things,
taught me to scrutinize mine with understanding. My good
friend, Professor David Mirsky of Yeshiva University, helped me
with the painstaking task of proofreading my transcription of
text and variants.
There is a Hebrew phrase-"the last is most beloved." To my
wife Shifra, whose understanding heart and keen perception
aided me in more ways than I can publicly acknowledge, this
study is dedicated in partial fulfillment of the hopes she wove in
the long hours of lonely evenings.
M.E.
New York, N.Y.
January, t 967
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CONTENTS
Preface .....
Illustrations . .
Vil
Abbreviations .
Vlll
LVTRODUCTION
1. The Book of Sindibad and the Seven Sages . . . . . 3
2. The Date and Source of M ishle Sendebar . . . . . 12
3. M ishle Sendebar and the Other Eastern Versions 19
4. The Three New Stories in Mishle Sendebar. 22
5. A Hypothesis . . . . . . . 31
6. Text and Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
MISHLE SENDEBAR: TEXT AND VARIANTS,
NOTES AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION. . 43
~Leo. . . . 93
/ Avis . . . 103
-~-Lavator . 113
/Turtures .. 117
~Catula ... 123
~triga et Fons .. 143
/Canis ... 165
--fPallium 169
,,,Simia .. 179
/ Panes ... 189
Zuchara. 197
Aper .... 205
1
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