Jewish Folklore Episode 32: Sacrilegious Book Club

[00:00:00] Welcome to Sacrilegious Discourse.

[00:00:01] For this is what the Sovereign Lord says!

[00:00:03] Why do you need prophets to tell people who you are and what you want?

[00:00:07] If you can justify everything that the God of the Bible has done, then you can justify any of your behavior.

[00:00:14] A lot of this mentality is trickling into what is now mainstream right-wing Christianity.

[00:00:20] I am capable of empathy greater than this God of the Bible.

[00:00:26] This is a Bible that they tell kids. This is the good Lord. This is the good book.

[00:00:32] He is fantasizing about murder. Mass murder.

[00:00:37] Head over to SacrilegiousDiscourse.com right now to find out how to leave us a review or support us on Patreon.

[00:00:48] Wife!

[00:00:49] Do you know what we're doing today?

[00:00:51] Something we haven't done in quite a while actually.

[00:00:54] I know, it was weird. Like I don't even know where all my notes were. I had to find everything.

[00:01:00] This is the one thing that we kind of slough off whenever we don't have our weekend put together correctly.

[00:01:06] Right.

[00:01:06] We apologize to those of you following this.

[00:01:08] Well, this is husband's least favorite.

[00:01:11] Well, there's that.

[00:01:12] Sacrilegious Book Club in your bag.

[00:01:14] It's not.

[00:01:15] No, I know.

[00:01:16] But I insist.

[00:01:17] Some people do like this.

[00:01:19] Whichever, that.

[00:01:19] And they ask for it.

[00:01:22] So what are we sacrilegiously book clubbing today?

[00:01:26] Well, we are reading Tales and Legends, A Treasury of Jewish Folklore.

[00:01:34] And we're in Part 4, Chapter 6, which is Animal Tales on page 621.

[00:01:42] All right, let's do this.

[00:01:44] Okie dokie.

[00:01:50] All right, so we are talking about some Jewish animal tales today.

[00:01:55] Okie.

[00:01:56] And they're all really short.

[00:01:58] And a lot of them are about foxes.

[00:02:00] So I was like, I wonder if Fantastic Mr. Fox was influenced by like a Jewish tale.

[00:02:06] And so I looked it up, but it's not.

[00:02:08] That was anticlimactic.

[00:02:10] I thought it was perfectly climactic.

[00:02:13] Because, you know, I wanted a thing to be true and it wasn't.

[00:02:19] And I was disappointed.

[00:02:21] And unfortunately, that's the way it'd be.

[00:02:23] Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:24] But it has that feel to it.

[00:02:26] Got it.

[00:02:27] So it's not though.

[00:02:29] Okie, so Animal Tales.

[00:02:31] Let's talk about it.

[00:02:32] Blitz.

[00:02:33] Blitz.

[00:02:34] The invention of fables.

[00:02:36] Yeah.

[00:02:37] Like making up moral stories and stuff.

[00:02:40] Marked a significant moment in teaching people morals and wisdom.

[00:02:44] Okie.

[00:02:45] It was a big deal because they're like, not just.

[00:02:47] Hey, we can use stories to describe how this is supposed to work.

[00:02:50] Yeah.

[00:02:51] Right.

[00:02:51] Interesting.

[00:02:52] Yeah.

[00:02:52] Right.

[00:02:52] Yeah.

[00:02:53] Like they're not just imparting like a count of the corn or weaponry.

[00:02:59] Right.

[00:02:59] They're making shit up.

[00:03:01] Sure.

[00:03:02] Sure.

[00:03:02] That's cool.

[00:03:03] Yeah.

[00:03:03] Fables used animals, birds and plants with human personalities to tell stories about life and its lessons.

[00:03:11] Which.

[00:03:11] Yeah.

[00:03:12] By using indirect storytelling and short, clever phrases.

[00:03:17] I think that that word clever there is doing some heavy lifting from what I could read.

[00:03:23] Fables were able to teach people important things in a very simple way.

[00:03:28] They were very popular among ordinary people.

[00:03:31] And I mean, I would say that that's probably because they were easily repeatable as oral stories.

[00:03:37] Sure.

[00:03:37] Yeah.

[00:03:38] So.

[00:03:38] And they're fun.

[00:03:39] I mean, it ish.

[00:03:40] Comparatively speaking, it's not like.

[00:03:41] The best of them are dad jokes.

[00:03:43] The worst of them aren't like horrible.

[00:03:46] Right.

[00:03:47] Right.

[00:03:47] You know, I mean, I'd rather like listen to some Jewish animal tales and fables than say,

[00:03:55] sit through a UN summit.

[00:03:57] Yeah, there you go.

[00:03:58] You know?

[00:03:58] Yeah.

[00:03:59] But anyway, the Jewish people did not invent or significantly develop fables.

[00:04:06] Okay.

[00:04:06] Right.

[00:04:07] In general.

[00:04:07] Sure.

