The Rooster Prince, also sometimes translated as The Turkey Prince, is a Jewish mashal or

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

told by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, founder of the Breslov form of

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism ( Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of cont ...

. It was first told orally, and later published by Nathan of Breslov in ''Sippurei Ma'asiot,'' a collection of stories by Rebbe Nachman. It has since appeared in numerous folklore anthologies and works on Hasidic

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pr ...

Story

In this story, a prince goes insane and believes that he is a

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

(or

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

.) He takes off his clothes, sits naked under the table, and pecks at his food on the floor. The king and queen are horrified that the heir to the throne is acting this way. They call in various sages and healers to try and convince the prince to act human again, but to no avail. Then a new wise man comes to the palace and claims he can cure the prince. He takes off his clothes and sits naked under the table with him, claiming to be a rooster, too. Gradually the prince comes to accept him as a friend. The sage then tells the prince that a rooster can wear clothes, eat at the table, etc. The Rooster Prince accepts this idea and, step-by-step, begins to act normally, until he is completely cured.

Interpretations

The main interpretation of this story is that the prince represents a simple Jew who has forgotten his true self, and the sage represents a Hasidic

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritu ...

who has the cure for his soul. Rather than condemn the simple Jew for being non-religious, the Rebbe "descends" to his level to meet him where he is, then shows him how to return to God, step by step, and in a manner that he can accept. Some Breslov Hasidim say that the "wise man" is Rebbe Nachman, himself. In 1991, Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum, himself a Breslover Hasid, published an entire self-help book based on this story, entitled ''Under the Table and How to Get Up.'' This book goes, step by step, through the story, expanding each detail into a personal lesson on spiritual growth. As noted, above, there is some debate as to which barnyard bird was originally being referred to in the story. The parable was originally told in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

. Some early translations and oral traditions rendered the Yiddish word ''indik'' as "Indian rooster". (A well-known example is in ''Souls on Fire'' by

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...

, where he retells the story as heard from his Hasidic grandfather.) Others thought the word referred to the male

junglefowl Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus ''Gallus'' in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4–6 million years ago. Although origin ...

or a

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

. More recently, some translators, most notably the

Breslov Research Institute Breslov Research Institute is a publisher of classic and contemporary Breslov texts in English. Established in 1979, BRI has produced the first English translation of all the works of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) and selected works of Re ...

, have rendered it as

. (The fan tail of a turkey does resemble that of a peacock.) These differences do not affect the basic plot of the story.

In popular culture

" The Rooster Prince" is the title of the second episode of the FX television series '' Fargo''. It was written by show creator Noah Hawley and was directed by

Adam Bernstein Adam Bernstein (born May 7, 1960) is an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award-winning American film director, music video director and television director. For his work on the television show ''Fargo (TV series), Fargo'' in 2014, he received a nomination for ...

References

Sources

*Greenbaum, Avraham (1991). ''Under the Table and How to Get Up.'' Jerusalem:

. *Kaplan, Aryeh (1983). ''Rabbi Nachman's Stories.'' Jerusalem:

, pp. 479–80. A scholarly commentary.

External links

* , starring

Yehuda Barkan Yehuda Barkan ( he, יהודה בארקן; 29 March 1945 – 23 October 2020) was an Israeli actor, film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was noted for his appearance in Israeli comedy cult classics of the 1970s, and for producin ...