A Talmudic Legend
The truth as I saw it, brother,
The truth, and there is none other,
I swear by this beaker of wine,
I swear it by Esau's line ...
Can I tell a bitch from a cat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Come, fill up this beaker again,
The truth needs a legion of men,
Not horses, nor mules, and not swine,
And men need a river of wine ...
Can I tell a rook from a rat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Some say, but I hold it the least,
That an ass is a tractable beast,
But dawn and the smell of the grass
Turns the head of many an ass,
(This wine is a draught of delight,
Of dew in the gardens at night),
I say it, and nothing exempted,
An ass is a rascal when tempted.
It was ho! and away they went
With an asinine intent,
Over stubbly pasture and moor,
Over wastes where no grasses endure,
Over desert as bare as your chin,
With hola, and stamping, and din,
Pell mell, and scattering free,
To the shores of the great Red Sea.
(Brother, your gift is gracious,
Good wine is efficacious
To mellow the guts of truth,
And sharpen the wisdom tooth) ...
Can I tell a nut from a gnat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Aye, brother, you pucker your face,
It was a magnificent chase,
(Just fill up the beaker, my pet),
Till asses and master were met.
And then with a sudden descent,
As one enters the gloom of a tent
From the light of the sun outside,
Dusk gathered across the tide,
And rolled with a luminous crash
Upon us; the wind, like a lash,
Worried the flesh of the sea,
Till it bled in its agony.
O brother, what things there be
For one who has eyes to see ...
Can I tell a slut from a slat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
A mongrel herd, uncouth,
(I love good wine and truth),
One hundred and twenty in all,
O brother, a sight to appall!
Out of the sea they came,
More terrible than flame
Breaking from out the east,
Greater than any beast,
Fiercer than death can frown,
Man from the middle down,
For the rest, of various shapes,
Bears, and lions, and apes,
(This beaker shall vouch for that);
They had tails like the dukipat!
Then up to the asses they strode,
And leaped to their backs and rode,
A monstrous cavalry,
Back into the sea;
But the last as he passed me by
Snapped his dukipat tail in my eye!
O brother, what things there be
For one who has eyes to see. . . .
The truth as I saw it, brother,
The truth, and there is none other,
I swear by this beaker of wine,
I swear it by Esau's line ...
Can I tell a bitch from a cat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Come, fill up this beaker again,
The truth needs a legion of men,
Not horses, nor mules, and not swine,
And men need a river of wine ...
Can I tell a rook from a rat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Some say, but I hold it the least,
That an ass is a tractable beast,
But dawn and the smell of the grass
Turns the head of many an ass,
(This wine is a draught of delight,
Of dew in the gardens at night),
I say it, and nothing exempted,
An ass is a rascal when tempted.
It was ho! and away they went
With an asinine intent,
Over stubbly pasture and moor,
Over wastes where no grasses endure,
Over desert as bare as your chin,
With hola, and stamping, and din,
Pell mell, and scattering free,
To the shores of the great Red Sea.
(Brother, your gift is gracious,
Good wine is efficacious
To mellow the guts of truth,
And sharpen the wisdom tooth) ...
Can I tell a nut from a gnat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
Aye, brother, you pucker your face,
It was a magnificent chase,
(Just fill up the beaker, my pet),
Till asses and master were met.
And then with a sudden descent,
As one enters the gloom of a tent
From the light of the sun outside,
Dusk gathered across the tide,
And rolled with a luminous crash
Upon us; the wind, like a lash,
Worried the flesh of the sea,
Till it bled in its agony.
O brother, what things there be
For one who has eyes to see ...
Can I tell a slut from a slat?
They had tails like the dukipat!
A mongrel herd, uncouth,
(I love good wine and truth),
One hundred and twenty in all,
O brother, a sight to appall!
Out of the sea they came,
More terrible than flame
Breaking from out the east,
Greater than any beast,
Fiercer than death can frown,
Man from the middle down,
For the rest, of various shapes,
Bears, and lions, and apes,
(This beaker shall vouch for that);
They had tails like the dukipat!
Then up to the asses they strode,
And leaped to their backs and rode,
A monstrous cavalry,
Back into the sea;
But the last as he passed me by
Snapped his dukipat tail in my eye!
O brother, what things there be
For one who has eyes to see. . . .