[00:04:08] Like they were not the first people to, you know, do animal fable things.

[00:04:12] Right.

[00:04:12] They were good at translating and adapting fables from India and Greece in particular.

[00:04:18] Okay.

[00:04:19] When you compare Jewish fables to those of other people, you can see that they mostly copied

[00:04:24] from Hindu and Greek sources.

[00:04:26] Hmm.

[00:04:27] That's very interesting.

[00:04:28] I found it interesting as well.

[00:04:29] I, the, the Hindu influence really kind of surprises me a little bit, but I.

[00:04:34] Eastern teachings.

[00:04:34] Yeah.

[00:04:35] Yeah.

[00:04:35] Yeah.

[00:04:36] Yeah.

[00:04:36] Like.

[00:04:37] Yeah.

[00:04:37] Yeah.

[00:04:38] Rabbi Meyer, a very famous Jewish teacher from the second century and being well read in

[00:04:46] Greek and Latin literature used fables to educate people.

[00:04:50] Okay.

[00:04:51] So, um, a lot of people today still admire him.

[00:04:54] Um, and, um, as a matter of fact, like I read a thing that said that, uh, some traditional

[00:04:59] Jewish homes actually have a donation box attached to their wall in their living room or whatever,

[00:05:07] where, um, sometimes the old wives, like the older women will like toss coins to, um, commemorate

[00:05:15] him still today.

[00:05:17] So, and this dude again was from the second century.

[00:05:20] Yeah.

[00:05:21] Yeah.

[00:05:21] Um, so anyway, through, though the Talmud records that he collected 300 fables.

[00:05:29] So he like collected them, not necessarily wrote them all.

[00:05:32] Right.

[00:05:32] Um, but he collected 300 of them at least and only about 30 survived through time.

[00:05:38] Huh?

[00:05:38] Yeah.

[00:05:39] He adapted these into, um, these stories from different cultures to fit the needs of Jewish

[00:05:46] life.

[00:05:47] Okay.

[00:05:47] Like his fable, the fate of the wicked, which is the first one we're going to read.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:51] Um, his storytelling skills made him a legendary figure and several anecdotes in the Agata portray

[00:05:58] him as a skilled teacher of ethics and a great man.

[00:06:01] Hmm.

[00:06:02] So he's still much admired and revered to this day.

[00:06:05] Okay.

[00:06:05] Okay.

[00:06:05] Then there's this other dude, Benedictus LePunctur.

[00:06:09] That sounds like a Pope name almost.

[00:06:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:11] It does.

[00:06:12] Right.

[00:06:12] Um, he's a Jewish grammarian from the middle ages.

[00:06:16] Okay.

[00:06:16] And he's believed to have contributed to medieval fable literature.

[00:06:20] And while a large number of the stories in this particular, oh, I'm sorry, in his collection

[00:06:26] of Fox fables, which that's why I was thinking Mr. Fox.

[00:06:30] Yeah.

[00:06:31] Um, many of those are Aesop's.

[00:06:34] Others are of origin of Indian origin and quite a few are original Jewish fables that he like

[00:06:41] made up himself.

[00:06:42] Got it.

[00:06:43] And, uh, this Benedictus LePunctur, um, his foxes are very clever and argumentative like

[00:06:50] Jewish scholars and their laughter and irony have the traditional Jewish ingredients of

[00:06:56] Jewish tales.

[00:06:57] Sure.

[00:06:58] Um, even though he, this dude's from the middle ages, he's not like from early Jewish days.

[00:07:04] Okay.

[00:07:04] Okay.

[00:07:04] Um, and it is very possible that England's first introduction to Aesop, like Aesop's

[00:07:11] tales.

[00:07:12] Yeah.

[00:07:12] Um, was through a Latin translation of Benedictus's fables.

[00:07:18] Okay.

[00:07:18] So I just thought all that was some interesting shit.

[00:07:22] Yeah.

[00:07:22] Okay.

[00:07:22] Yeah.

[00:07:23] So that was the introduction to this section.

[00:07:25] And now we are going to get into some stories and they're all super short.

[00:07:30] Got it.

[00:07:31] Okay.

[00:07:31] Um, the first one I didn't love that much.

[00:07:34] It's called the fate of the wicked.

[00:07:35] As I said, I'm only reading it because it was specifically mentioned in the intro and

[00:07:40] because he was so revered.

[00:07:41] Sure.

[00:07:42] So the fate of the wicked on page six 22.

[00:07:45] Once a fox said to a wolf, if you want to enjoy a good meal, take my advice and to

[00:07:51] the courtyard of any Jew on Friday and help him in his preparations for the Sabbath.

[00:07:56] Rest assured that he will reward you for this by asking you to partake of the Sabbath feast.

[00:08:02] I would do that.

[00:08:03] Right.

[00:08:03] Right.

[00:08:04] The wolf basically like if you go and volunteer to help set up, you get to stay and eat.

[00:08:09] Got it.

