Jewish Fairy Tales

In a great and beautiful city that stood by the sea, an old man lay dying. Mar Shalmon was his name, and he was the richest man in the land. Propped up with pillows on a richly decorated bed in a luxurious chamber, he gazed, with tears in his eyes, through the open window at the setting sun. Like a ball of fire it sank lower and lower until it almost seemed to rest on the tranquil waters beyond the harbor. Suddenly, Mar Shalmon roused himself. "Where is my son, Bar Shalmon?" he asked in a feeble voice, and his hand crept tremblingly along the silken coverlet of the bed as if in search of something. "I am here, my father," replied his son who was standing by the side of his bed. His eyes were moist with tears, but his voice was steady. "My son," said the old man, slowly, and with some difficulty, "I am about to leave this world. My soul will take flight from this frail body when the sun has sunk behind the horizon. I have lived long and have amassed gr...

Princess Solima was sick, not exactly ill, but so much out of sorts that her father, King Zuliman, was both annoyed and perturbed. The princess was as beautiful as a princess of those days should be; her long tresses were like threads of gold, her blue eyes rivaled the color of the sky on the balmiest summer day; and her smile was as radiant as the sunshine itself. She was learned and clever, too, and her goodness of heart gained for her as great a renown as her peerless beauty. Despite all this, Princess Solima was not happy. Indeed, she was wretched to despondency, and her melancholy weighed heavily upon her father. "What ails you, my precious daughter?" he asked her a hundred times, but she made no answer. She just sat and silently moped. She did not waste away, which puzzled the physicians; she did not grow pale, which surprised her attendants; and she did not weep, which astonished herself. But she felt as if her heart had grown heavy, as if there was no use in anything....

Once there were a king and queen who had no children. After having tried many remedies for barrenness, all of which had failed, they made an announcement that anyone who could assist them in having a child would be greatly rewarded. Now many were those who offered an amulet or potion to the king and queen, but none of these remedies had any effect. At last, when the king and queen had begun to despair of ever having a child of their own, a merchant arrived from a faraway kingdom bringing with him three things which gave them hope again. The first of these was a round mirror, small enough to fit into the palm of a hand, which was enclosed within a golden frame. The second was a ball of yarn. The third was a golden box. And when the queen took that mirror from the merchant and looked into it, she saw herself holding in her arms a beautiful child, who was surely a lovely girl. Then the amazed queen handed the mirror to the king, who saw himself in that mirror looking considerably older, a...

Once upon a time there were two kings, each of whom was childless. And each one set out on a journey to discover a remedy that would make it possible for a child to be born to him. Now fate led both kings to the cave of an old sorcerer on the same day, and the sorcerer met with them at the same time. And after each had explained what it was that he sought, the two kings were amazed to discover that they both were on the same quest—each searching for a remedy so that he might be blessed with a child of his own. After they had spoken, the sorcerer said to them: I have read in the stars that each of you is destined to have a child, one a boy and one a girl. And I have also read there that these two are destined to marry. If you permit their marriage to take place, you and your descendants will share a great blessing. But if you keep them apart, for any reason, many will suffer before they are reunited.  Then the sorcerer stood up, and the kings left the cave. But before they parted th...