text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/105

 Rh liked it. And the modern woman, so we are told, would still like it if only one dared to try it on. There’s the trouble; if one only dared!

I see lots of them—I’ll be frank about it—that I should like to grab, to sling over my shoulder and carry away with me; or, what is the same thing, allowing for modern conditions, have an express man carry them. I notice them at Atlantic City, I see them in Fifth Avenue—yes, everywhere.

But would they come? That’s the deuce of it. Would they come right along, like the cave-woman, merely biting off my ear as they came, or are they degenerate enough to bring an action against me, indicting the express company as a party of the second part?

Doubts such as these prevent me from taking active measures. But they leave me, as they leave many another man, preoccupied and fascinated with the cave-man.

One may imagine, then, my extraordinary interest in him when I actually met him in the flesh. Yet the thing came about quite simply, indeed more by accident than by design, an adventure open to all.

It so happened that I spent my vacation in Kentucky—the region, as everybody knows, of the great caves. They extend—it is a matter of common knowledge—for hundreds of miles;

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/105


text:
Page:Judeo-Arabic romanization table.pdf/5

 3. Because Hebrew script as used for the Hebrew language does not contain characters for all the phonemes in the Judeo-Arabic dialect(s), Judeo-Arabic texts usually differentiate several Hebrew characters to show the different intended pronunciations. Thus "plain"  גusually corresponds to Standard Arabic  غ(ghayn), while "differentiated"  גfollowed by geresh (ג׳) or with a superscript dot or other marking usually corresponds to Standard Arabic ج (jīm). The table does not represent all the possibilities for "differentiation" in Judeo-Arabic texts but the common ones that are cited may stand for any of the others.

4. If the text to be romanized is vocalized with Tiberian Hebrew vowel points, represent the full text with vowels in the transcribed fields of the bibliographic record (MARC fields 245, 250, 260, 4XX). Add a 246 “variant title” field to such records with the consonantal romanization of the 245╪a as provided in this table.

5. When Hebrew words or phrases are embedded in a Judeo-Arabic context, romanize them in Judeo-Arabic style--that is, without short vowels and with Judeo-Arabic consonantal values (thus /Hgdh šl Fsḥ/ not /Hagadah shel Pesaḥ/). An independent string of Hebrew words, e.g., in the title proper of a work, may be romanized as Hebrew, but catalogers have the option to add a 246 giving the Judeo-Arabic consonantal transcription:

6. For romanizing Hebrew text with vowels, including abbreviated honorifics or religious formulae, use the guide to ALA/LC Hebrew romanization prepared by Paul Maher in Hebraica Cataloging (Washington, D.C. : Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress, 1987); online edition, slightly revised, http://www-sul.stanford.edu/hebraicafunnel/Hebraica_Cataloging_Manual/Hebraica%20Cat%20Manual%20Feb%202006%20Draft.pdf.

והווא ספר אליהו הנביא ז"ל

w-hwwʼ sefer Eliyahu ha-Navi, zal 1/31/2011

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/106

 Rh in some places dark and sunless tunnels, the black silence broken only by the dripping of the water from the roof; in other places great vaults like subterranean temples, with vast stone arches sweeping to the dome, and with deep, still water of unfathomed depth as the floor; and here and there again they are lighted from above through rifts in the surface of the earth, and are dry and sand strewn—fit for human habitation.

In such caves as these—so has the obstinate legend run for centuries—there still dwell cave-men, the dwindling remnant of their race. And here it was that I came across him.

I had penetrated into the caves far beyond my guides. I carried a revolver and had with me an electric lantern, but the increasing sunlight in the cave as I went on had rendered the latter needless.

There he sat, a huge figure, clad in a great wolfskin. Besides him lay a great club. Across his knee was a spear round which he was binding sinews that tightened under his muscular hand. His head was bent over his task. His matted hair had fallen over his eyes. He did not see me till I was close beside him on the sanded floor of the cave. I gave a slight cough.

“Excuse me!” I said.

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/106


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/107

 Rh The Cave-man gave a startled jump.

“My goodness,” he said, “you startled me!”

I could see that he was quite trembling.

“You came along so suddenly,” he said, “it gave me the jumps.” Then he muttered, more to himself than to me, “Too much of this darned cave-water! I must quit drinking it.”

I sat down near to the Cave-man on a stone, taking care to place my revolver carefully behind it. I don’t mind admitting that a loaded revolver, especially as I get older, makes me nervous. I was afraid that he might start fooling with it. One can’t be too careful.

As a way of opening conversation I picked up the Cave-man’s club.

“Say,” I said, “that’s a great club you have, eh? By gee! it’s heavy!”

“Look out!” said the Cave-man with a certain agitation in his voice as he reached out and took the club from me. “Don’t fool with that club! It’s loaded! You know you could easily drop the club on your toes, or on mine. A man can’t be too careful with a loaded club.”

He rose as he said this and carried the club to the other side of the cave, where he leant it against the wall. Now that he stood up and I

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/107


text:
Page:Judeo-Arabic romanization table.pdf/6

  יצ"ו,החכם כמהר"ר יהודה שתרוג  he-ḥakham k. mo. ha-r. R. Yehudah Śitrug, y. ts. ṿ.

7. In cases where it is possible, that is when the Judeo-Arabic consonants of the text can be matched with a Standard Arabic interpretation, a 246 “variant title” field in Standard Arabic may be provided for additional access. Narrative texts in particular may have standard Arabic titles and may indeed be direct adaptations of standard Arabic originals.

8. Name authority work presents a problem when specifically Judeo-Arabic names are involved—e.g., the forename /Mqyqṣ/. A group such as the Association of Jewish libraries may choose to keep an online list of found romanizations and code such headings (romanized as seems reasonable) “provisional” until they can be added to the list of authorized forms. Robert Attal’s ”ha-Sifrut ha-ʻArvit-ha-Yehudit be-Tunisyah : meʼah shenot yetsirah (1861-1961) : tsiyunim bibliyografiyim” (Yerushalayim: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi le- ḥeḳer ḳehilot Yiśraʼel ba-Mizraḥ, 2007) provides a name index to Tunisian authors that includes French forms as they appear on added title pages. This may serve as a tool to establish forms for authors such as:  חיים,בשירי  = Bsiri, Haïm, not Bashiri, Hayim.

9. Establish Hebrew or Standard Arabic forenames and surnames according to the rules in AACR2/RDA and the LCRIs/LCPSs for those languages; provide references in systematic ALA/LC Judeo-Arabic romanization.

(Numbered examples below are from Robert Attal’s ha-Sifrut ha-ʻArvit-ha-Yehudit be-Tunisyah : meʼah shenot yetsirah (1861-1961) : tsiyunim bibliyografiyim, Yerushalayim: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi le- ḥeḳer ḳehilot Yiśraʼel ba-Mizraḥ, 2007.) 1/31/2011


text:
Translation:Likutei Moharan/11

"Ani YHVH (I am God), that is My name. My glory I shall not give to another, nor My praise to idols."

(Isaiah 42:8)

[Understanding]
There is an upper unification and a lower unification: Shema Yisrael and Barukh shem kvod malkhuto l'olam va'ed (Blessed be the name of His glorious Kingdom forever more) (Zohar I, 18b). Each and every Jew should make sure to bring about [these unifications]. By doing so, one can come to deep Torah understanding.

When a person is on a low spiritual level, he is still very far from Torah understanding. Only through speech will he be able to come to deep Torah understanding - i.e., by verbalizing the words of Torah. As it is written (Proverbs 4:22), "For they are life l'motzA'eihem (to those who find them)" - [and our Sages taught: Read this] l'motzIeihem (to those who express them) verbally (Eruvin 54a).

Speech enlightens a person regarding all the areas in which he needs to repent. As our Sages taught: Open your mouth and your speech will enlighten (Berakhot 22a). And each and every time, because of each and every repentance, he moves from level to level until he emerges from his low spiritual level and comes to deep Torah understanding.

This is what Yochni and Mamrei asked Moshe: You're bringing teven (straw) into Apharayim?" To which he answered, "People say, 'To the vegetable market, take vegetables [to sell].' "  (Menachot 85a).  TeVeN corresponds to TeVuNah (understanding) , as is written (Proverbs 2:11), "understanding will preserve you."  [Yochni and Mamrei] understood that Moshe wanted to bring Torah understanding to the Jewish people.  This is why they asked, because when the Jews do not carry out God's will, the are likened to aphar (dust).  How could he bring them to a high level, to Torah understanding?"

Thus: "Teven" connotes tevunot of Torah. "You're bringing into Apharayim?" alludes to aphar, i.e., a low spiritual level. He answered them, "People say" - in other words, through speaking; the speech of a Jewish person directs him to all the areas in which he needs to repent. This is, "To a place of yarka (vegetables)" - the areas in which he should repent. YaRKa corresponds to repentance, as the Midrash comments: "vaYaReK (he called out) his trained servants" (Genesis 14:14) - [Avraham] enlightened them by reciting the Chapter of Shoftim (Bereishit Rabbah 43:2). In other words, he encouraged them to repent. For the Chapter of Shoftim deals with repentance, [as our Sages taught:] "Is there any among you who is afraid or faint-hearted" (Deuteronomy 20:8) - he fears because of the sins he committed (Sotah 43a).

This is the meaning of "People say, 'To the vegetable market' " - i.e., through the reciting and speaking of a Jewish person; "to the vegetable market" - [he is directed] to the areas in which he needs to repent. Speech directs him so that he can repent. And this is "yarka Sh'KuL (take vegetables)," corresponding to teshuvat hamiShKaL (fitting repentance). Speech will enlighten him so that he will be able to repent precisely commensurate with his sins.

[God's Glory]
However, it is impossible for a person to merit having his speech enlighten him except through glory. That is, he should see to it that the Holy One's glory is complete; his own glory should be non-existent in relationship to the Holy One's glory. [This is achieved] by means of humility and humbleness. For the essence of speech comes from glory, as is written (Psalms 24:10), "Who is this MeLeKh (king) of glory?" - i.e., "MaLKhut (Kingship) is mouth" (Tikkuney Zohar, Second Introduction).

