Page:Chapters on Jewish literature (IA chaptersonjewish00abra).pdf/68

64

 Nay more, do not life’s times and chances, sent By the great Artificer with intent That they should prove a blessing, oft appear To us a burden that we sore lament?

Ah! soul, poor soul of man! what heavenly fire Would thrill thy depths and love of God inspire, Could’st thou but see the Master hand revealed. Majestic move “earth’s scheme of things entire.”

It cannot be! Unseen he guideth us. But yet our feeble hands, the luminous. Pure lamp of faith can light to glorify. The narrow path that he has traced for us.

Finally, there are the Beast Fables of the Talmud and the Midrash. Most of these were borrowed directly or indirectly from India. We are told in the Talmud that Rabbi Meir knew three hundred Fox Fables, and that with his death (about 290 C. E.) “fabulists ceased to be.” Very few of Meir’s fables are extant, so that it is impossible to gather whether or not they were original. There are only thirty fables in the Talmud and the Midrash, and of these several cannot be parallelled in other literatures. Some of the Talmudic fables are