[00:08:10] So the wolf was enchanted with the sage advice of the fox and decided to follow it.

[00:08:16] But we all know boxes.

[00:08:18] Yeah.

[00:08:18] They're sly.

[00:08:18] They're crafty.

[00:08:20] They're sly fox.

[00:08:21] Yeah.

[00:08:22] Like they specifically refer to them as sly fox.

[00:08:25] And it makes me laugh because that's exactly what, um, Judy officer, Judy hops in Zootopia

[00:08:31] calls Nick wild.

[00:08:33] Right.

[00:08:33] She says, um, sly fox.

[00:08:36] And he says, smart bunny.

[00:08:38] Right.

[00:08:39] I like them.

[00:08:40] Yeah.

[00:08:40] But no sooner did the wolf show his face in the courtyard of a Jew than the entire household

[00:08:46] fell upon him with sticks and trounced him so soundly that he barely managed to escape

[00:08:51] with his life.

[00:08:52] Oh, no.

[00:08:52] Yeah.

[00:08:53] Yeah.

[00:08:53] Full of wrath.

[00:09:23] The Jew asked your father to help him in his preparations for the Sabbath.

[00:09:26] And for that, he promised to invite him to the feast.

[00:09:36] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:39] Now, can you understand why the Jew beat you?

[00:10:10] But don't lose heart?

[00:10:11] The wolf from above.

[00:10:14] Oh, my God.

[00:10:20] Good things to eat.

[00:10:21] Oh, my God.

[00:10:22] Mm-hmm.

[00:10:23] Mm-hmm.

[00:10:23] Don't you see what a great big cheese is down here?

[00:10:26] Mm-hmm.

[00:10:27] The wolf looked down and sure enough saw the reflection of the moon mirrored in the water,

[00:10:31] but he believed that it was a cheese as the fox had told him because apparently wolves

[00:10:35] are stupid.

[00:10:35] Yeah.

[00:10:36] His appetite whetted.

[00:10:37] The wolf could hardly control himself any longer.

[00:10:40] How can I get down?

[00:10:41] He called to the fox.

[00:10:42] Like, didn't you just see what happened?

[00:10:44] To watch him do it?

[00:10:44] Yeah, right.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:46] Very simply, said the fox, get into the other bucket and join me.

[00:10:49] The wolf climbed into the bucket with alacrity, but no sooner was he in than the weight of

[00:10:54] his body pulled him down to the bottom of the well and at the same time pulled up the

[00:10:59] other bucket carrying the fox who jumped nimbly out.

[00:11:02] Sure.

[00:11:02] Terror seized the wolf when he saw what had happened.

[00:11:05] How will I get up again?

[00:11:07] He cried to the wolf.

[00:11:09] The fox merely answered him with the saying from the book of Proverbs.

[00:11:13] Mm-hmm.

[00:11:14] The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his stead.

[00:11:19] What did the wolf do that was wicked though?

[00:11:21] Uh, no, the, um, I don't know.

[00:11:25] Okay.

[00:11:26] Like, I couldn't make it work in my head.

[00:11:28] Got it.

[00:11:28] Yeah.

[00:11:29] I was like, wait, um, I mean, just cause he's a wolf, I guess.

[00:11:33] Is that, is that the whole thing?

[00:11:35] But I'm like, it seems to me that the fox was the right.

[00:11:38] Yeah, no, I agree.

[00:11:39] So the richest, the righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his

[00:11:45] stead.

[00:11:45] That's what the fox tricked him.

[00:11:46] That was mean.

[00:11:47] That's what, no.

[00:11:47] What I'm saying is maybe the wolf is going to get out of trouble, but the wicked, the

[00:11:53] fox comes in, in his stead.

[00:11:56] Like, I'm right behind you.

[00:11:57] Trouble's always following you.

[00:11:59] Mm-hmm.

[00:11:59] Like, I don't know how you're going to get out.

[00:12:01] I'm sure you will.

[00:12:02] Okay.

[00:12:03] But.

[00:12:03] That's not how I see it.

[00:12:04] I see it that, whatever.

[00:12:06] I don't know.

[00:12:06] I feel like this is just a play on the wolf is evil and the fox is the righteous one,

[00:12:10] apparently.

[00:12:11] And also like that story, which wolf do you feed the good wolf or the bad wolf?

[00:12:16] Sure.

[00:12:16] And I don't really appreciate the message because the fox is kind of an asshole.

[00:12:21] You know.

[00:12:21] He's always an asshole in these stories.

[00:12:23] Right.

[00:12:23] FYI.

[00:12:24] Right.

[00:12:24] All right.

[00:12:25] So we're about to read another fox tale.

[00:12:26] Okay.

[00:12:27] Yeah.

[00:12:27] This one picks up on the very next page, 623, and it's called The Advantage of Being

[00:12:33] a Scholar.

[00:12:35] Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:12:36] The Feet of the Wicked was by that one cool rabbi.

