Fox Fables

Berekhiah ha-Nakdan

Mishle shu'alim (Fox Fables), 104, 59.

Late 12th Century

Author’s Proem

[ . . . ] Lo, I draw parables of beasts and birds to strengthen hands that are weak, and of creeping things that crawl upon the ground; these are for a similitude for them that walk on earth. I shall begin with the lion who rules over them all, great and small, for they changed his honor for shame. So when a rich man grows poor, his…

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Most of the stories in Berekhiah ben Natronay ha- Nakdan’s Fox Fables (Mishle shu‘alim), his best-known work, come from a French work titled Ysopet, by Marie de France, and from medieval Latin versions of Aesop’s fables. Berekhiah also used sources from India and the Islamic world that circulated in northern Europe. Many of the stories feature animals. At the end of each one, Berekhiah helpfully offers the lessons to be gleaned from the parables.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Tales and Legends

6th to 12th Century

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