The Jewish Book of Fables Quotes

“Maintenant arrive la morale et se disséminent les grains de sel :
de nos jours, un simple travailleur est la scie. Une entorse
à l'honneur de la famille, un stigmate sur son bon renom,
alors que le petit poignard aiguisé est un gagnant—
dans le même temps il tue et l'on récite des bénédicités
à sa louange.

[Now comes the moral and sprinkles the grain of salt :
to this day, a simple worker is the saw. A fault
in the family's honor, on its good name a blight,
while the sharp little knife is out successing—
he both kills and over him they recite
a blessing.]

The Slaughtering Knife and the Saw (Le Poignard et la scie), p. 169”
― Eliezer Shtaynbarg, The Jewish Book of Fables: The Selected Works of Eliezer Shtaynbarg

“« Miroir, miroir, ne te tourmente pas. »
dit l'ange ; son sourire est affable et bienveillant.
« En effet, tu semble peindre plutôt bien et tu suis toutes les règles,
Mais ce n'est pas assez. Puisque tu es un artiste, miroir, montre moi les rêves. »
[" Mirror, mirror, don't be upset."
says the angel; his smile is affable and kind.
"Indeed, you paint quite well and follow all the rules, it seems.
But that is not enough. If you're an artist, mirror, show me dreams."]
(p. 105)”
― Eliezer Shtaynbarg, The Jewish Book of Fables: The Selected Works of Eliezer Shtaynbarg

“People ! We stab people !" says the bayonet.

But now the needle starts to laugh,
and it may still be laughing yet.
With ha and hee and ho ho ho.
"When I pierce linen, one stitch, and the another, lo—
I make a shirt, a sleeve, a dress, a hem.
But people you can pierce forever, what will you create from them ?"

The Bayonet and the Needle”
― Eliezer Shtaynbarg, The Jewish Book of Fables: The Selected Works of Eliezer Shtaynbarg