[00:12:39] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:39] And also it's adapted from the Agata of the Talmud.

[00:12:43] Okay.

[00:12:43] FYI.

[00:12:44] All right.

[00:12:44] Okay.

[00:12:45] Where's this one?

[00:12:46] This one is not particularly listed anywhere, so it's just a story.

[00:12:50] Got it.

[00:12:50] Yeah.

[00:12:50] Okay.

[00:12:51] The Advantage of Being a Scholar.

[00:12:53] A fox looked up into a tree and saw a crow sitting on the topmost branch.

[00:12:58] The crow looked mighty good to him, for he was hungry.

[00:13:01] He tried every while to get him down, but the wise old crow only leered contemptuously

[00:13:07] down at him.

[00:13:08] Yeah.

[00:13:09] Foolish crow, the fox said banteringly.

[00:13:12] Believe me, you have no reason to be afraid of me.

[00:13:15] Don't you know that the birds and the beasts will never have to fight again?

[00:13:18] Haven't you heard the Messiah is coming?

[00:13:21] If you were a Talmud scholar like me, you'd surely know that the prophet Isaiah has said

[00:13:26] that when the Messiah comes, the lion shall lie down with the lamb and the fox with the

[00:13:30] crow, and there shall be peace forevermore.

[00:13:32] But my question would be, why are you trying so hard to get me down from this tree?

[00:13:36] Right.

[00:13:36] Like, I don't have to come down.

[00:13:38] Yeah.

[00:13:39] Even if we do get along.

[00:13:40] We are the best of friends.

[00:13:41] I like you so much way far away over there.

[00:13:44] Yeah.

[00:13:44] Sure.

[00:13:44] And as he stood, thus speaking sweetly, the bang of the hounds was heard.

[00:13:49] The fox began to tremble with fright and started running for his life.

[00:13:53] Because you know what happens when the dogs come, right?

[00:13:55] They kill the fox.

[00:13:56] Yeah.

[00:13:57] Yeah.

[00:13:58] Foolish fox, croaked the crow pleasantly from the tree.

[00:14:02] You have no reason to be afraid since you're a Talmud scholar and know what the prophet

[00:14:06] Isaiah has said.

[00:14:07] Right.

[00:14:08] Oh, true.

[00:14:09] I know what the prophet Isaiah said, cried the fox as he slunk into the bushes.

[00:14:13] But you see, the trouble is the dogs don't.

[00:14:19] I kind of like that one.

[00:14:20] That's cute, actually.

[00:14:20] Yeah.

[00:14:21] That one made me smile.

[00:14:22] And I was like, yep, I will read it to the people.

[00:14:26] Yeah.

[00:14:26] All right.

[00:14:26] And now we skip a few pages.

[00:14:29] Page 628.

[00:14:31] The wise bird and the foolish man.

[00:14:34] Okay.

[00:14:34] And I really liked this one.

[00:14:36] All right.

[00:14:36] Okay.

[00:14:36] Yeah.

[00:14:38] A bird catcher once caught a bird, you know, as a bird catcher does, right?

[00:14:41] Yeah.

[00:14:42] But it was an extraordinary creature that understood all the 70 languages of mankind.

[00:14:49] Seventy.

[00:14:49] Seventy.

[00:14:50] Okay.

[00:14:50] Precisely 70.

[00:14:51] Got it.

[00:14:51] Not 71 and not 68.

[00:14:53] Sure.

[00:14:54] Whereas it's my understanding that there are hundreds and hundreds of languages today.

[00:14:58] I would imagine.

[00:14:59] Yeah.

[00:14:59] Yeah.

[00:15:00] I'll look it up.

[00:15:01] Okay.

[00:15:01] Yeah.

[00:15:02] So anyway, she understood whatever 70 languages existed back then.

[00:15:06] Right.

[00:15:07] She therefore pleaded with her captor in his own tongue, set me free and I will impart

[00:15:12] to you three useful teachings.

[00:15:14] Tell them to me first.

[00:15:16] Then I will release you said the bird catcher.

[00:15:19] First, give me your solemn oath that you will keep your word answered the bird.

[00:15:23] I swear to set you free replied the man.

[00:15:26] The bird then spoke.

[00:15:27] Pay heed then.

[00:15:28] This is very important.

[00:15:29] Okay.

[00:15:30] Yeah.

[00:15:30] The first teaching is never regret what has already happened.

[00:15:34] The second teaching is don't believe the incredible.

[00:15:38] The third teaching is never try to achieve the unattainable.

[00:15:43] Okay.

[00:15:44] Having taught the man her wisdom, the bird pleaded, set me free now as you promised.

[00:15:49] And the bird catcher agreed and set her free.

[00:15:52] Hmm.

[00:15:53] At that, the bird spread her wings and flew to the top of a high tree nearby.

[00:15:57] And from there, she mocked at the man below.

[00:16:00] Fool that you are.

