ch the
giant carried partook of a fine banquet which his visitor spread for
him. Enan, for such was the giant's name, offered to take Joseph to
another land, pleasant as a garden, where all men were loving, all men
wise. But Joseph refused, and told Enan fable after fable, about
leopards, foxes, and lions, all proving that it was best for a man to
remain where he was and not travel to foreign places. But Enan coaxes
Joseph to go with him, and as they ride on, they tell one another a very
long series of excellent tales, and exchange many witty remarks and
anecdotes. When at last they reach Enan's city, Joseph discovers that
his guide is a demon. In the end, Joseph breaks away from him, and
returns home to Barcelona. Now, it is very remarkable that this
collection of tales, written in exquisite Hebrew, closely resembles the
other collections in which Europe delighted later on. It is hard to
believe that Zabara's work had no influence in spreading these tales. At
all events, Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans, all read and enjoyed the
same stories, all laughed at the same jokes. "It is," says Mr. Jacobs,
"one of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin. These
folk-tales form a bond, not alone between the ages, but between many
races who think they have nothing in common. We have the highest
authority that 'out of the mouths of babes and sucklings has the Lord
established strength,' and surely of all the influences for good in the
world, none is comparable to the lily souls of little children. That
Jews, by their diffusion of folk-tales, have furnished so large an
amount of material to the childish imagination of the civilized world
is, to my mind, no slight thing for Jews to be proud of. It is one of
the conceptions that make real to us the idea of the Brotherhood of Man,
which, in Jewish minds, is forever associated with the Fatherhood of
God."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Jacobs.--_The Diffusion of Folk Tales_ (in _Jewish Ideals_,
p. 135); _The Fables of Bidpai_ (London, 1888) and _Barlaam
and Joshaphat_ (Introductions).

Steinschneider.--_Jewish Literature_, p. 174.

BERACHYA HA-NAKDAN.

J. Jacobs.--_Jews of Angevin England_, pp. 165 _seq._, 278.

A. Neubauer.--_J.Q.R._, II, p. 520.

ZABARA.

I. Abrahams.--_J.Q.R._, VI, p. 502 (with English translation
of the _Book of Delight_).

CHAPTER XVI

MOSES NACHMANIDES

French and Spanish Talmudists.--The Tossafists, Asher of
Speyer, Ta