For when the Torah comes into tarnished speech - a foul mouth - not only do the words of Torah not enlighten him, but the Torah itself becomes corporal and blackened there in his mouth. As is written (Joshua 1:8), "This Book of Torah should not YaMuSh (depart) from your mouth," corresponding to (Exodus 10:21), "darkness YaMaSh (that was tangible)." In other words, [the words of Torah] should not become corporal and blackened by your mouth. By failing to make certain that the Holy One's glory is complete - i.e., by being haughty - a person cannot open his mouth, as in (Psalms 17:10), "Their mouth closed up, [for] they spoke haughtily." This ressembles the story of Levi bar Sisa. He was called up to the podium, but his spirit grew haughty and he was unable to speak (Yerushalmi, Yevamot chap.12).

As a result of haughtiness, a person is in an aspect of idolatry. Concerning the worship of idols [it is written] (Deuteronomy 7:5), "the images of their gods destroy by fire." In connection to a shofar used for idolatry, the Talmud teaches: Anything about to be destroyed by fire is already considered destroyed and utterly reduced in size (Rosh HaShanah 28a). And, since his size has been utterly reduced, he no longer has a voice with which to speak.

However, when a person is careful and makes certain that God's glory is complete - he is "lowly, and in his own eyes repulsive" (Psalms 15:4) - this enables him to speak words which enlighten. As is written (Ezekiel 43:2), "And the earth shone with His glory." [His words] enlighten him to repentance, and he can then come to deep Torah understanding.

[ShaDaI]
KaVoD (glory) is only complete when it has the letter vav drawn into it. Without the vav he remains "K'VaD (heavy) of tongue" (Exodus 4:10). But with the vav he is in the aspect of (Psalms 30:13), "...kavOd, and not remain silent."

This is because wherever the letter vav is used, it comes to add (Pesachim 5a). In other words, there is an addition of holiness: guarding the brit (the Covenant). As our Sages taught: Wherever you find protective measures against immorality, there you will find holiness (Vayikra Rabbah 24:6). For one is contingent upon the other, haughtiness and immorality, as our Sages said of the verse (Proverbs 6:26), "The adulteress traps the haughty soul" (Sotah 4b).

This is why the brit is referred to by the holy name Shadai, as is written (Genesis 35:11), "I am the Omnipotent Shadai; be fruitful and multiply." For ShaDaI indicates "that yeSh DaI (there is enough) of My Godliness for every creation" (Rashi, Genesis 17:1). But when a person - because of haughtiness - fails to guard the brit, he makes a god of himself. He makes it appear as though there is not enough in His Godliness for him, so that he requires idol worship. And thus he blemishes the name Shadai; for there is enough of His Godliness for every creation. Whereas, by guarding the brit, he is rewarded with a light that directs him to repentance, as above.

[Thirty-Nine-Lights]
And, this light [which leads him to repent] corresponds to the thirty-nine-lights which are encompassed in the vav of kavOd. This is alluded to in (Job 33:29), "God does all these things twice or three times with man." "" corresponds to the thirty-nine-lights of the expanded first three letters . {To explain: The first three letters of the YHVH, when spelled out using the letter alef, have a numerical value of thirty-nine, corresponding to the thirty-nine-lights. They are thus encompassed in the VAV of God's name.} "With a man" - for [these lights] are included in the brit, [as in,] "For as a man is, so is his strength" (Judges 8:21). It is for this reason that the brit is referred to as Boaz: bo oz - in him, there is strength (Tikkuney Zohar #31).

But when a person does not guard the brit, he damages the thirty-nine-lights and draws upon himself the yoke of earning a living - i.e., the thirty-nine-works. As is taught in the Zohar (III, 244a): One who throws away crumbs of bread is pursued by poverty. All the more someone who throws away the "crumbs" of the mind.

This is bo oz: Bo (in him) there are incorporated two aspects. There are the thirty-nine-lights someone who guards the brit; and there are the thirty-nine-works someone who defiles it. For oz, counting the word itself, is twice thirty-nine.

And this is the reason for the repetition in (Exodus 38:21), "[These are the accounts of the] Tabernacle, the Tabernacle..." Twice thirty-nine, because the thirty-nine works are deduced from [the construction of] the Tabernacle (Shabbat 49b). Thus, someone who guards his brit, even though he engages in the thirty-nine-works, [his works] are an aspect of the work of the Tabernacle - i.e., the Tabernacle when built up, corresponding to the thirty-nine-lights. However, someone who defiles the brit, the work he does is an aspect of the Tabernacle when destroyed. This corresponds to the thirty-nine-lashes (Tikkuney Zohar, Introduction, p.12b), as in (Deuteronomy 25:3), "Forty lashes he may give him and not exceed." This alludes to defiling the brit, which is an aspect of excesses, as explained.

[Unification]
Guarding the brit has two levels. There is the person whose marital relations are during the six days of the week. Even so, he guards his brit as the Torah requires, because he does not transgress the Torah's laws. And there is the person who guards the brit in that his marital relations are [only] from Shabbat to Shabbat.

These [two levels] correspond to the upper unification and the lower unification. There is the aspect of Shadai of Shabbat: [When God reached the Shabbat of Creation,] He said to His world, "Dai! (Enough!)"  (Chagigah 12a), restricting Himself from all works. This corresponds to the upper unification.

There is also the aspect of Shadai of the weekdays. For even on the weekdays there are restrictions, from one work to the next. This corresponds to Metat, whose rule is the six days of the week, corresponding to the six orders of the Mishnah (Tikkuney Zohar #18). For [Metat's] name is like that of his Master's, as is written (Exodus 23:21), "because My name is in him." This is the lower unification. In other words, the Holy One, blessed-be-He, clothes Himself in Metat during the six days of the week and rules the world through him.

[Kabbalah & Halakhah]
This also corresponds to Halakhah (the law) and Kabbalah (the mystical tradition). As we find in the Kavanot (Shulchan Arukh HaAri, Shacharit shel Shabbat 4): Kabbalah is an aspect of "Hishtachavu L'hashem B'hadrat Kodesh" ("Bow down to God in the grandeur of holiness") (Psalms 29:2), the initial letters of which spell KaBbaLaH. Halakhah is an aspect of "Hareeu L'hashem Kol Haaretz" ("Sound a joyful note to God, all the earth") (Psalms 100:1), the initial letters of which spell HaLaKhaH.

Hishtachavu l'Hashem b'hadrat kodesh corresponds to the upper unification / marital relations of Shabbat. This is the upper brit, which contains the primary [expression] of bowing down, as in (Genesis 42:6), "Yosef's brothers came and bowed themselves before him." [Yosef] himself is "the grandeur of holiness," as in (Deuteronomy 33:17), "His grandeur is like a firstborn ox."

Hareeu l'Hashem kol haaretz corresponds to the lower unification / marital relations of the weekdays. This is Metat whose rule is the six days of the week / the six orders of the Mishnah. This is hareeu {which connotes sounding a note and song, as in (Isaiah 24:16), "From the k'naf (distant corner) fo the earth we heard songs." For Metat corresponds to KaNaF, similar to (Isaiah 30:2), "Your teacher will not yeKaNeF (distance himself) anymore." This is because the Holy One clothes Himself in him during the six days of the week, as is known.

[A Secret to Me]
{"From the distant corner of the earth we heard songs, tzvi latzaddik (glory to the righteous). But I said, Raz li (A secret to me), razi li (a secret to me)!" (Isaiah 24:16).}

This is also the aspect of secrets and deep secrets. Razin (secrets) corresponds to Halakhah. Razin d'razin (deep secrets) corresponds to Kabbalah. The encompassing of the Kabbalah within the Halakhah is similar to the Holy One's conduct during the six days of the week - the lower unification.

This is alluded to, "...tzvi latzaddik...razi li, razi li." The words tzvi latzaddik refers to the holiness of marital relations, of which there are two razin: the upper unification and the lower unification. These correspond to Halakhah and Kabbalah, secrets and deep secrets.

And this is what our Sages taught: "May God's glory be forever" (Psalms 104:31) - the ministering angel of the world said this. When the Holy One commanded the trees [to yield fruit] after their own kind, the grasses drew an inference with regard to themselves: If the trees - which are large and do not [reproduce] in close proximity - were commanded by the Holy One "after its own kind" (Genesis 1:11), then all the more so we - who are small and do [reproduce] in close proximity - must bring forth [only]  "after its own kind." The ministering angel of the world spoke and said, "May God's glory be forever; [God shall rejoice in His works]" (Chullin 60a, df. Rashi).

For in truth, even the great ones - whose marital relations are not in close proximity, but from one Shabbat to the next - are also warned by the Torah concerning guarding the brit. They must guard themselves. As is brought in the Kavanot (Pri Etz Chaim, Shaar HaShabat 18): It is written (Exodus 31:16), "v'shamru B'nei Yisrael Æt Hashabbat (the Children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat)" - the first letters of which spell BYAH (sexual relations). In other words, even through his marital relations are only from Shabbat to Shabbat, he still must exercise great ShMiRah (guarding). This is "v'ShaMRu..."

All the more so the small ones, which correspond to the grasses. Their marital relations, which also take place during the weekdays, are in close proximity. They must certainly exercise great caution in guarding their brit. They must guard themselves in accordance with the Torah, in the aspect of "after its own kind."

As soon as the ministering angel of the world - this is Metat whose rule is the six weekdays, corresponding to the grasses / the lower unification - heard this, he spoke up and said, "May God's glory be [forever]." Specifically "glory," because, as explained, by guarding the brit on both levels glory is complete.

Thus, by guarding the brit on the two levels mentioned - corresponding to the upper and lower unifications / trees and grasses / great ones and small ones / marital relations of Shabbat and of weekdays / Halakhah and Kabbalah / secrets and deep secrets - glory is then complete. And through glory a person merits speech which enlightens; and through speech he can come to deep Torah understanding.

[Ziz Sadai]
'''This is what Rabbah bar bar Chanah recounted: We were once traveling in a ship. We saw this bird which was standing up to its ankles in water, and its head was in the firmament. We concluded that there wasn't [much] water and wanted to go down into it l'okurei nafshin (to cool ourselves). A heavenly voice called out to us, "Do not go down into here. A carpenter's chatzina (axe) fell in here seven years ago, and it has not yet reached the ground.  Not [only] because the water is abundant, but because the water runs so rapidly." Rav Ashi said, "This bird was Ziz Sadai, as is written (Psalms 50:11), 'And the ziz sadai is with me' "''' (Bava Batra 73b).

