TALES OF MEN DELE THE BooK PEDDLER FISHKE THE LAME AND BENJAMIN THE THIRD

S.Y. Abramovitsh MENDELE MOYKHER SFORIM EDITED BY DAN MIRON AND KEN FRIEDEN INTRODUCTION BY DAN MIRON

LIBRARY OF YIDDISH CLASSICS FPT $25.00 U.S.A. $35.00 Can.

B o rn in Be lorussi a in 18 3 6, S. Y. Abramovitsh was the founding fa ther of mod­ ern Yiddish fi ction. His stories and novels depict small-town Jewish life in 'the Russian Pale of Settlement through the hilarious, satir­ ic, and sympathetic tales of his alter ego/ nar­ rator, Mendele the Book Peddler ("Mendele Moykher Sforim"). This itinerant peddler, who travels the Pale collecting good stories, was so closely identified with Abramovitsh's fiction that "Mendele" became the author's pen name. This volume-the fourth in Schocken's acclaimed Library of Yiddish Classics-brings together two of Abramovitsh's best- loved novellas: "Fishke the Lame," a bittersweet love story set in the world of beggars, paupers, and rogues, and "The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third," the comical misadventures of a Quixote-Panza pair who set off to see the world outside their town. These tales, in superb new by Ted Gorelick and Hillel H alkin, represent Yiddish storytelling at its best-full of heart, humor, and homespun wisdom .

TALES OF M ENDELE THE BOOK PEDDLER THE LIBRARY OF YIDDISH CLASSICS IS SPONSORED BY THE FUND FOR THE OF

Series editor: Ruth R. Wisse

Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories by translated and with an introduction by Hillel Balkin

The I. L. Peretz Reader edited and with an introduction by Ruth R. Wisse

The Dybbuk and Other Writings byS. Ansky edited and with an introduction by David G. Roskies

Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler: Fishke the Lame and Benjamin the Third by S. Y. Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim) edited by Dan Miron and Ken Frieden with an introduction by Dan Miron translations by Ted Gorelick and Hillel Balkin YIDDISH CLASSICS

TALES OF . M ENDELE -~~ THE B0 0 K .. PEDDLER

FISHKE THE LAME AND

BENJAMIN THE THIRD S. Y. Abramovitsh (M ENDELE MOYK HER SFORI M)

INTRODUCTION BY DAN MIRON TRANSLATIONS BY TED GORELICK AND HILLEL HALKIN

SCHOCKEN BOOKS t NEW Copyright© I 996 by Fund for the Translation of Jewish Literature

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Men dele Moykher Sforim, I 8 3 t;- I 9 I 7. [Fishke der krumer. English] Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler: Fishke the Lame and Benjamin the Third I S. Y. Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim); edited by Dan Miron and Ken Frieden; introduction by Dan Miron; translations by Ted Gorelick and Hillel Halkin. p. em. - (Library of Yiddish classics) ISBN o-8ot;2-4-I 36 - I I. Mendele Moykher Sforim, I 8 Jt;- I 9 I 7. II. Miron, Dan. III. Frieden, Ken, I9H- . IV Mendele Moykher Sforim, I 8 Jt;- I 9 I 7. Kitsur mas' ot Binyamin ha-shelishi. English. V Title. VI. Series. P}t;I29.A2Ft;I3 I996

Book design by Chris Welch

Manufactured in the United States of America 4- 6 9 t; CONTENTS

Introduction by Dan Miron vii

A Note on the Translations lxxi fishke the Lame: A Book of Jewish Poorfo[k 1

The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third 299

Glossary 393