Brides and Grooms: A Judeo-Spanish Version of Well-Known Literary Parallels

Brides and Grooms 1 BRIDES AND GROOMS: A JUDEO-SPANISH VERSION OF WELL-KNOWN LITERARY PARALLELS by Reginetta Haboucha Dr. Reginetta Haboucha is Professor of Spanish at Lehman College, C.V.N.Y. One of her most recent publications, Types and Motifs ofthejudeo-Spanish Folktales (Garland, 1992), was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Council Award. She is presently working on an annotated anthology of Sephardic oral narratives in translation. I first heard the Judeo-Spanish tale of the lazy wife in the summer of 1975, sitting in the shade of the small enclosed and tiled yard of Mazal Tov Lazar, in Old Jaffa, IsraeV and I was struck by its Similarity to two wellknown literary treatments of the subject: Don Juan Manuel's didactic tale, La mujer brava/ and the Shakespearian comedy, The Taming of the Shrew.3 Both these works are believed to derive from oral tradition and 'See my article, "Collecting Sephardic Folktales in Israel," in Fabula 23 (1982), pp. 221-231. 2Don Juan Manuel, Libra del conde Lucanor, ed. Reinaldo Ayerhe-Chaux (Madrid, 1986), Example 35 (De 10 que contes<;i6 a un man<;ebo que cas6 can una muger muy fuerte et muy brava). For a structural analysis of the tale, see Ayerhe-Chaux, HI conde Lucanor: materia tradicional y originalidad creadora (Madrid, 1975), pp. 156-160; and John England's article, "tEt non el dia del lodo? The Structure of the Short Story in IiI conde Lucanor," in juan Manuel Studies, ed. Ian Macpherson (London, 1977), pp. 69-86; pp. 79-80 give a structural analysis of Example No. 35; see also John E. Keller, "A ReExamination of Don Juan Manuel's Narrative Techniques: La lIlujer brava," in lIispania 58 (1975), pp. 15-51. In his Introducci6n al estudio de Don juan Manuel yen particular de "N conde l.ucanor" (Madrid, 1972), pp. 126-131, Daniel Devoto studies the tale together with its thematic parallel, Example 27, and gives a complete hihliography on the tale. 37be Taming of the Shrew, ed. Ann Thompson (Camhridge, 198·j). 2 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 can be classified according to a universal tale-type index, Aarne-Thompson 's The Types of the Folktale.4 In 1928, American folklorist Stith Thompson published the first revision of the Finnish Antti Aarne's original compilation of a tale-type index ofIndo-European tales, Verzeichnis der Mdrchentypen (1910). Since that time, folklorists have referred to oral narratives by their AarneThompson type numbers.5 The usefulness of numerical systems and classificatory concepts and their practical necessity cannot be denied: they provide tale collectors and scholars with a common frame of reference. Although the classification is often perceived as arbitrary, regional or national indices continue to be the major instruments used to make a particular collection or individual tales efficiently accessible to readers. Typing classifies tales by plot. It implies a genetic relationship between all the versions of a type or establishes the independent existence of individual types. The Aarne-Thompson index is subdivided into five categories: 1. Animal Tales: wild animals; domestic animals; birds; other animals and objects; wild and domestic animals; man and wild animals. 2. Ordinary Folktales: (a) tales of magic (supernatural adversaries; supernatural or enchanted husband, wife, or other relatives; supernatural tasks and helpers; magic objects; supernatural powers or knowledge); (b) religious tales; (c) romantic tales; and (d) tales of the stupid ogre. 3. Jokes and Anecdotes: numskull stories; stories about married couples, about a woman, about a man (clever or stupid); luck)' accidents; anecdotes about other groups of people; and tales of lying. 4. Formula Tales: cumulative and catch tales. 5. Unclassified Tales. Type 901 (AT 9(1), 1be Taming ofthe Shrew, characterizes the literary versions mentioned above and is summarized as a romantic tale in the Aarne-Thompson index: "The youngest of three sisters is a shrew. For their disobedience the husband shoots his dog and his horse. Brings his wife to 'Antli Aame and Stith Thompson. 'tbe Types of the Fulktale: A ClaSSification and 8ibliography. 1'1' Communications No. 18·1. Second Hevision (Ildsinki. 1973). It includes specialized and regional talc indices that appeared hefore 1961. 