Rashbam:

We saw this bird - this is the correct reading of the text: We concluded that there wasn't [much] water - we figured it wasn't very deep, because it was only standing in the water up to its ankles:  axe - a pick-axe or adze:  carpenter - a woodcutter:  Not only because the water is abundant - it went for seven years, and the axe did not reach the ground:  but because the water runs so rapidly - because of the quickness of the river, it hadn't settled; and not only because of its depth:  And ziz sadai (the bird of the field) is with me - his head reaching the firmament:

♦

this bird - This alludes to speech which is a bridge between man - who is formed from the masculine waters and the feminine waters - and the heavens - which correspond to Torah understanding. As it taught concerning a leper: He must bring two birds... Let the chatterer come and atone for the chatterer (Vayikra Rabbah 16:7, Erkhin 16b). And this is:

which was standing up to its ankles in water - Now that speech should enlighten him regarding all the areas in which he needs to repent, he is sometimes in the aspect of, "She uncovered his feet and lay down" (Ruth 3:14, Tikkuney Zohar #21, p.50a). That is, speech must show a person that he is down on a low spiritual level. This is the reason why speech is called a bird which was standing up to its ankles in water.

water - this alludes to man. He is formed from [a combination of] the masculine waters and the feminine waters, as is known. Thus, speech, which is likened to a bird, is standing up to its ankles - with the man on a low level. This, in order to enlighten im, as in, "She uncovered his feet..." This is, which was standing up to its ankles in water.

We concluded that there wasn't water - That is, we understood that it is impossible to merit speech unless glory is complete. A person should view himself as absolutely nothing. This is the meaning of there wasn't water: A man should consider himself as non-existent.

and we wanted to go down into it - [To go down] indicates lowliness, being lowly and humble. But it was:

l'OKuRei nafshin (to cool ourselves) - This is similar to (Isaiah 13:12), OKiR enosh (I will make man more prominent) than fine gold." That is, his humbleness was egotistical - so as to gain glory and yaKAR (prominence).  Because people know just how despicable haughtiness is, they act humbly, in order to acquire glory and prominence through humility.  This is the concept of humility that is the ultimate degree of haughtiness.

This is the meaning of and we wanted to go down into it - to be lowly and humble. L'okurei nafshin - so that by doing this we would be prominent and important, because haughtiness is very despicable.

A heavenly voice called out, Do not go down into here - [In other words,] do not go down to act lowly for this reason - in order to okurei nafshin. The heavenly voice warned them not to be humble so as to gain prominence and glory. For this humility is actually the ultimate degree of haughtiness.

A carpenter's axe fell in here seven years ago, and it has not yet reached the ground - The heavenly voice informed them of the root of haughtiness, so that they should not distance themselves [from it] to the utmost. They should not go down into here - they should not act humbly in order to gain acclaim, as our Sages taught: Be very, very humble (Avot 4:4). That is, [the heavenly voice] informed them that haughtiness stems from a debasement of the Holy One's splendor and majesty. These [qualities] are His garment, as is written (Psalms 93:1), "God reigns, He is clothed in majesty." And thus:

ChatZINa (axe) fell - This alludes to a garment, as is written (Psalms 129:7), "[The harvester did not fill his hand, nor put] bound sheaves into ChitZNo (his garment corner)."

a carpenter - This is the Holy One, as is written (Psalms 104:3), "Who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters." This is also [as our Sages] taught: Your God is a carpenter (Chullin 60a). The debasement of this garment produces haughtiness, which corresponds to the seven [royal] houses of idolatry. Because of this [idolatry], the Jewish people were exiled from their land, as our Sages taught: Israel was not exiled until the seven [royal] houses had worshipped idolatry (Gittin 88a). And this is the reason why idolatry is called splendor, as in (Isaiah 44:13), "...like the splendor of man, to sit in the house." For idolatry, which is haughtiness, comes from a debasement of His splendor. And this is:

seven years ago - This corresponds to haughtiness, the seven houses of idolatry mentioned above.

and it has not yet reached the ground - That is, because of this sin we have still not returned to our land. As a result of this sin of haughtiness - which is likened to serving idolatry / the seven [royal] houses of idolatry - we were exiled from our land. And this is why we have not yet returned to our land; all because of this sin of haughtiness, which is synonymous with idol worship. And this is:

Not only because the water is abundant - Do not say that is is because of this that it has not yet reached the ground. In other words, that we cannot approach and return to the Land of Israel because the water is abundant - because the idolatrous nations are many, as in (Deuteronomy 7:17), "Many are these nations." They are an aspect of "many waters" (Song of Songs 8:7).

but because the water runs so rapidly - because they run after glory. For [glory] corresponds to water, as in (Psalms 29:3), "The God of glory thunders, God is upon many waters." This is why we cannot approach and return to the Land of Israel - i.e., because of the running after glory and the haughtiness. For the main cause of this lengthy exile which prevents us from returning to our land is only the sin of haughtiness and the running after glory, as is explained.

The heavenly voice informed them of all this; just how repulsive haughtiness is, so that they would distance themselves from haughtiness to the utmost. Then, God's glory is complete and one merits speech which enlightens / the bird, as explained above. But how does one achieve this, to utterly break one's own haughtiness and glory so that the glory of God is complete? This happens by guarding the two levels of brit; the upper unification and lower unification. And this is what Rav Ashi said:

This bird was Ziz Sadai - This implies the upper and lower unifications. Through the upper unification and the lower unification - the guarding of the brit on both levels - glory is complete. And when glory is complete, one merits to the bird / speech, which is a bridge [standing] between the water and the firmament, as above. For the Ziz corresponds to the lower unification / Metat / "from the distant corner of the earth." As we find in the Midrash Rabbah: There is one bird which, when it spreads out K'NaFav (its wings), it blackens [or blocks out] the sun. Its name is Ziz (Bereishit 19:6, Vayikra 22:7). This corresponds to the lower unification / Metat / "from the K'Naf of the earth," in which the upper brit / the sun is clothed. [Thus,} Sadai alludes to the upper unification, as explained.

[YHVH]
And this is [the explanation of the opening verse]:

{"Ani YHVH (I am God), that is My name. My glory I shall not give to another, nor My praise to idols."}

Ani YHVH - ["YHVH" is] the uper unification.

that is My name - ["My name" is] the lower unification.

My glory I shall not give to another - This corresponds to glory that is complete.

nor My praise to idols - This corresponds to speech. As is written (Psalms 145:21), "My mouth will speak God's praise." This has all been explained.

title: Translation:Likutei Moharan/11


text:
Page:Judeo-Arabic romanization table.pdf/7

 10. As in the ALA/LC romanization tables for (Standard) Arabic and Hebrew, follow all conjunctions and prepositions prefixed to other words with a hyphen in romanization: (523) ואבן  w-ʼbn

(222) קצת יוסף הצדיק  qṣt Ywsf h-ṣdyq

(552) בביאן  b-byʼn

cf. Standard Arabic /bi-bayān/

11. The filing indicator in a 245 field beginning with the definite article /ʾl-l is set to 2 (the alif diacritic is not counted). (523) אלטיור  ʼl-ṭywr

12. Doubled consonants (marked in Standard Arabic with the diacritical mark shaddah) are represented as doubled in Judeo-Arabic romanization only if the letter is printed twice in the source: (525) אלגדדאר אל ׄכוואן  ʼl-gddʼr ʼl-kwwʼn

BUT:

(627) חכאית מחמד  ḥkʼyt Mḥmd

cf. Standard Arabic /ḥikāyat Muḥammad/ 1/31/2011


text: Judeo-Arabic romanization table

title: Judeo-Arabic romanization table


text:
Translation talk:Likutei Moharan/11

Credit to Translators
This text is being typed in wikisource but the original translation from the Hebrew was done by Moshe Mykoff and Symcha Bergman and can be found in the LIKUTEY MOHARAN SET (15 volumes). The set also includes annotations by Chaim Kramer and is considered the first authoritative translation of Rebbe Nachman’s magnum opus, containing all his major lessons. Presented with facing Hebrew text, full explanatory notes, source references and supplementary information, plus a variety of charts which assist the reader with kabbalistic teachings found in the text. Volume 1 contains Reb Noson’s introduction to the original work, brief biographies of Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson, and a bibliography. Published by Breslov Research Institute in Jerusalem in 1993 & 2012 by editors: Moshe Mykoff & Ozer Bergman. Breslevjoy (talk) 19:35, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Translation talk:Likutei Moharan/11


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/272

It is more than sixty years ago since the publication by the brothers Grimm of a collection of popular and nursery tales which they they had gathered from the lips of the German peasantry, laid the foundation of a new study which has ever since been pursued with interest and ardour. The legends of nearly every country and province in the world have been assiduously sought for and recorded, and a comparison of them has led to many curions results. Some of these old wives tales, now only related for the amusement of children, are found to be disguised forms of old mythologies, others are the remains of poems or romances or perhaps even of veritable historical narratives. Stories which can be traced to Central Asia are found localized in remote corners of Europe, as though they had grown there spontaneously. Such an one is the story of the faithful hound Gelert, whose tomb is shown in Wales to the present day, at the village named Bedd-Gelert, although precisely the same legend is found in the ancient collection of Persian tales, known under the name of Syntipas, of which we possess a Greek translation. The question how and when these tales were spread over the world is one of much interest. Some of them may have been carried by the Aryan tribes

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/272


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/273

 at their first emigration from their Asian homes. Others may have been imported by wandering minstrels at later periods. The process of communication must have gone on from a very remote antiquity. Quite recently Egyptian romances have been discovered in manuscripts of the 1th or 14th centuries before Christ, which have all the childish naïveté and the stock incidents of the modern fairy tale. The intercourse which early existed between Egypt, the Western part of the Asian Continent and Europe explains sufficiently the diffusion of this ancient literature over that portion of the earth’s surface which we are accustomed to call the West. But we should be less prepared à priori to find European legends making their appearance in a country like Japan so isolated and remote, and which, so far as it has borrowed, has done so chiefly from China, itself a country of which the literature is indigenous, and whose legends have not much affinity with those of Western Asia.

Some instances, however, of Japanese legends bearing affinity to those of the far West do occur, and one at least so remarkable that it has appeared to me worth making the subject of enquiry. The object of the present paper is simply to open the matter and to invite to it the attention of Japanese scholars, who are more qualified than myself, to institute a comparison between the whole cycle of Japanese legends and those current in different countries of the West.