[00:16:01] You let me out of your grasp, not knowing that I carry in my body a priceless pearl through

[00:16:07] whose magic power I've become wise.

[00:16:10] Hmm.

[00:16:10] When the bird catcher heard this, he regretted the folly that had led him to release the bird

[00:16:14] to retrieve his loss.

[00:16:16] He began to climb the tree upon which the bird was perched.

[00:16:19] But barely had he reached halfway when he lost his hold and fell to the ground.

[00:16:24] Hmm.

[00:16:24] There he lay with broken bones, moaning in pain.

[00:16:27] The bird looked down upon him and laughed.

[00:16:30] You stupid fool, she chided him.

[00:16:32] But a few moments have passed since I imparted to you my wisdom and already you have forgotten it.

[00:16:38] I told you never to regret anything that has happened.

[00:16:41] And almost immediately you regretted giving me my freedom.

[00:16:45] Very true.

[00:16:45] I taught you not to believe the incredible.

[00:16:47] And nevertheless, you accepted as truth my fairy tale that I carry in my body a wonder working

[00:16:53] pearl.

[00:16:54] Know that I am nothing but a common bird who has to forage for her nourishment from hour

[00:16:59] to hour.

[00:17:00] Lastly, I cautioned you against trying to achieve the unattainable.

[00:17:04] And nonetheless, you undertook to capture a bird on the wing with your bare hands.

[00:17:09] Yeah.

[00:17:10] Yeah.

[00:17:38] And if you cannot heed me, you now lie broken and bleeding.

[00:17:41] Right.

[00:17:41] Knowing that considering that they were just trying to say 70 fucking languages.

[00:17:45] Right.

[00:17:45] Yeah.

[00:17:45] Because God knows everything.

[00:17:47] Somebody will be like, well, that was that was thousands of years ago.

[00:17:50] Whatever.

[00:17:50] Whatever.

[00:17:51] I can't with you.

[00:17:51] You know, that is bullshittery at its finest.

[00:17:55] It's disingenuous.

[00:17:56] It's not even trying.

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:17:58] So the answer, the correct response is that man created God and that man did not know

[00:18:07] that there were other peoples on other continents that they didn't even know existed.

[00:18:13] Right.

[00:18:13] They didn't know the continents existed, much less the people.

[00:18:16] Exactly.

[00:18:16] So of course, they didn't know how many languages there were.

[00:18:19] So their God couldn't either.

[00:18:21] Right.

[00:18:21] So let's not, you know, play around here.

[00:18:24] Yeah.

[00:18:24] All right.

[00:18:25] So how did you like the wise bird and the foolish man?

[00:18:29] That was a, that was a good message actually.

[00:18:31] I thought so too.

[00:18:32] I like that.

[00:18:33] And I liked that she immediately tested him.

[00:18:35] Like she was like, here's the info pop quiz, but didn't tell him it was a pop quiz.

[00:18:39] Right.

[00:18:39] And she's like, literally you're an idiot.

[00:18:42] Right.

[00:18:43] So yeah, I appreciated that.

[00:18:44] Okay.

[00:18:45] The very next story is on page 629 and it's called the Fox and the foolish fishes.

[00:18:51] Okay.

[00:18:52] I like this one too.

[00:18:53] All right.

[00:18:53] The Holy One said to the angel of death, cast a pair of each species into the sea.

[00:19:00] And then thou shalt have dominion over all that remain in the species.

[00:19:05] The angel did so forthwith, and he cast a pair of each kind into the sea.

[00:19:10] When the fox saw what he was about, what did he do?

[00:19:13] At once he stood and wept.

[00:19:16] Then the angel of death came unto him.

[00:19:18] Why weepest thou?

[00:19:20] For my companions whom thou hast cast into the sea, answered the fox.

[00:19:25] Where then are thy companions? said the angel.

[00:19:27] The fox ran to the seashore and the angel of death beheld the reflection of the fox in the water.

[00:19:33] And he thought that he had already cast in a pair of foxes.

[00:19:36] So, addressing the fox by his side, he cried, be off with you.

[00:19:40] The fox at once fled and escaped.

[00:19:43] The weasel met him and the fox related what had happened and what he had done.

[00:19:47] And so the weasel went and did likewise.

[00:19:50] And so at the end of the year, the Leviathan, which I guess is like the god of the water.

[00:19:57] Well, yeah, it came up in the Bible, remember?

[00:19:58] No, I know.

[00:19:59] It's just that we started out with the holy one talking to the angel of death.

[00:20:04] Sure, right.

[00:20:05] And saying, throw some shit into the sea.

[00:20:07] Yeah.

[00:20:07] And then you can have dominion over all that remain of the species.

[00:20:11] Right.

[00:20:12] So you still get to be, you know, angel of death on land.

[00:20:15] So I'm like, is the holy one Leviathan?

[00:20:19] Hmm, I don't think so.

[00:20:21] I don't know.

