MUNCHAUSEN’S PROTOTYPE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 490, 5 October 1909, Page 4

MUNCHAUSEN’S PROTOTYPE.

Next to the Old Testament there is no book so revered by devout Jews as the Talmud, (for a writer in the Evening Standard observes) between its covers lies the fundamental code of the Jewish civil and canonical law. In the Old Testament is found what is really the basis of the law, and the Talmud is a detailed commentary in which the true inwardness of the Mosaic law is interpreted by the ancient Rabbins. Before the destruction of Jerusalem the conduct of the Jewish people in confcrmity with the Mosaic law was regulated only by oral tradition, but with the dispersion of the Jews after the terrible siege of the Rabbins began to fear that the decentralisation of their flock would cause an irremediable laxity. Therefore they took upon their shoulders the imposing task of rendering into writing the letter of the law. The original text of the Talmud was made in 190 A.D., but two commentaries were added 240 years later. When one considers the peculiar nature of this prodigious work, it affords some little food for astonishment to find that the lineal predecessor of the notorious Baron Munchausen romps through its pages with delicious iucousequeutialily. This sacerdotal conception of the famous Baron was named Rabba bar bar Ghana, and he lived in the very early days of the Christian era. Centuries before Munchausen startled Europe into involuntiry , admiration, Rabba bar bar Chain had anticipated some of bis most wonderful narrations.

Here is a story of the Rabba, which suggests the source of one of Sinbad’s most famous adventures. “I once was at sea,” he relates, “and there I saw a fish whose back was covered with sand and grass. We all thought it was an island, and lauded, starting a fire to cook our food ; but when the fish felt the warmth, it turned over and vve would have been drowned, had not a ship rescued us.”

' Again, we are told how while Rabba was at sea he sighted an iminense fish. But its girth was of small advantage to it, for an insect, infinitesimal in size, crept into its nostrils and caused its death. The waves cast the carcase ashore, and the impact of the huge body destroyed sixty cities ! It is an ill wind that blows good to nobody. Although sixty cities lay in ruins, the flesh of this maritime monster, probably the progenitor of the sea-serpent, fed sixty cities more. Nor was this all. The sun dried enough flesh to serve as salt fish for another sixty foitunate cities. And three hundred measures of oil were gathered from its blubber ! After this we are told that Rabba went on bis way.

Curiosity, or something unaccountable, drew him once more to the spot, after a lapse of years. To the qh’ronicler’s amazement he found the sixty cities—destroyed when the fish had been washed ashore —completely rebuilt from its sun-bleached bones !

Rabba once saw an enormous /rog, as large as sixty houses. This imposing monster was swallowed at one gulp by a hungry serpent, which, in its turn, was utilised by a sea-monster as a palatable meal, aud| the great amphibian climbed a tree to congratulate itself upon its appetite. “If I had not been present, I would not have believed it,” adds the chronicler. Once while at sea a wave carried Rabba’s vessel so close to the stars that the stellar heat scorched all the unfortunate passengers. He visited the exact spot where heaven and earth join, and laid his wallet there while he surveyed his surroundings. On his return the basket was not to be found. His guide told him to revisit the spot in twenty-four hours. He did, and lo! the basket was lying apparently as he lelt it. This was an intelligent anticipation of Galileo.

Upon another occasion Rabba saw a bird which stood to its lower joints in the water, while its head reached the sky. He and his friends thought that the sea here must be shallow, and they prepared without any hesitation to bathe, when a voice exclaimed : “Enter not the water! A carpenter, seven years ago. let fall his axe on this very spot, and it has not yet touched, bottom ; not that the water is deep, but its current is rapfd! ’’ Rabba was travelling once with acaiavau, and was resuming tne journey after a rest for dinner when he became suddenly aware of the fact that he had forgotten to say the customary blessing after meals. He wished to repeat the prescribed prayer at the spot where he bad eaten, but did not desire to acquaint his companions of the fact, because they would not recognise the proprietary of the law. So he gave as an excuse that he had forgotten the golden figure of a dove, and wished to return. He started back, reached the spot of the previous station, uttered a prayer, and found, in truth, a golden dove, which he exhibited on his return.