APPENDIX III.
ANIMAL STORIES FROM THE HEBREW ALPHABET OF BEN SIRA.
This seems to be the oldest collection of animal tales which agree most closely with some of the Rumanian. They are of a purely oriental origin, and are therefore invaluable in helping to determine that of the latter. They are taken from the Venice edition, 1544, reprinted page by page by Steinschneider, Berlin 1858 (f. 24a ff.).
I.
WHY WERE FLIES CREATED WHICH LIVE ONLY ONE DAY?
Q. Why were the flies created which live only one day?
Reply. For the sake of the fly which in the future will torture Titus the wicked, and also for the sake of the fledglings of the raven. When they are hatched they are white and the parents fly away and leave them. Then they cry to God, as it is written, “The young of the raven which cry unto Him and He brings to them these flies and they are fed thereby.” After three days they become dark; then the parents return to them. Thus the Lord, blessed be He, prepares the cure before the illness (f. 24a).