Vilde khayes (wild animals): Fables in our collection

From Biblical commentary in Hebrew and Aramaic to original examples in Yiddish, stories with animal characters have always played a role in Jewish literature. Among the thousands of recent arrivals at the Book Center was a rare and unusual example of just such a story. Based on a fable by German author and artist Wilhelm Bausch, Dos Ferd un di Malpes, was published in Warsaw in 1923 and is an early example of secular writing for children in Yiddish. The author, Joseph Tunkel, aka Der Tunkeler (The Dark One), best known for his biting satirical essays in the Warsaw dailies, freely translated and “Jewishified” Bausch’s original.

Fables have provided Yiddish writers with pedagogical materials and means to express covert opinions, as well as a traditional literary form that could be stretched and reinvented with new ideas. The list of fables in Yiddish is extensive but here are a few highlights from our collection:

Leib Olitzky. Fun Krilovs Mesholim / From Krylov's Fables.
Warsaw, 1950. Published in post-war Poland, this collection of free translations from Ivan Krylov’s popular Russian fables provided Jews with diversion and resonance after the Holocaust.

Eliezer Shteinbarg. Mesholim / Fables.
Czernowitz, 1932. Considered to be the pinnacle of Yiddish fable writing, Shteinbarg’s Mesholim are powerful and written in a deceptively playful verse.

Meir Tkatsh. Dos taykhl katshet zikh oyf’n baykhl / The Stream Rolls on its Belly.
Chicago, 1933. “Poems and Fables for Young and Old” is the subtitle of this book, which is both fun and beautiful.

Yehoash. Fablen / Fables
New York, 1912. Fables in the style of Aesop by the American poet famous for his Yiddish translation of the Bible.

Arn Miednik;. Mesholim / Fables
Paris, 1952. Breathtaking fables in verse by the French Yiddish author.