A short story included among those given in Mitford’s “Tales of old Japan,” struck me when I first read it, as having a remarkable resemblance to one with which I had been familiar from my childhood—au Irish story first published by Crofton Croker about the year 1824 or 1825—and called the Legend of Knockgrafton. As I have unfortunately no copy of Crofton Croker’s work by me, I must tell this tale as well as I can from memory.

In some remote district in Ireland, but whereabouts I forget, is a village called Knockgrafton, near which are the

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/273


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/274

 ruins of an ancient castle surrounded by a moat, known in ancient times as the haunt of fairies or elves.

In the village of Knockgrafton lived a good-natured little humpbacked man named Lusmore. He was a general favorite from his cheerful and pleasant humour and nature had endowed him with a good pair of lungs and a taste for music.

One sunny day Lusmore lay down on the bank of the moat, and had a nap from which he was awakened by the sweet sound of voices apparently proceeding from beneath the water. He knew at once that it must he the fairies singing. Their song was of a very simple character, for it was nothing, when translated into English (the fairies of Knockgrafton of course sang in the Irish or Erse language)—but—Monday, Tuesday, Monday, Tuesday, and so on ad infinitum. Lusmore listened for some time and at length got rather tired of this perpetual repetition, and seizing a moment when there was a slight pause he sung at the top of his voice, but in a musical tone—‘and Wednesday too.’ Scarcely had he done this, when he found himself caught up and whirled down to the bottom of the moat, where was a spacious hall fall of elves dancing and singing. They took up Lusmore’s words and went on singing lustily “Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday too.” After this had coutinued for some time Lusmore was conducted to a place of honour, and two of the strongest elves came and with a saw made of butter they cut off his hump,—and then they all sang

Little Lusmore now found to his astonishment that he was no longer bent double as he used to be, but that he could lift himself upright and was a tall man, and in doing this he nearly knocked his head against the ceiling. After much rejoicing and feasting it became time for the elves

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/274


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/275

 to give up their festivities. Lusmore fell asleep and when he awoke ho found himself again on the bank outside the moat. He got up rubbed his eyes, and felt his back, and found that true enough he was rid of his hump. He went back rejoicing and told all the neighbours how he had danced and sung with the elves, and how they had taken off his hump. The story soon got wind and all the neighbourhood came to see Lusmore and congratulate him upon his good fortune. Now there was another humpback at Knockgrafton known by the name of Jack Madden, au ill-conditioned young scamp whom nobody liked. His mother was an envious old crone who did nothing but murmur at Lusmore’s back and wondered why the same did net happen to her son Jack. By her advice Jack Madden went and laid himself one day down by the moat, and there sure enough he heard the fairies singing their song with Lusmore’s elegant addition—“Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday too.” Now Jack Madden, who was as deficient in taste as he was in voice, thought to himself if Lusmore pleased the fairies by adding another day to their song, why should not I do better still by adding all the rest of the week,—so without waiting for a pause, or paying any regard to time or measure, he began in a harsh loud voice shouting out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Now the fairies have not only an exquisite ear for rhythm and time, but they have also a peculiar aversion to hear the Lord’s day named. No sooner therefore had Jack Madden commenced this tasteless uproar than he found himself whirled into the moat and surrounded by fierce-looking fairies. Two of the strongest of these, by orders from the chief, took up Lusmore’s hump which was still lying about, and clapped it on Jack Madden’s back, where it instantly stuck as tight as wax. Then they all sang

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/275


text:
Page:Regal Rome, an Introduction to Roman History (1852, Newman, London, regalromeintrodu00newmuoft).djvu/15

, from the earliest times, whether by its intrinsic beauty, or by its high serviceableness, attracted towards itself tribe after tribe from the north-west and north. Hence, at the highest period to which we can ascend, a great variety of population existed on the soil; and the pressure of migration seems generally to have been southward. What enthusiasm for Italy her "fatal beauty" is apt to excite in English visitors, we all know: more remarkable is it, that the ancient historian Dionysius, a Greek who had surveyed the


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/276

 Immediately after this they kicked him out of the moat, and he was found on the ground next morning by the old crone his mother, when she came to look after him, with two humps instead of one. Such was the reward of envy and bad taste.’

This is the Irish story picked up from the mouths of the peasantry more than fifty years ago. I am not able to say whether it has been found in any form in any other part of Europe, but my impression is that it is not known out of Ireland. The Japanese tale which resembles it is told very briefly by Mr. Mitford, and as he does not give any reference to the source from whence he obtained it, I made enquiries upon the subject, and my friend Mr. J. C. Hall of H. M. Consular Service kindly ascertained for me where it was to be found. It is given in the second volume of the Japanese work entitled “Uji Shu-i monogatari”—i.e. Stories omitted from the Uji collection. This book was first printed in 1664, but is supposed to have been written in the 13th century, the author being unknown.

Mr. Hall kindly transliterated the Japanese text and has also supplied me with the following translation.

‘The following also happened now a long time ago. There was an old man who had a big wen on the right side of his face. He went to (cut wood on) mount Taiko. It came on to rain and blow without stopping, so that he could not get back, and much against his will stopped the night on the hills. There was not even a wood-cutter’s (cabin) near. He was in a dreadful plight and did not know what to do. So he crept into the hollow of a tree that was there and whilst he was crouching inside, unable to close his eyes, there came from the distance a sound as of men hurrying along and talking loudly the while. Sure enough as he was all alone there in the midst of the hills, he felt his spirits somewhat revive within him at the indication of people approaching, and he locked out and beheld beings of all sorts of shapes and appearances,

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/276


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/277

 some of them of a red colour wearing blue clothes and others of a black colour wearing red clothes. Running well in front of the rest were some with only one eye and some without a mouth, and such like, and altogether, indeed, a quite indescribable kind of beings. The whole throng, to the number of about a hundred, came together with a whizzing sort of sound, and after lighting a great fire as bright as the eye of heaven, they spread themselves about it in front of the hollow tree in which the old man was, who thereupon lost the power of his senses more and more. One elf who seemed to be their chief sat on a seat set thwart-wise, while the elves ranged themselves on each side of him in two rows. I don’t know how many there were of them, and time would fail me if I were to attempt to describe the appearance of them one by one. They enjoyed themselves drinking saké just like people of this world, and after passing the bowl round repeatedly the chief elf seemed to get uncommonly drank. Then one young elf rose at the further end, and clapping a dish-tray on his head begged for something or other. Uttering witty sayings he marched up slowly to the front of the elf on the thwart seat and seemed to be importuning him: the latter remained seated holding the drinking cup in his left hand and smiling good humouredly, just like a person of this world. Then he led off into a dance and the rest joined in order all down the line: some danced well, others badly. When at length they seemed to have had enough of it the elf of the thwart seat spoke and said: “We have prolonged the fun to-night much beyond our usual time; no wonder, however; the jig was a sight to see.” Hereupon the old man, whether it was that something had bewitched him, or that some god or saint put it into his mind to do so—at any rate he felt a desire to start out and dance. Then all at once he changed his mind, but the elves hereupon without more ado struck up a tune of so pleasing a sound that he made up his mind. “So be it,” said he, “I will run out and have my dance; I must, even if I die for it,” and with his cap cocked over his nose and

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/277


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/278

 his woodman’s hatchet stuck in his girdle, forth he came dancing up in front of where the elf on the thwart seat was. Up sprang the elves, bounding and buzzing about him, to know what this meant. The old man, now stretching himself out, now drawing himself together, with quips and cranks and every gesture he was master of, went circling round the entire area, singing in a drunken voice the while. All the elves there assembled, and he on the thwart-seat amongst the foremost, looked on applauding and amused. Then the elf of the thwart-seat said, “For many years we have indulged in this amusement, but never yet have we come across anything like this. Henceforth this old man mast positively come and join in the amusement with us.” The old man replied: “No need to order me; come I will. This being an impromptu effort I forgot to keep time to the music, but if you are so good as to be pleased with it I will endeavour to perform more cleverly next time.” The elf of the thwart sent affably rejoined “You must really come, you know.” Then an elf who was sitting three seats back said; “Although this old man speaks in this way, it is possible he may not come at all; we had better take some likely pledge or other from him.” “Just so, just so” said the elf on the thwart seat, “what ought we to take?” Then some suggested one thing, some another, but the elf on the thwart seat said: “We should take the wen which the old man has on his face: a wen is a lucky thing and he will hardly be willing to part with it.” Then the old man said: “You may take my nose or my eye if you like, but please do allow me to keep this wen: it would be unfair of you to take away from me without cause a thing that I have had for so many years.” “Oh! you are so unwilling to part with it as all that, then?” said the elf of the thwart seat; “that’s just the thing to take.” Whereupon up came an elf, and “off it goes,” says be, and twisted it off, causing hardly any pain. “So you must cone and play next time, now” said they, and as it was now dawn and the birds were beginning to sing, the elves went

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/278


text:
Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/77

 ing the characters of those around him, and he piques himself extremely on it; he also thinks he has fathomed the recesses of his own mind; but he is mistaken; with much that is little (which he suspects) in his character, there is much that is great, that he does not give himself credit for; his first impulses are always good, but his temper, which is impatient, prevents his acting on the cool dictates of reason; and it appears to me, that in judging himself, Byron mistakes temper for character, and takes the ebullitions of the first for the indications of the nature of the second. He declares that, in addition to his other failings, avarice is now established.

This new vice, like all the others he attributes to himself, he talks of as one would name those of an acquaintance, in a sort of deprecating, yet half-mocking tone; as much as to say, you see I know all my faults better than you do, though I don’t choose to correct them; indeed, it has often occurred to me; that he brings forward his defects, as if in anticipation of some one else exposing them, which he would not like; as, though he affects the contrary, he is jealous of being found fault with, and shows it in a thousand ways.

He affects to dislike hearing his works praised


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/279

 away. The old man felt his face and, lo! the won he had had for years was clean gone, not even a trace of it being perceptible on the smooth even surface. He went back to his home forgetting even to cut the wood he had come for. When the old woman his wife asked him what wonderful thing had happened him he told her it was so and so. “What a vexatious affair” said she.