'For a comprehensive list of tale type and motif indices. including those which appeared aftn 1961. see David S. Azzolina, Tale Type- and Moti(tnde."I."es: An Annotated 8ibliugraphy (New York, 1987). Brides and Grooms 3 submission. Wager: whose wife is the most obedient.,,6 This type has a well-documented history in the Indo-European oral tradition and has inspired other well-known literary renderings.7 Today it is known throughout the European continent, especially in the northern countries, and can be found as far east as India. The Sephardic tale presented here, on the other hand, follows the simple plot of AT 1370 The Lazy Wife, a type much less widely encountered than The Taming oftbe Sbrew.8 AT 1370 is catalogued under Stories 6Types of the Folktale, pp. 311-312. In contrast with type-indices which catalogue by plot, motif-indices deal with the smaller migratory components of a tale. Some types may consist of a single motif. Most of the time, however, motifs will serve as building blocks for folktales, revealing the anatomy of a given version and complementing the outline provided by the type. See Stith Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk Literature, 6 vols. (Bloomington, Indiana, 1955-58). Motif T251.2, Tbe Taming of the Shrew, is an old and widely used narrative motif. Other motifs in the type are H386. Bride Test: obedience and N12. Wager on the most obedient wife. 7It may have originated with a simple eastern tale, perhaps from India, in which a husband kills a cat (possibly also a dog) in front of his new wife in order to frighten her and to subdue her. A new subtype in which a horse replaced the cat largely supplanted the original one in Europe. See Jan H. Brunvand, Tbe Taming of the Shrew, a Comparative Study ofOral and Literary Traditions (New York and London, 1991), p. 259. In his Types, Thompson also lists numerous oral parallels for this type as well as some literary renderings of it. In addition to La mujer brava ofJuan Manuel, early European literary sources include the Middle German poem, "Der vrouwen zuht" in Friedrich H. von der Hagen, Gesamtaberlteuer , 3 vols. (Stuttgart and Tiibingen, 1850), vol. I, pp. 37-57 (fucsimile, Darmstadt, 1961); an Old French fabliau, "De la dame escolliee" in Anatole de Montaiglon and Gaston Raynaud, Recueil general et complet des fabliaux des XllIe et XIVe siecles, imprimes ou irwdits, publies d'apres les manuscripts, 6 vols. (Paris, 1872-1890; reprint: Geneva, 1973), vol. VI, pp. 95-116; and the XVIth-century Italian novella by Giovanni F. Straparola, Ie piacevoli notti, trans. W. G. Waters, 4 vols. (London, 1898), vol. III, pp. 108-123 (Night VIII, Tale 2). For a brief descriptive survey of the oriental and European literary sources, consult Ayerbe-Chaux (1975), pp. 154-156. See Stith Thompson, The Folktale (reprint: Berkeley/Los AngelesJLondon, 1977), p. 104, n. 28. &rhompson lists parallel tales from Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, England, Rumania, Hungary, Serbocroatia, Slovenia, Russia, and Greece (Types, pp. 407-408). The 1928 edition of his work reported AT 1370 only from Estonia and Finland and did not include it as a major entry. The oldest known literary version of the type is believed to be a XIIIth-century text of undetermined geographical origin. See Tbe Exempla; or Illustrative Storiesfrom the Sermones Vulgares ofJacques de Vitry, ed. Thomas Frederick Crane (original edition London, 1890; reprint: New York, 1971), pp. 93-94, No. ccxxv, with translation and notes on pp. 224-225. The earliest variant of this type from oral tradition was published in 1853. See H. Prole, Kinder- und Volksmiircherl (Leipzig, 1853), p. 27, n. 12. Early literary versions ofAT 1370 appear in Juan Timoneda, Buen aviso y portacuentos (first edition Valencia, 1564; see Rudolph ScheviU's edition in Revue Hispanique 24 [1911), 4 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 About Married Couples and describes an animal or object being beatenostensibly for disobeying or not doing housework-while the wife holds it or carries it on her back. The wife is thus cured of laziness.9 Although the type mentions beating an unruly or lazy cat, this is only one of three known subtypes of the tale. Quite often an inanimate object suffers the wrath of the husband, with one subtype showing a stick, a poker, or an ax being ordered to work and another featuring a bag or animal hide.lO Together AT 901 and AT 1370 are known as the Taming of the Shrew complex, a title loosely applied to tales describing a variety of wife-taming devices.11 pp. 171-254): No. 15, pp. 189-190 (Husband asks picture of slave to cook and set the table. When meal is not ready, he puts picture on wife's back and hits it. When she complains to parents, they tell her to obey husband.) and No. 28 , pp. 196-197 (Husband brings meat for dinner. Wife does not cook. He cooks himself and eats alone. She cooks but does not set table. He gives her small portion. When she cooks and sets the table, he shares with her equally.). See also J. Wesley Childers, Motif Index of the "Cuerltos" ofJuan Timorzeda, Indiana University Publications, Folklore Series No.5 (Bloomington, 1948), Wll1.3.4.1.* (No. 28) and Wll1.3.5.* (No. 15). 