[00:20:22] Cause God defeated the Leviathan at some point in the Bible.

[00:20:25] Yeah, I know.

[00:20:26] I just, I don't understand.

[00:20:28] Like.

[00:20:29] I'm not sure.

[00:20:30] I think that the reference to Leviathan might be just the reference to the gatekeeper of the sea.

[00:20:36] So like, you know how they're casting things into the sea.

[00:20:39] So maybe the reference, like, maybe it was more of a reference of this like pseudo God that lives in the sea.

[00:20:45] Well, he's the inch heart, like throughout the story.

[00:20:48] He's big boss.

[00:20:49] I got it.

[00:20:49] Okay.

[00:20:50] So at the end of the year, the Leviathan assembled all the creatures in the sea and lo, the fox and the weasel were missing for they had not come into the sea.

[00:21:01] Pop, pop goes the weasel, the weasel.

[00:21:04] He sent to ask and was told how the fox and the weasel had escaped through their wisdom.

[00:21:09] They taunted the Levi.

[00:21:11] If you escaped a goddamn God, are you taunting or are you staying low key?

[00:21:17] Yeah.

[00:21:17] Right.

[00:21:17] Like, I'm on the down low.

[00:21:19] You ain't never going to hear from me.

[00:21:20] Right.

[00:21:21] Right.

[00:21:21] You know, I'm just trying to live.

[00:21:22] Yeah.

[00:21:23] They taunted the Leviathan saying the fox is exceedingly cunning.

[00:21:28] Nah, nah.

[00:21:29] The Leviathan felt uneasy and envious.

[00:21:32] And he sent a deputation of great fishes with the order that they were to deceive the fox and bring him before him.

[00:21:38] Hmm.

[00:21:39] The fishes went and found the fox by the seashore.

[00:21:42] When the fox saw the fishes disboarding themselves near the bank, he was surprised and he went among them.

[00:21:48] They beheld him and asked, who art thou?

[00:21:51] I'm the fox, said he.

[00:21:53] Knowest thou not, continued the fishes, that a great honor is in store for thee and that we have come here on thy behalf?

[00:22:00] What is it? asked the fox.

[00:22:02] The Leviathan, they said, is sick and likely to die.

[00:22:06] Why? He has appointed thee to reign in his stead.

[00:22:09] For he has heard that thou art wiser and more prudent than all the other animals.

[00:22:14] Come with us, for we are his messengers and are here by thy honor.

[00:22:18] Hmm.

[00:22:19] But, objected the fox, how can I come into the sea without being drowned?

[00:22:24] Nay, said the fishes, right upon one of us and he will carry thee above the sea, so that not even a drop of water shall touch so much as the soles of thy feet.

[00:22:35] Until thou reachest the kingdom, we will take thee down without thy knowing it.

[00:22:40] Come with us and reign over us and be king and be joyful all the days.

[00:22:45] No more will thou need to seek for food, nor will wild beasts stronger than thou meet thee and devour thee.

[00:22:53] Hmm.

[00:22:53] Sounds like a deal.

[00:22:54] Yeah.

[00:22:56] Except for that, you know, it involves going into the water.

[00:22:59] I would be like, nah, I'm good.

[00:23:00] Nah, I'm good.

[00:23:01] The fox heard and believed their words, though.

[00:23:04] Hmm.

[00:23:04] Hmm.

[00:23:04] How smart is he?

[00:23:05] Dumb fox.

[00:23:06] Right.

[00:23:06] He rode upon one of them and they went with him into the sea.

[00:23:10] Soon, however, the waves dashed over him and he began to perceive that he had been tricked.

[00:23:15] Hmm.

[00:23:16] Woe is me, willed the fox.

[00:23:18] What have I done?

[00:23:19] I have played many a trick on others, but these fishes have played one on me worth mine put together.

[00:23:25] Yeah.

[00:23:25] Yeah, they did.

[00:23:26] Mm-hmm.

[00:23:26] Now that I have fallen into their hands, how shall I free myself?

[00:23:30] Indeed, he said, turning to the fishes, now that I am fully in your power, I shall speak the truth.

[00:23:36] What are you going to do with me?

[00:23:37] To tell thee the truth, replied the fishes, the Leviathan has heard thy fame, that thou art very wise.

[00:23:44] And he said, I will rend the fox and will eat his heart, and thus I shall become wise.

[00:23:51] Oh-ho, said the fox, why did you not tell me the truth at first?

[00:23:54] I should then have brought my heart with me, and I should have given it to the king Leviathan, and he would have honored me.

[00:24:00] But now ye are in an evil plight.

[00:24:03] Oh, man.

[00:24:04] What? Thou hast not thy heart with thee?

[00:24:06] Ha!

[00:24:07] Certainly not.

[00:24:08] It is our custom to leave our heart at home while we go about from place to place.

[00:24:12] When we need our heart, we take it.

[00:24:14] Otherwise, it remains at home.

[00:24:16] Hmm.