Next door lived a certain old man who had a big wen on the left side of his face. This old man observing that the other had lost his wen, thought it very queer and asked him about it, saying:—“How did you come to get rid of your wen? What doctor took it off for you? Kindly tell me, for I want to have this wen of mine taken off.” “It was n’t taken off by a doctor at all,” said the other, “it happened on this wise,” and he told him how it had been taken away by the elves. “I’ll have mine taken off in the same way” thought he, and he questioned the first old man closely, who told him the whole circumstances. Following out what he had heard he went and waited inside the hollow tree, and true enough, just as he had been told, the elves cane, and spreading themselves all about began to amuse themselves drinking saké. Then they said “Has the old man come who was here? The other old man swung himself out, though very much afraid be was. Then the elves said “Yes, the old man has come; here he is..” [sic] “Come here, dance, quick,” said the elf on the thwart seat. Now this old man was not fit to be compared to the former one, and after making an awkward attempt at a dance the elf on the thwart seat said to him “you dance very badly this time; ever so many times worse than you danced before. Let him have back the wen we took from him as pledge.” Hereupon an elf from the far end came forward saying “Here you may have your pledge, the wen, back again”, and with that he threw it at him and it stuck on his other cheek, so that he now had a wen on both sides of his face.

Moral. People ought not to feel envious.

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/279


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/280

 These stories are unmistakeably identical. Can it be supposed that the same leading idea, that of the taking off the hump or wen of one man, by the agency of elves, and the clapping it on another in reward for his envy and want of skill came into the heads of two different story-tellers, one a Celt and the other a Japanese, independently? Is it credible that one of these stories is not borrowed from the other? But, if so, then at what age of the world did the loan take place, and which country was the borrower and which the lender?

As we know of no recent epoch at which the communication from one country to the other is likely to have taken place, we are led to think that this story may he one of the most ancient traditions of the human race, and that it may date from a time far anterior to history, when a Turanian tribe have occupied Iceland, preceding the Celtic tribes who are now the oldest stratum of humanity remaining in the far west.

In the remarkable Dutch novel, entitled Max Havelaar, of which an English translation by Baron Alphonse Nahuijs, appeared in 1868, a Japanese legend is introduced professedly taken from a periodical paper called “Dutch India,” and attributed to a writer named Jerome. This story entitled “The Japanese Stone-cutter” is told nearly as follows.

‘There was a man who cut stones out of a rock. His labour was heavy and he laboured much, but his wages were small, and he was not content. He sighed because his labour was heavy, and he cried ‘O that I were rich, in order to rest on a couch, with curtains,’

And there came an angel out of heaven, who said ‘Be it as you have said.” And he was rich. And he rested on a couch, and the curtain was of red silk. And the king of the country passed with horsemen before his carriage, and likewise behind the carriage there were horsemen, and the golden umbrella was held over the head of the king.

And as soon as the rich man heard this he was sad because they held no golden umbrella over his head, and

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/280


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/108

 Rh could examine him he no longer looked so big. In fact he was not big at all. The effect of size must have come, I think, from the great wolfskin that he wore. I have noticed the same thing in Grand Opera. I noticed, too, for the first time that the cave we were in seemed fitted up, in a rude sort of way, like a dwelling-room.

“This is a nice place you’ve got,” I said.

“Dandy, isn’t it?” he said, as he cast his eyes around. “She fixed it up. She’s got great taste. See that mud sideboard? That’s the real thing, A-one mud! None of your cheap rock about that. We fetched that mud for two miles to make that. And look at that wicker bucket. Isn’t it great? Hardly leaks at all except through the sides, and perhaps a little through the bottom. She wove that. She’s a humdinger at weaving.”

He was moving about as he spoke, showing me all his little belongings. He reminded me for all the world of a man in a Harlem flat, showing a visitor how convenient it all is. Somehow, too, the Cave-man had lost all appearance of size. He looked, in fact, quite little, and when he had pushed his long hair back from his forehead he seemed to wear that same, worried, apologetic look that we all have. To a higher being, if there is such,

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/108


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/281

 he was not content. He sighed and cried ‘I should like to be a king.’

And there came an angel out of heaven and said ‘Be it as you have said.’

And he became a king. And before his carriage were many horsemen, and behind were also horsemen, and over his head they held the golden umbrella.

And the sun shone with hot beams, and burned the earth in such a manner that the grass was dried up.

And the king complained that the sun burned his face, and had more power than he; and he was not satisfied. He sighed and cried ‘I should like to be the sun.’

And there came an angel out of heaven who said ‘Be it as you have said.’ And he became the sun. And he sent up his beams on high, and down to the earth; to the right and to the left—everywhere.

And he burned up the grass on the earth and the faces of the princes who were on the earth.

And a cloud came between him and the earth and the beams of the sun were turned back.

And he was angry that his power was resisted; and he complained that this cloud had more power than he; and he was dissatisfied.

He desired to be the cloud that was so mighty.

And there came an angel from heaven who said ‘Be this as you have said.’

And he became a cloud, and placed himself between the sun and the earth, and intercepted the beams, so that the grass became green. And the cloud rained in large drops on the earth and made the rivers swell, and the floods carried away the herds.

And the cloud devastated the field with much water.

And it fell on a rock which did not move, and rattled in large streams, but the rock did not yield.

And the cloud was angry because the rock would not yield, and because the strength of its streams was vain, and it was not contented.

It cried ‘This rock has more power than I have. I wish to be this rock.’

rth and the

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/281


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/109

 Rh our little faces one and all appear, no doubt, pathetic.

I knew that he must be speaking about his wife.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“My wife?” he said. “Oh, she’s gone out somewhere through the caves with the kid. You didn’t meet our kid as you came along, did you? No? Well, he’s the greatest boy you ever saw. He was only two this nineteenth of August. And you should hear him say ‘Pop’ and ‘Mom’ just as if he was grown up. He is really, I think, about the brightest boy I’ve ever known—I mean quite apart from being his father, and speaking of him as if he were anyone else’s boy. You didn’t meet them?”

“No,” I said, “I didn’t.”

“Oh, well,” the Cave-man went on, “there are lots of ways and passages through. I guess they went in another direction. The wife generally likes to take a stroll round in the morning and see some of the neighbours. But, say,” he interrupted, “I guess I’m forgetting my manners. Let me get you a drink of cave-water. Here, take it in this stone mug! There you are, say when! Where do we get it? Oh, we find it in parts of the cave where it filters through the soil above. Alcoholic? Oh, yes, about fifteen

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/109


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/110

 Rh per cent, I think. Some say it soaks all through the soil of this State. Sit down and be comfortable, and, say, if you hear the woman coming just slip your mug behind that stone out of sight. Do you mind? Now, try one of these elm-root cigars. Oh, pick a good one—there are lots of them!”

We seated ourselves in some comfort on the soft sand, our backs against the boulders, sipping cave-water and smoking elm-root cigars. It seemed altogether as if one were back in civilization, talking to a genial host.

“Yes,” said the Cave-man, and he spoke, as it were, in a large and patronizing way. “I generally let my wife trot about as she likes in the daytime. She and the other women nowadays are getting up all these different movements, and the way I look at it is that if it amuses her to run around and talk and attend meetings, why let her do it. Of course,” he continued, assuming a look of great firmness, “if I liked to put my foot down”

“Exactly, exactly,” I said. “It’s the same way with us!”

“Is it now!” he questioned with interest. “I had imagined that it was all different Outside. You’re from the Outside, aren’t you? I guessed you must be from the skins you wear.”

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/110


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/111

 Rh “Have you never been Outside?” I asked.

“No fear!” said the Cave-man. “Not for mine! Down here in the caves, clean underground and mostly in the dark, it’s all right. It’s nice and safe.” He gave a sort of shudder. “Gee! You fellows out there must have your nerve to go walking around like that on the outside rim of everything, where the stars might fall on you or a thousand things happen to you. But then you Outside Men have got a natural elemental fearlessness about you that we Cave-men have lost. I tell you, I was pretty scared when I looked up and saw you standing there.”

“Had you never seen any Outside Men?” I asked.

“Why, yes,” he answered, “but never close. The most I’ve done is to go out to the edges of the cave sometimes and look out and see them, Outside Men and Women, in the distance. But of course, in one way or another, we Cave-men know all about them. And the thing we envy most in you Outside Men is the way you treat your women! By gee! You take no nonsense from them—you fellows are the real primordial, primitive men. We’ve lost it somehow.”

“Why, my dear fellow” I began.

But the Cave-man, who had sat suddenly upright, interrupted.

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/111


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/112

 Rh “Quick! quick!” he said. “Hide that infernal mug! She’s coming. Don’t you hear!”

As he spoke I caught the sound of a woman’s voice somewhere in the outer passages of the cave.

“Now, Willie,” she was saying, speaking evidently to the Cave-child, “you come right along back with me, and if I ever catch you getting in such a mess as that again I’ll never take you anywhere, so there!”

Her voice had grown louder. She entered the cave as she spoke—a big-boned woman in a suit of skins leading by the hand a pathetic little mite in a rabbit-skin, with blue eyes and a slobbered face.

But as I was sitting the Cave-woman evidently couldn’t see me; for she turned at once to speak to her husband, unconscious of my presence.

“Well, of all the idle creatures!” she exclaimed. “Loafing here in the sand”—she gave a sniff—“and smoking!”

“My dear,” began the Cave-man.

“Don’t you my-dear me!” she answered. “Look at this place! Nothing tidied up yet and the day half through! Did you put the alligator on to boil?”

“I was just going to say” began the Cave-man.

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/112


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/113

 Rh “Going to say! Yes, I don’t doubt you were going to say. You’d go on saying all day if I’d let you. What I’m asking you is, is the alligator on to boil for dinner or is it not My gracious!” She broke off all of a sudden, as she caught sight of me. “Why didn’t you say there was company? Land sakes! And you sit there and never say there was a gentleman here!”

She had hustled across the cave and was busily arranging her hair with a pool of water as a mirror.

“Gracious!” she said, “I’m a perfect fright! You must excuse me,” she added, looking round toward me, “for being in this state. I’d just slipped on this old fur blouse and run around to a neighbour’s and I’d no idea that he was going to bring in company. Just like him! I’m afraid we’ve nothing but a plain alligator stoostew [sic] to offer you, but I’m sure if you’ll stay to dinner”

She was hustling about already, good primitive housewife that she was, making the stone-plates rattle on the mud table.

“Why, really” I began. But I was interrupted by a sudden exclamation from both the Cave-man and the Cave-woman together:

“Willie! where’s Willie!”