9Brunvand writes: "The wife, thus, gets beaten more or less by proxy, but she realizes that to escape future pain she must do work herself' (p. 230). Usually no housework is done until after the "servant" is punished; once the lesson is learned, however, the lazy wife becomes industrious and performs the necessary chores herself (pp. 244-46). (Motif Wll1.3.2. The cat beaten for not working. The wife must hold the cat and is scratched, Wll1.3. The lazy wife, and Q321. Lazirzess punished, in Thompson's Motif-Index.) lOBrunvand, pp. 4, 229. He finds that tales in which an inanimate object is beaten are more widely disseminated than tales of The Lazy Cat and appear more frequently in older literary sources. He also finds that they turn up generally in the oral tradition of southern Europe, with te."ts known from England to Russia and from Scandinavia to Spain and Greece, with one version from French Canada and another from a Polish-American informant (p. 229). Brunvand believes (1) that the type had originated in southern Europe by the early Middle Ages and subsequently spread north; (2) that the versions in which the "servant" is not first ordered to work may represent the oldest form; and (3) that the subtype of the inanimate object was the first to be invented and that, in the process of oral transmission, it was then possibly influenced by the animal punishment in AT 901 to become The Lazy Cat. "Brunvand's opinion is that Aarne-Thompson's division (Types 901 and 1370) "creates an artificial breach between the tales" (p. 4). It should be noted that Boggs, in his Index of Spanish Folktales, FF Communications No. 74 (Chicago, 1930), lists two Lazy Wife tales under AT 901, while AT 1370 does not appear in his Index. Was the omission an oversight as Brunvand suggests? I believe, on the contrary, that it was intended to correct the artificial division created by Aarne-Thompson. The two tales are Aurelio M. Espinosa's No. 92 (The loving husband repeatedly gives his new wife the opportunity to change her stubborn ways. When she does not, he resorts to beating and breaks her arm. He then pays the doctor Brides and Grooms 5 While it is generally accepted that literary texts may be inspired by oral tradition, the reverse may also be held as true. Popular tradition may integrate literary elements. It is difficult to ascertain, however, whether the Sephardic tale presented here has been contaminated by literary parallels. The 75-year-old teller from whom I collected the story was a multilingual woman who lived in Old Jaffa, Israel. Born and raised in Turkey, she had spent most of her adult life in Bulgaria and Israel. As she could neither read nor write, she was totally dependent on oral transmission. like most Sephardic oral narratives, the tale narrated was given no title. It tells the story of the only "daughter of a wealthy man who is very beautiful but so lazy that she must be dressed and fed in bed.12 Suitors appear but are dissuaded by her parents, who stress that she would not make a good wife. One young man, however, becomes enamored and persists. Convinced that he can change her habits, he marries her and at once forbids her parents to visit his house until she is well trained. When she continues to lie idle in bed, he demonstrates to her, in a vivid and physically threatening fashion, what may result from her sloth. She is eventually transformed into an impeccable housewife, and he proudly displays his success to her family.13 To my knowledge, no other Jewish version of the tale can be found, from oral or literary tradition. 14 Although such lack of representation does double his fee in anticipation of the next beating.) in Cuentos populares espaiioles, recogidos de la tradici6n oral de EspaiUl, 3 vols. (Stanford University, 1923-1926; second edition, 3 vols., Madrid 1946-47; reprint New York, 1967), and No. 123' in A. de Llano Roza de Ampudia, Cuerltos asturianos (Madrid, 1925), which tells of a lazy wife who reforms when her husband beats his bag for laziness. "MotifS WIll. Laziness, Wlll.3. The lazy wife, Q5. Laziness punished; industry rewarded, and Q32l. Laziness punished. 'Yfhe English translation of the tale is appended at the end of this article. The JudeoSpanish text appears in my forthcoming article, "The Lazy Wife: A Rare Jewish Version of an International Folktale Type," in Hispanic Culture in theJewish World: In Honor ofJoseph H. Silvennarl, ed. Michael Caspi. "After consulting the published indices of the Israel Folktale Archives, I find that no mention is made of existing versio~s of AT 1370 among the thousands of tales preserved there. HedaJason's index of oral tales from the IFA lists two Jewish versions ofAT 901: one from an Israeli Sephardic teller (IFA 2778) and the other from an Eastern European teller (IFA 4644). See "Types ofJewish-Oriental Oral Tales," Fabula 7 (1965), pp. 115-224, 177. Other parallels in the archives are IFA 7177 from Iran, IFA 7338 from Poland, IFA 7417 from Iranian Kurdistan (see D. Noy, A Tale for Each Morlth 1966 [Haifa, 1967), p. 155) and IFA 8550 from an Israeli Sephardic teller (see E. Cheichel, A Tale for: Each Month 1968-1969 6 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 not constitute conclusive proof that the tale is missing from the oral repertoire of a particular group, it usually points to a lack of popularity among raconteurs ofthat group. Consequently, ourJudeo-Spanish version provides a doubly valuable contribution, by adding to the limited number of known international versions of The Lazy Wife and by providing a unique example of AT 1370 from the previously unrepresented Jewish tradition. Whereas careful textual comparison is important when tracing literary influences in parallel texts, the study