PREFACE

The

present publication contains 450 Exempla,Apologues and Tales, covering a period of about1500 years. The material has been gatheredchiefly from ancient Hebrew manuscripts anda few from very rare old prints. I venture tothink that it is the largest collection of itskind which has thus far appeared, at least inEnglish; moreover, it contains the most ancientcollection in Hebrew which has hitherto beenpreserved.

This work is intended primarily for the useof scholars and students. It is important tothe student of Hebrew legendary lore sincemany of these tales have retained a character farmore archaic than is found in other publicationshitherto known; it will also help the studentof the dissemination and migration of folk tales,since many of these tales form an integral partof the literature of fiction of the Middle Agesand can thus now be traced to their moreremote parallels and sources.

A remarkable feature of this collection is thatit contains scarcely any of the Indian cycle, afact of no small value in the history of popularliterature. I have endeavoured to trace these