“Gracious!” cried the woman. “He’s

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/113


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/114

 Rh wandered out alone—oh, hurry, look for him! Something might get him! He may have fallen in the water! Oh, hurry!”

They were off in a moment, shouting into the dark passages of the outer cave: “Willie! Willie!” There was agonized anxiety in their voices.

And then in a moment, as it seemed, they were back again, with Willie in their arms, blubbering, his rabbit-skin all wet.

“Goodness gracious!” said the Cave-woman. “He’d fallen right in, the poor little man. Hurry, dear, and get something dry to wrap him in! Goodness, what a fright! Quick, darling, give me something to rub him with.”

Anxiously the Cave-parents moved about beside the child, all quarrel vanished.

“But surely,” I said, as they calmed down a little, “just there where Willie fell in, beside the passage that I came through, there is only three inches of water.”

“So there is,” they said, both together, “but just suppose it had been three feet!”

Later on, when Willie was restored, they both renewed their invitation to me to stay to dinner.

“Didn’t you say,” said the Cave-man,

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/114


text: Frenzied Fiction/The Cave-Man as He Is

title: Frenzied Fiction/The Cave-Man as He Is


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/282

 And there came an angel out of heaven who said ‘Be this as you have said,,’ [sic] and it became a rock, and moved neither when the sun shone nor when it rained, and there came a man with pick-axe and sharp chisel and heavy hammer, who cut stones out of the rock.

And the rock said ‘What is this, that the man has power over me and cuts stones out of my bosom?’ [sic] And it was discontented. It cried ‘I am weaker than he, I should like to be that man.’

And there came an angel out of heaven who said ‘Be this as you have said’ and he became a stone cutter. And he cut stones out of the rock with heavy labour, and he laboured hard for small wages, and was contented.’

When I first came across this story, it reminded me of one which is to be found in Grimm’s Popular tales, that entitled “The Fisherman and his wife,” the moral of which is “Be content with your station.”

The book which contains “the Japanese stone-cutter” being a Dutch one, and the tale evidently containing many touches of colouring which are not Japanese, it was necessary before drawing any inference from its resemblance to the well-known German tale, to make some enquiry as to its authenticity and its real origin.

The result of the enquiry has been that no such tale is to be found at present in any Japanese book, but that one in the main similar is current in the mouths of the people, and that in a great variety of forms. One version has peen obtained for me by Mr. J. C. Hall from a Japanese teacher, who wrote it down from recollection. Mr. Hall has kindly transcribed the Japanese text into English characters, and has furnished me with a translation, which is as follows.

‘In a certain place there lived a pair of mice, and a daughter was born unto them. The parent mice were uncommonly fond of her, and wished to marry their daughter to whatever was most powerful in the whole world, so they set about choosing a son-in-law. A neighbour mouse

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/282


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/283

 said “The most powerful thing in the world, is, beyond comparison, the sun. If you marry your daughter to the sun there will be nobody in all the world to equal you.” When the parent mice heard this they were greatly delighted and went straightway to the sun and told him of their desire that he should take their daughter to wife. The sun replied—“I am extremely obliged to you for coming such a long journey and for your kind intention of allowing me to wed your dearly beloved daughter. But what, pray, was your idea in choosing me for a son-in law?” The mice said, “We wish to marry our daughter to whatever is most powerful in the world, and as you are, beyond rivalry, the most powerful personage in the world, that is why we desire to give you our daughter in marriage.” The Sun rejoined:—“You are certainly not without reason in considering me the most powerful thing in the world;” but there is one still more powerful than I am, for whose strength I am in no way a match. It is to that you ought to marry your daughter.” “Can there be aught more powerful than you?” said the mice. The Sun rejoined:—“Oft-times when I want to illumine the world a floating cloud comes out and covers me so that I am rendered powerless. My power is no match for that of the cloud. If it is a powerful thing you want there is nought like the cloud.” The mice answered “What you say is certainly the truth.” After that they went to the cloud, and expressed to it their wish to have it for their son-in-law. The cloud said, “True, I have the strength to cover over the Sun, but as soon as the wind begins to blow I am at once scattered to pieces and can do nothing. I am no match for the power of the wind.” Then the mice went their way and coming to the wind, made their proposal of marriage. The wind said.—“True, I have the strength to blow the cloud to pieces, but when a wall is put up to keep me off, I cannot blow through that wall. I am no match for the power of the wall.” Then the mice went their way and coming to the wall told their story as before. The wall said, “True, I have the strength

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/283


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/284

 to keep off the wind, but there is the mouse who sometimes gnaws my body, opens a hole through me and hurts me. I cannot withstand the power of the mouse. Far better for you to make the mouse your son-in-law than me.” The mice were convinced by this reasoning and returned home, and after all, it is said, they married their daughter to one of their own kind.

Although the stories of the stonecutter and the ambitious mice, have evidently a common basis, there are, it will be seen, many important points of dissimilarity, and it is possible that these may be principally due to the Dutch author who may have had the German tale in his mind. This is a point which I am unable now to determine. I should be much obliged to any Japanese scholar who would supply other genuine Japanese varieties of the tale.

The German story in Grimm to which I have alluded is substantially as follows.

‘A fisherman once lived contentedly with his wife in a little hut near a lake, and he went every day to throw his line into the water.

One day after angling for a long time without even a bite, the line suddenly sunk to the bottom, and when he pulled it up again there was a large flounder hanging to the end of it.

‘Oh! dear,’ exclaimed the fish, ‘good fisherman let me go, I pray you; I am not a real fish, but a prince in disguise. I shall be of no use to you, for I am not good to eat; put me back into the water, and let me swim away.’

‘Ah,’ said the man ‘you need not make such a disturbance. I would rather let a flounder who can speak swim away, than keep it.’

With these words, he placed the fish back again in the water and it sunk to the bottom leaving a long streak of blood behind it. Then the fisherman rose up and went home to his wife in the hut.

‘Husband,’ said the wife, ‘have you caught anything to-day?’

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/284


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/82

 Rh and when the mood of mirth and hilarity comes to me only as a rare visitant—shall we say at a burlesque performance—and never as a daily part of my existence. Madam, I am unfit to be a summer guest. If this is Liberty Hall indeed, let me, oh, let me go!”

Such is the speech that I would make if it were possible. As it is, I can only rehearse it to myself.

Indeed, the more I analyse it the more impossible it seems, for a man of my temperament at any rate, to be a summer guest. These people, and, I imagine, all other summer people, seem to be trying to live in a perpetual joke. Everything, all day, has to be taken in a mood of uproarious fun.

However, I can speak of it all now in quiet retrospect and without bitterness. It will soon be over now. Indeed, the reason why I have come down at this early hour to this quiet water is that things have reached a crisis. The situation has become extreme and I must end it.

It happened last night. Beverly-Jones took me aside while the others were dancing the fox-trot to the victrola on the piazza.

“We’re planning to have some rather good fun to-morrow night,” he said, “something that will be a good deal more in your line than a lot of it, I’m afraid, has been up here. In

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/82


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/285

 ‘I caught a flounder’ he replied, ‘who said he was an enchanted prince, and I threw him back into the water, and let him swim away.’

‘Did you not wish?’ she asked.

‘No,’ he said, ‘what should I wish for?’

‘Why, at least for a better hut than this dirty place; how unlucky you did not think of it. He would have promised you whatever you asked for. However, go and call him now, perhaps he will answer you.’

The husband did not like this task at all; he thought it was nonsense. However, to please his wife he went and stood by the sea. When he saw how green and dark it looked he felt much discouraged, but made up a rhyme and said

Then the fish came swimming up to the surface and said, ‘What do you want with me?’

‘Ah,’ said the man, ‘I caught you and let you go again to-day, without wishing, and my wife says I ought to have wished, for she cannot live any longer in such a miserable hut as ours and she wants a better one.’

‘Go home, man,’ said the fish, ‘your wife has all she wants.’ So the husband went home and there was his wife no longer in her dirty hovel, but sitting at the door of a neat little cottage, looking very happy. She took her husband by the hand and said, ‘come in and see how much better it is than the other old hut.’

So he followed her in and found a beautiful parlour, and a bright stove in it, a soft bed in the bed-room, and a kitchen full of earthenware, and tin and copper vessels for cooking, looking so bright and clean, and all of the very best. Outside was a little farm yard, with hens and chickens running about, and beyond, a garden containing plenty of fruit and vegetables. ‘See,’ said the wife, ‘is it not delightful?’ ‘Ah yes!!’ [sic] replied her husband, ‘as long as

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/285


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/83

 Rh fact, my wife says that this will be the very thing for you.”

“Oh,” I said.

“We’re going to get all the people from the other houses over and the girls”—this term Beverly-Jones uses to mean his wife and her friends—“are going to get up a sort of entertainment with charades and things, all impromptu, more or less, of course”

“Oh,” I said. I saw already what was coming.

“And they want you to act as a sort of master-of-ceremonies, to make up the gags and introduce the different stunts and all that. I was telling the girls about that afternoon at the club, when you were simply killing us all with those funny stories of yours, and they’re all wild over it.”

“Wild?” I repeated.

“Yes, quite wild over it. They say it will be the hit of the summer.”

Beverly-Jones shook hands with great warmth as we parted for the night. I knew that he was thinking that my character was about to be triumphantly vindicated, and that he was glad for my sake.

Last night I did not sleep. I remained awake all night thinking of the “entertainment.” In my whole life I have done nothing in public except once when I presented a

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/83


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/286

 it is new you will be quite contented; but after that we shall see.’

‘Yes, we shall see,’ said the wife.

A fortnight passed and the husband felt quite happy, till one day his wife startled him by saying ‘Husband, after all, this is only a cottage, very much too small for us, and the yard and the garden cover very little ground. If the fish is really a prince in disguise, he could very well give us a larger house. I should like above all things to live in a large castle built of stone. Go to the fish, and ask him to build us a castle.’

‘Ah, wife,’ he said ‘this cottage is good enough for us; what do we want with a castle’?

‘Go along,’ she replied, ‘the flounder will be sure to give what you ask.’

‘Nay; wife,’ said he, ‘the fish gave us the cottage at first, but if I go again he may be angry.’

‘Never mind,’ she replied; ‘he can do what I wish easily, and I have no doubt he will; so go and try.’

The husband rose to go with a heavy heart. He said to himself, ‘This is not right,’ and when he reached the sea he noticed that the water was now a dark blue yet very calm, so he began his old song.