[00:24:17] What must we do?

[00:24:18] Asked the bewildered fishes.

[00:24:20] My house and dwelling place, replied the fox, are by the seashore.

[00:24:25] If you like, carry me back to the place whence you brought me.

[00:24:28] I will fetch my heart, and I will come with you.

[00:24:31] I will present my heart to Leviathan, and he will reward me and you with honors.

[00:24:36] Hmm.

[00:24:37] But if you take me thus without my heart, he will be very wroth with you.

[00:24:42] I don't know about you, but I don't believe him.

[00:24:43] I don't either.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:44] But I do think he's really smart and quick on his feet.

[00:24:46] Right, right, right, yeah.

[00:24:47] And he will devour you.

[00:24:48] I have no fear for myself, for I shall say unto him, my lord, they did not tell me at first.

[00:24:54] And when they did not tell me, I begged them to return from my heart, but they refused.

[00:24:58] Yeah.

[00:24:58] What you gonna do?

[00:24:59] Right, yeah.

[00:25:00] The fishes at once declared that he was speaking well with his, you know, these and that.

[00:25:05] Right, yeah, yeah.

[00:25:06] They conveyed him back to the spot on the seashore whence they had taken him.

[00:25:11] Off jumped the fox and he danced with joy.

[00:25:13] Why?

[00:25:14] Again, why are you, why are you doing this?

[00:25:17] Don't gloat.

[00:25:17] Right.

[00:25:18] That should be the lesson in all of these.

[00:25:20] Don't fucking gloat.

[00:25:21] If you get away, get the fuck away.

[00:25:23] Right, right.

[00:25:24] He threw himself on the sand and laughed.

[00:25:27] Stupid ass.

[00:25:28] Right.

[00:25:29] Be quick, cried the fishes.

[00:25:31] Get thy heart and come.

[00:25:44] Stupid asses.

[00:25:45] Right.

[00:25:46] Thou has tricked us, they moaned.

[00:25:48] Sure thing, yeah.

[00:25:49] Fools, I tricked the angel of death.

[00:25:51] How much more easily a parcel of silly fishes.

[00:25:55] I mean, burn.

[00:25:57] Right, yeah.

[00:25:57] The fish returned in shame and related to their master what had happened.

[00:26:02] In truth, he said, the fox is cunning and ye are simple.

[00:26:08] Concerning you it was said, the turning away of the simple shall slay them.

[00:26:12] That's a proverb.

[00:26:14] Hmm.

[00:26:14] Proverbs 132.

[00:26:15] I see.

[00:26:16] Then the leviathan ate the fishes.

[00:26:18] The end.

[00:26:20] What the fuck?

[00:26:21] That was pretty great, yeah?

[00:26:22] I mean, sure, yeah.

[00:26:23] He's like, eh, alright.

[00:26:24] But I don't really understand what the message is though.

[00:26:27] I don't know.

[00:26:28] What's the, be cunning, be crafty, be sly, be quick on your feet I guess maybe?

[00:26:35] Don't believe everything you hear.

[00:26:37] Sure.

[00:26:38] Okay.

[00:26:39] I guess I could take that from it.

[00:26:41] I think that the proper message is don't let people take you under the sea.

[00:26:48] Right, right.

[00:26:49] And I guess if you keep your wits about you, right, you can say keeping your wits about

[00:26:53] you is a good thing because the fox was able to like, coolly and calmly like, change up

[00:26:58] the situation for himself.

[00:27:00] I mean, he was all but dead.

[00:27:01] Right.

[00:27:02] And he talked himself out of it.

[00:27:03] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:03] So I think maybe take some debate classes.

[00:27:07] Sure.

[00:27:07] And learn how to think and respond quickly.

[00:27:10] Right.

[00:27:10] And intelligently.

[00:27:11] Yeah.

[00:27:12] To change minds.

[00:27:13] Yeah.

[00:27:13] Or to trick people.

[00:27:15] Right, right.

[00:27:16] Alright, page 631 we are reading The Curse of the Indolent.

[00:27:22] Okay.

[00:27:22] A heathen farmer had a pig, a she ass and her little ass.

[00:27:26] I got a big ass.

[00:27:28] That's a little ass.

[00:27:28] Yeah.

[00:27:29] He fed the pig a great deal, but the she ass and her child were fed in limited measure.

[00:27:35] Okay.

[00:27:36] What a foolish man our master is, said the little ass to his mother.

[00:27:39] Don't you think it is unjust, mother, that we who work for him and pull his burdens should

[00:27:44] be fed so poorly?

[00:27:46] Why is it that the pig who is lazy all day long and does nothing eats as much as he wants?

[00:27:51] Because he's going to eat the pig.

[00:27:52] Mm-hmm.

[00:27:53] I'm just saying.

[00:27:53] Just wait a while, my child, the she ass comforted him.

[00:27:57] A time is sure to come when you will see the pig in great misfortune.

