Part Two of the Jewish fairy tales shelf: more tales in the English retellings of Gerald Friedlander (1871–1923), the London rabbi and scholar who gathered old Jewish stories from many writings and recast them for young readers. Both tales come from his third collection, The Jewish Fairy Book (Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920) — the bench named at Part 1, now screened in full, in the order the tales stand, under this shelf's standing rule: folk tales only, with scripture retellings and sacred legends left aside. Every tale that was set aside stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register; three further screened-clean tales stand benched for Part 3. Billed by collector and book, as the tales Friedlander gathered; not a survey of all Jewish tradition, and no completeness is claimed.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
The Wise Merchant — a jewel merchant travelling by sea with his son overhears the crew, a gang of thieves, plotting to throw him overboard and steal his box of pearls and diamonds, and outwits them by casting his whole treasure into the sea before their very eyes. About Leviathan, King of the Fish — Samuel, a poor fisherman's son on the bank of the Jordan, keeps his dying father's custom of feeding the fish after the catch is taken; Leviathan, King of the Fish, rewards the kindness, and Samuel learns the language of birds and beasts and is led to a buried treasure.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:32 The Wise Merchant
7:26 About Leviathan, King of the Fish
Gerald Friedlander, The Jewish Fairy Book (Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920) — public domain.
Narrated by Violetta. Music: opening and closing theme, "Calm After the Current," also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