‘Now then, what do you want’ said the fish, lifting his head above the water.

‘Oh dear,’ said the fisherman, in a frightened tone, ‘my wife wants to live in a great stone castle.’

‘Go home, man, and you will find her there’ was the reply.

The husband hastened home, and where the cottage had been there stood a fresh stone castle, and his wife tripped down the steps saying, ‘come in to me, and I will show you what a beautiful dwelling we now have.’

The fisherman’s wife soon becomes discontented in the the splendid castle, and her next wish is to be queen.

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/286


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/287

 Her husband reluctantly complies with her desires and once more addressed himself to the fish, with their new request, which is granted and he returns to find his wife invested with all the splendonrs of royalty.

She now desires to be empress and this wish is also granted.

Nor satisfied with being empress she next requires to be the Pope, and even this is conceded, and when the husband comes back he finds her in a large cathedral.

‘Well wife,’ says the husband, ‘and you are Pope?’ [sic] ‘Yes,’ she said ‘I am.’

He stood still for a time watching her, and at length he remarked ‘You cannot be higher than the Pope, so I suppose you are now content.’

‘I am not quite sure,’ she said. But when evening came, and they retired to rest, she could not sleep for thinking of what next she should wish for.

Her husband slept soundly, for he had tired himself the day before; but she rose even before the day broke, and stood at the window to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful sight, and she exclaimed as she watched it ‘Oh, if I only had the power to make the sun rise! Husband wake up,’ she added, pushing him in the ribs with her elbows; ‘wake up and go and tell the enchanted prince that I wish to be equal to the Creator, and make the sun rise.’

The husband was so frightened at this that he tumbled out of bed, and exclaimed, ‘Ah wife, what did’st thou say?’

She repeated the wordswords. [sic]

Her husband fell on his knees before her ‘Don’t ask me to do this, I cannot’ he cried, but she flew into a rage and drove him from the house.

The poor fisherman went down to the shore in terror, for a dreadful storm had arisen, and he could scarcely stand on his feet. Ships were wrecked, boats tossed to and fro, and rocks rolled into the sea.

In his terror and confusion he heard a voice from amidst the storm ‘Your wife wishes to be equal to the Creator,

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/287


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/84

 Rh walking-stick to the vice-president of our club on the occasion of his taking a trip to Europe. Even for that I used to rehearse to myself far into the night sentences that began: “This walking-stick, gentlemen, means far more than a mere walking-stick.”

And now they expect me to come out as a merry master-of-ceremonies before an assembled crowd of summer guests.

But never mind. It is nearly over now. I have come down to this quiet water in the early morning to throw myself in. They will find me floating here among the lilies. Some few will understand. I can see it written, as it will be, in the newspapers.

“What makes the sad fatality doubly poignant is that the unhappy victim had just entered upon a holiday visit that was to have been prolonged throughout the whole month. Needless to say, he was regarded as the life and soul of the pleasant party of holiday makers that had gathered at the delightful country home of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly-Jones. Indeed, on the very day of the tragedy, he was to have taken a leading part in staging a merry performance of charades and parlour entertainments—a thing for which his genial talents and overflowing high spirits rendered him specially fit.”

When they read that, those who know me

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/84


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/288

 Go home, man, and find her again in her dirty hut by the sea.’

He went home, to find the glories, the riches, and the palaces vanished, and his wife sitting in the old hut, an example of the consequences of impious ambition.

Notwithstanding the general resemblance between the German story of the fisherman and the Japanese one of the ambitious mice, the differences in treatment are so great that it may fairly be questioned whether they have a common origin. The story of the Japanese stone-cutter, as told in the Dutch novel, forms a kind of link between the two, but until we are sure that the peculiar features contained in it which bring it nearer to the German legend, have not been added by the author of the novel, we can form no satisfactory conclusion on the subject. The three legends, however, together furnish an instructive example of the manner in which one leading idea may be varied and decorated.

The last story I have to refer to is one which was printed in the Japan Mail of November 28th, 1874, and which I am informed is current amongst the old-wives of Japan at the present day.

It is entitled

‘Kisaburo, a man of a careful and saving disposition, abandoned his old lodgings and took a small dwelling next door to a famous eel-house. Now as every one knows that the titillating odour of eels fried in soy may he perceived far and near, Kisaburo found this change of quarters vastly to his advantage, and eat his simple meal of rice to the accompaniment of the delicious smell, dispensing with the usual adjuncts of fish or vegetables.

The eel-man was not slow to discover this, and determining at length to ask his frugal-minded neighbour for payment, took him an account for the “smell” of his eels. Kisabure eyed him astutely, and drawing from his pocket-book the amount claimed from him, laid the money on the bill and began to converse with his visitor. The latter

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/288


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/85

 Rh best will understand how and why I died. “He had still over three weeks to stay there,” they will say. “He was to act as the stage manager of charades.” They will shake their heads. They will understand.

But what is this? I raise my eyes from the paper and I see Beverly-Jones hurriedly approaching from the house. He is hastily dressed, with flannel trousers and a dressing-gown. His face looks grave. Something has happened. Thank God, something has happened. Some accident! Some tragedy! Something to prevent the charades!

I write these few lines on a fast train that is carrying me back to New York, a cool, comfortable train, with a deserted club-car where I can sit in a leather arm-chair, with my feet up on another, smoking, silent, and at peace.

Villages, farms and summer places are flying by. Let them fly. I, too, am flying—back to the rest and quiet of the city.

“Old man,” Beverly-Jones said, as he laid his hand on mine very kindly—he is a decent fellow, after all, is Jones—“they’re calling you by long-distance from New York.”

“What is it?” I asked, or tried to gasp.

“It’s bad news, old chap; fire in your office last evening. I’m afraid a lot of your private papers were burned. Robinson—that’s your

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/85


text: Index:Denslow's Humpty Dumpty.djvu

title: Index:Denslow's Humpty Dumpty.djvu


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/86

 Rh senior clerk, isn’t it?—seems to have been on the spot trying to save things. He’s badly singed about the face and hands. I’m afraid you must go at once.”

“Yes, yes,” I said, “at once.”

“I know. I’ve told the man to get the trap ready right away. You’ve just time to catch the seven-ten. Come along.”

“Right,” I said. I kept my face as well as I could, trying to hide my exultation. The office burnt! Fine! Robinson singed! Glorious! I hurriedly packed my things and whispered to Beverly-Jones farewell messages for the sleeping household. I never felt so jolly and facetious in my life. I could feel that Beverly-Jones was admiring the spirit and pluck with which I took my misfortune. Later on he would tell them all about it.

The trap ready! Hurrah! Good-bye, old man! Hurrah! All right. I’ll telegraph. Right you are, good-bye. Hip, hip, hurrah! Here we are! Train right on time. Just these two bags, porter, and there’s a dollar for you. What merry, merry fellows these darky porters are, anyway!

And so here I am in the train, safe bound for home and the summer quiet of my club.

Well done for Robinson! I was afraid that it had missed fire, or that my message to him had gone wrong. It was on the second day of

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/86


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/289

 at length rose to depart, when Kisaburo quietly replaced the money in his pocket-book. “Hey!” quoth the eel-man “I thought that money was for me; why don’t you give it to me?” “Not so” was the reply; “You have charged me for the smell of your eels;—I pay you back with the sight of my money.” ’—Japan Mail, Nov. 28.

It was pointed out by a writer in the Japan Daily Herald of the 5th December, 1874, that the counterpart of this story is to be found greatly elaborated in Rabelais in the 37th chapter of the 3rd Book. The Rabelaisian version is as follows.

“At Paris, in the roast-meat cookery of the Petit-Chastelet before the cook shop of one of the roast-meat-sellers of that lane, a certain hungry porter was eating his bread, after he had by parcels kept it a while above the reek and steam of a fat goose on the spit, turning at a great fire, and found it, so besmoked with the vapour, to be savoury; which the cook observing, took notice, till after having ravined his penny loaf, whereof no morsel had been unsmokified, he was about decamping and going away. But, by your leave, as the fellow thought to have departed thence scot-free, the master-cook laid hold upon him by the gorget, and demanded payment for the smoke of his roast-meat. The porter answered, That he had sustained no loss at all,—that by that he had done there was no diminution made of the flesh,—that he had taken nothing of his, and that therefore he was not indebted to him in anything. As for the smoke in question, that, although he had not been there, it would howsoever have been evaporated: besides, that before that time it had never been seen nor heard, that roast-meat-smoke was sold upon the streets of Paris. The cook hereto replied, That he was not obliged nor any way bound to feed and nourish for nought a porter whom he had never seen before, with the smoke of his roast-meat, and thereupon swore, that if he would not forthwith content and satisfy him with present payment for the repast which he had thereby got, that he would take his crooked staves from off his back; which, instead of having loads thereafter laid upon

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/289


text:
Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/87

 Rh my visit that I sent word to him to invent an accident—something, anything—to call me back. I thought the message had failed. I had lost hope. But it is all right now, though he certainly pitched the note pretty high.