[00:28:00] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:01] Know that the farmer is not stuffing her with fine food out of love for her.

[00:28:05] Right.

[00:28:05] But only to hasten her grief.

[00:28:07] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:08] When the heathen celebrated the next feast day, he slaughtered his pig.

[00:28:13] Ever after, whenever the little ass was given food, he ate sparingly, remembering the sad fate

[00:28:19] of the pig.

[00:28:19] When his mother saw this, she tried to correct him.

[00:28:22] It isn't eating a lot that brings death, my child, but going about the lifelong day

[00:28:28] like the pig doing nothing.

[00:28:31] Right.

[00:28:32] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:32] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:33] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:33] Mm-hmm.

[00:28:34] So, yeah, there was that.

[00:28:35] And I don't think I have any more.

[00:28:38] Let me flip through.

[00:28:39] I mean, that was four.

[00:28:40] You said you had four.

[00:28:41] Yeah.

[00:28:41] Yeah.

[00:28:42] That was it.

[00:28:43] Okay.

[00:28:43] So...

[00:28:44] We are almost done with this book.

[00:28:46] Okay.

[00:28:46] All right.

[00:28:47] So, I just want to tell you there's only one more section left.

[00:28:50] Yeah.

[00:28:50] And it's proverbs and riddles.

[00:28:52] Okay.

[00:28:53] And it's going to be kind of good, I think.

[00:28:56] I'm going to read some shit at you and you're going to try to respond like, what does that

[00:29:02] mean?

[00:29:03] And then if you can't guess what it means, then I'll tell you what it means.

[00:29:06] Got it.

[00:29:06] And there's also a couple of riddles that Frodo could have used in The Hobbit.

[00:29:11] Mm-hmm.

[00:29:12] Okay.

[00:29:12] And yeah.

[00:29:14] That sounds fun.

[00:29:15] Yeah.

[00:29:15] And that will be the end of this book.

[00:29:17] Okay.

[00:29:17] All right.

[00:29:19] So, that was our Sacrilegious Book Club for the day.

[00:29:21] I actually have one more thought.

[00:29:24] Okay.

[00:29:24] Before we go.

[00:29:25] Yeah.

[00:29:26] I was thinking that for after we finished this book, we should pick up the Asimov where

[00:29:33] we left off.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:34] We have some people asking for that.

[00:29:35] So, for sure.

[00:29:36] Now that we're further along in the Old Testament and we're in the prophets now.

[00:29:41] Yeah.

[00:29:42] And so, hopefully we won't catch up with ourselves for a while.

[00:29:46] Right.

[00:29:46] Right.

[00:29:47] And we will caveat every time that Isaac Asimov was a somewhat racist, very sexist son of

[00:29:54] a bitch.

[00:29:54] But had a lot of smart things to say.

[00:29:57] Yeah.

[00:29:58] So.

[00:29:59] Was there documentation about him being racist?

[00:30:01] I knew the lecherous part was there, but I wasn't sure about it.

[00:30:04] I never heard the racist part.

[00:30:05] You know what?

[00:30:05] I might be just assuming because usually where one goes follows the other.

[00:30:10] Okay.

[00:30:10] So, I could be wrong.

[00:30:11] Right.

[00:30:11] But.

[00:30:12] I just wanted to clarify because I don't recall that as part of that.

[00:30:15] It wouldn't shock me.

[00:30:16] I could be wrong.

[00:30:17] I don't know.

[00:30:18] Anyway.

[00:30:19] He wrote a good commentary on the Bible for sure.

[00:30:21] He did.

[00:30:22] So.

[00:30:22] And we learned a lot from it.

[00:30:23] Yeah.

[00:30:24] Until we stopped.

[00:30:25] Right.

[00:30:25] And we were catching up with ourselves anyway, so we had thought.

[00:30:29] We were going to have to slow down or stop at some point anyway.

[00:30:31] So.

[00:30:32] But now we've got a lot under our belt and we can go back to it.

[00:30:35] As soon as we finish this one, which will not be too much longer.

[00:30:38] Right.

[00:30:39] We'll go back to the Asimov.

[00:30:41] I happen to know one person specifically who will be happy and his name is Conrad.

[00:30:46] Conrad, this is for you.

[00:30:50] The end.

[00:30:50] All right.

[00:30:51] So that was our book club for the day.

[00:30:53] Yes, it was.

[00:30:53] And I will be getting our weekly wrap or weekly replay together here.

[00:30:57] Mm-hmm.

[00:30:58] And then we will be back tomorrow with.

[00:31:00] Can I say his name?

[00:31:02] I don't know.

[00:31:03] You keep fucking it up.

[00:31:03] I keep wanting to say Josiah, but it's Hosea.

[00:31:06] Hosea.

[00:31:07] Hosea.

[00:31:08] Hosea chapter one.

[00:31:09] Hosea chapter one.

[00:31:11] All right.

[00:31:11] We'll see you then.

[00:31:12] Bye.