Of course I can’t let the Beverly-Joneses know that it was a put-up job. I must set fire to the office as soon as I get back. But it’s worth it. And I’ll have to singe Robinson about the face and hands. But it’s worth that too!

title: Page:Frenzied Fiction.djvu/87


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/290

 them, should serve for fuel to his kitchen fires. Whilst he was going about so to do, and to have pulled them to him by one of the bottom rungs, which he had caught in his hand, the sturdy porter got out of his grip, drew forth the knotty cudgel, and stood to his own defence. The altercation waxed hot in words, which moved the gaping hoidens of the sottish Parisians to ran from all parts thereabouts, to see what the issue would be of that babbling strife and contention. In the interim of this dispute, to very good purpose, Seyny John, the fool and citizen of Paris, happened to be there, whom the cook perceiving, said to the porter. Wilt thou refer and submit unto the noble Seyny John, the decision of the difference and controversy which is betwixt us? Yes, by the blood of a goose, answered the porter, I am content. Seyny John the fool, finding that the cook and porter had compromised the determination of their variance and debate to the discretion of his award and arbitrament, after that the reason on either side, whereupon was grounded the mutual fierceness of their brawling jar, had been to the full displayed and laid open before him, commanded the porter to draw out of money, if he had it. Whereupon the porter immediately without delay, in reverence to the authority of such a judicions umpire, put the tenth part of a silver Philip into his hand. This little Philip Seyny John took, then set it on his left shoulder, to try by feeling if it was of a sufficient weight. After that, laying it on the palm of his hand, he made it ring and tingle, to understand by the ear if it was of a good alloy in the metal whereof it was composed. Thereafter he put it to the ball or apple of his left eye, to explore by the sight, if it was well stamped and marked; all which being done, in a profound silence of the whole doltish people, who were there spectators of the pageantry, to the great hope of the cook’s, and despair of the porter’s prevalency in the suit that was in agitation, finally caused the porter to make it sound several times upon the stall of the cook’s shop. Then with a presidential majesty holding his bawble, sceptre-like, in his hand, muffling his

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/290


text: Frenzied Fiction/The Sorrows of a Summer Guest


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/291

 head with hood of marten skins, each side whereof had the resemblance of an ape’s face, sprucified up with ears of pasted paper, and having about his neck a bucked ruff, raised, furrowed, and ridged, with pointing sticks of the shape and fashion of small organ pipes, he first with all the force of his lungs coughed two or three times, and then with an audible voice pronounced this following sentence. The Court declareth, that the porter, who ate his bread at the smoke of the roast, hath civilly paid the cook with sound of his money. And the said Court ordaineth, that every one return to his own home, and attend his proper business, without costs and charges, and for a cause. This verdict, award, and arbitrament of the Parisian Fool did appear so equitable, yea, so admirable to the aforesaid Doctors, that they very much doubted if the matter had been brought before the Sessions for Justice of the said place, or that the judges of the Rota at Rowe had been umpires therein, or yet that the Areopagites themselves had been the deciders thereof, by any one part, or all of them together, had been so judicially sententiated and awarded. Therefore advise if you will be counselled by a fool.”

I have no means at present of tracing this story in its migration. It is one likely enough to have gone all over the world. But the question arises here, as in the case of the story of the man with the wen, have the Japanese received it in comparatively recent times, whether by way of China or from Arabian or Indian merchants, or later from Portuguese or Dutch missionaries or merchants; or does it belong to the most ancient cycle of Turanian legend, which may have existed all over Asia and Europe in times long antecedent to tie dawn of history?

Recent discoveries have tended to show that the story of the Deluge and others which had previously passed for Shemitic or Aryan are really of Turanian origin, or at least were in the possession of Turanian tribes before they were current among Shemites or Aryans.

It is possible that further enquiries into the Japanese legends may throw some further light upon this strange

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/291


text:
Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/292

 but very interesting subject. Would not a complete translation of the Uji stories, and of the supplementary collection from which the “Man with the Wen” is taken, be worth the trouble of making?

title: Page:TASJ-1-3.djvu/292


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/105

 that is perfectly translucent. In Palestine, as now it is, Nature exhibits herself as a marble statue—colourless and motionless:—whereas at home we are used to see her less fixed in her attire, and making her toilette anew from hour to hour. Has it always been so in Palestine as now it is? No certain answer can be given to this question; yet it may be believed that, in the times of David and of Isaiah, not only was the land itself everywhere richly clad, but the atmosphere had a changeful aspect, almost as much so as with ourselves.

And yet if the transparent atmosphere of Syria, under a fervent sun, gives too much of naked reality to the landscape, vast is the advantage which is its compensation, when the sparkling magnificence of the starry heavens takes its turn, instead of the things of earth, to engage the meditative eye. Grant it that the day there (now at least it is so) offers a spectacle less rich than in our latitude of mists:—but then the Night, upon the mountains of Israel, opens a scene incomparably more sublime than we are used to witness. There—it seems so—bearing down upon our heads with power are the steadfast splendours of that midnight sky! Those only who have gazed upon the starry heavens through a perfectly transparent atmosphere can understand the greatness of the disadvantage that is thrown over the celestial field by an atmosphere that is never well purged of the exhalations of earth. In a latitude so high as ours, and which yet has a


text: Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan/Series 1/Volume 3/Part 2/On some Japanese Legends


text:
Page:Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron.pdf/78

 or referred to; I say affects, because I am sure the dislike is not real or natural; as he who loves praise, as Byron evidently does, in other things, cannot dislike it for that in which he must be conscious it is deserved. He refers to his feats in horsemanship, shooting at a mark, and swimming, in a way that proves he likes to be complimented on them; and nothing appears to give him more satisfaction than being considered a man of fashion, who had great success in fashionable society in London, when he resided there. He is peculiarly compassionate to the poor. I remarked that he rarely, in our rides, passed a mendicant without giving him charity, which was invariably bestowed with gentleness and kindness; this was still more observable if the person was deformed, as if he sympathized with the object.

Byron is very fond of gossiping, and of hearing what is going on in the London fashionable world; his friends keep him au courant, and any little scandal amuses him very much. I observed this to him one day, and added, that I thought his mind had been too great to descend to such trifles! He laughed, and said with mock gravity, "Don't you know that the trunk of an elephant, which can lift the most ponderous weights, disdains not to take up the most mi-


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/106

 mean temperature higher than its degrees should give it, the chill of the night serves only to shed fog or mist upon the lower stratum of air; but in warmer climates,—and in no country is it more so than in Syria,—the vast burden of the watery element which the fervour of day has raised aloft becomes, quickly after sunset, a prodigious dew, breaking down upon the earth, as a mighty, yet noiseless deluge:—the aerial load is suddenly thrown off upon the lap of earth, and so it is that, almost in a moment, the veil is drawn aside from the starry fields.

The planets, and the stars upon which the shepherds of Palestine were used to gaze, and which to them were guiding lights, do not seem as if they were fain to go out from moment to moment; but each burns in its socket, as a lamp that is well fed with oil. We, in this latitude, have borrowed—for technical purposes in our Astronomy—the Chaldean groupings of the stars into the contours of monsters and demi-gods; but, unless we had so borrowed these celestial romances, we should never have imagined them for ourselves. The nightly heavens in warmer climates show the celestial giants with a bold distinctness; and under those skies these imputed forms of the astral clusters look down upon the earth as if they were real beings, and as if each glowing cluster—Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth, and Arcturus, and their companions—were possessed of a conscious life.

The pastoral usages of Palestine greatly favoured


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/107

 a meditative and religious contemplation of the starry heavens; and throughout long periods of the Hebrew national life in which the land had its rest from war, and when the shepherd's enemy was not his fellow-man, but the wolf only, and the lion, and the bear: the shepherd—whose own the sheep were—passed his night abroad, taking his rest upon the hill-side; and these shepherds were often of a mood that led them to "consider the heavens," the work of the Creative hand; and to gather from those fields the genuine fruits of the highest philosophy—which is—a fervent piety. The Palestinian shepherd of that age did indeed misinterpret the starry heavens in a sense;—or, we should say, he was at fault in his measurement of the distance between the celestial roofing above him, and the earth on which he trod; yet, notwithstanding this error, much nearer did he come to the firmament of universal truth than does the modern atheist astronomer, who, after he has found, by parallax, the distance of the nearest of the stars, professes to see no glory in the heavens, but that of the inventors of his astronomic tools! The ladder which rested its foot upon earth, and lodged its uppermost round upon the pavement of heaven, was indeed of far greater height than the Syrian shepherd imagined it to be; nevertheless it was to him a firm ladder of truth; and upon it have passed those who have kept alive the intercourse between man and his Maker through many centuries.


text: Index:Yardley v. Houghton Mifflin (S.D.N.Y. 1938).pdf


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/108

 Always with some high prospect in view, and most often when he had a message of rebuke to deliver, the Hebrew prophet drew many of his symbols from those meteorologic violences which, as we have said, are of frequent occurrence in Palestine. Thus it was that in predicting the overthrow of empires, the fall of tyrants, the destruction of cities, the scattering of nations—the messenger of God found, ready for his use, a figurative dialect which had a colloquial import among the people: besides these deluges of rain, and these awful thunderings and lightnings, and these cataracts of hail, the people had experience of the terrors of earthquake—if not of volcanic eruptions.

It was thus, therefore, that, within limits so narrow as those of the land occupied by the Hebrew people, provision had been made (may we not use this phrase?) at once for supplying to its Poets, in the greatest abundance and variety, the material imagery they would need; and for bringing within the daily experiences of the people every condition of the material world which could be made available for the purposes of a figurative literature. In these adjustments of the country to the people, and of both to the ulterior intention of, we need not hesitate to recognize the Divine Wisdom, making preparation, in a marked manner, for so great and peculiar a work. Other provisions, having the same meaning, will meet us as we go on. Yet at this point there is an infer-


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/109

 ence that should be noted—namely, this—That the mode or style of a communication of the Will of God to the human family was to be symbolical, or figurative; and that by consequence it should not be scientific or philosophic—or such as could be interpretable in an abstract, or an absolute sense.

A question now meets us, an answer to which is important to our present line of argument. The ancient Palestine, we have said, was rich in its material garniture, as related to the needs and purposes of a figurative literature. And so are, and have been, other lands; but those who have trod the soil and tilled it may have had little or no tasteful consciousness toward the aspects of Nature, as beautiful or sublime. Poetry has not had its birth among them: the language of the people has reflected only the primitive intention of a colloquial medium; and therefore it has been poor in its vocabulary as to the specific differences of objects, and as to less obtrusive distinctions among objects of the same class.

In these respects, then, how was it with the Hebrew people? Writers of a certain class have allowed themselves to repeat, a thousand times, the unsustained allegation that this people was—"a rude and barbarous horde." Do we find it to be such? We possess portions of the people's literature; and, more than this, we have in our hands their language; or, at least, so much of it as suffices for putting us in position, on sure grounds of analogy, for filling in some of the chasms, and for safely


text:
Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/117

 result equally significant, we think more so, as evidence of what may be called the picturesque or the poetic copiousness of this ancient language; and in a note at the end of the volume the reader who may wish to pursue the suggestions here thrown out will find some further aid in doing so.

The conclusion with which we are here concerned is this—That, whereas the ancient Palestine was a land richly furnished with the materials of a metaphoric and poetic literature, so were the people of a temperament and of habitudes such as made them vividly conscious of the distinctive features of the material world, as these were presented to them in their every-day life abroad. As proof sufficient of these averments we appeal, first, to the obvious characteristics of their extant literature; and then, to the fact of the richness, and the copiousness, and the picturesque distinctiveness of their language, which in these respects well bears comparison with other languages, ancient or modern.