offolktales calls for an understanding of the cause and effect of oral refashioning, as well as of the linear surface of texts. As we shall see, although the Sephardic narrative has a tradition of its own and does not represent a degenerated retelling of a Shrew tale, it is unmistakably related to the Shrew versions, structurally and psychologically . The text is true to traditional form and preserves the essence of the archetype. At the same time, as a result of oral refashioning, it is distinctive in its treatment, including details about housework, domestic chores, and marital problems, and telling us about the economic status of the characters and of their life, from family relations to relations with others. This paper will attempt to shed light on how traditional material is manipulated according to the needs of narrative genres and the ideological bends of different cultures at various points in time (medieval Spain, XVIIth century England, and modern Sephardic society). In all three texts examined here-the medieval exemplum, Shakespeare 's play, and the Judeo-Spanish folktale-the major actors are the imperfect bride, her husband, and her father. The father's attempt to discourage the marriage by emphasizing the unsuitable disposition of the bride is to no avail: the suitor is confident in his own taming ability. In the literary versions the suitor is greedy and drawn primarily by the attractive dowry of his intended, while in the oral tale the beauty of the bride is [Haifa, 1970], p. 266). There is a Judeo-Spanish version of the taming of a shrewish wife, collected from Bitolj, Yugoslavia, which is the equivalent of motif J21.16. "Go to Goosebridge "; counselproved wise by experience. Man with disobedient wifefinds mules beaten there and made to cross bridge (cf. Boccaccio's Decarneron, Night IX, Tale 9, and.A. C. Lee, The Decarneron, Its Sources arm Arl£1logues (London, 1909), pp. 289-91; also Le Grand d'Aussy, Fabliaux ou contes, pp. 356-357). Stressing the advice given by King Solomon, which is proven wise by e.xperience, and the wisdom acquired from observation, the tale ends with a saying: Para Ius rzegrus it palu es it kunsegu, it golpi fa milizirze (The stick counsels while blows cure, or There is no argument like that of a stick), in :l. Kolonomos, Proverbs, Sayings, and Tales of the Sephardi jews ofMacedonia (Beograd, 1978), p. 147. See my Type and Motif Index of the judeo-Spanish Folktales (New York, 1992), under **910M Go to Goosebridge. Brides and Grooms 7 emphasized, with only a passing mention made of her economic statUs. In his comparative study of The Shrew and La mujer brava, Spanish folklorist Ralph Boggs writes that neither love nor greed provides sufficient incentive to marry a lazy or shrewish woman. They only serve as a justification for the sacrifice. The real inducement for the marriage, he argues, is the desire of the groom to demonstrate his ingenuity by taming a hopelessly difficult wife. To accomplish this, he inflicts violence onto others so as to inspire in the shrew fear and compliance.15 The basic pattern is the same in all the versions examined here, but the mood in each is deeply different. When the Sephardic father depicts an ill-managed home as the unappealing prospect of married life with his idle daughter, the suitor promises to take his new wife from one bed to another, making of love rather than greed the moving factor in the tale.16 The sexual overtone, at once subtle and obvious, provides the JudeoSpanish tale with a realistic setting. In the English comedy, on the other hand, the objective is to make the audience laugh, and when Baptista tells Petruchio that the shrewish Katharina would not make an appropriate bride, the apparently irrational behavior of the groom towards his bride is consistent with the play's intent. In turn, when the father in the medieval story predicts unavoidable death for the groom-in character with the brutal mood depicted-the moral pragmatism of the hero in marrying the bride fits the didactic intent of the text. In all three versions of the tale the behavior of the groom is the accepted male dominant attitude: his violence, lateness, poor attire, or tolerance are meant to show his superiority. When the bride is terrorized into compliance, the groom's ascendancy is confirmed. In turn the wife's extreme behavior is a caricature of an unacceptable standard of feminine conduct. Her social resistance can only be understood as one more instance ofthe irrational, capricious, erratic behavior attributed traditionally to the female gender. To modern readers, trained in psychological subtleties and aware of feminist issues, the stubborn initial stance of each woman may seem a deliberate transgression. The shrewishness or laziness of the bride, however, is depicted in each text as an eccentric female 15See Ralph S. Boggs, "La mujer mandona de Shakespeare y de Juan Manuel," Hispania 10 (1927), pp, 419-422. In his study on the structure of La mujer brava (1977), John England disagrees, arguing that "the young man's intentions are financial rather than a frivolous test of his own skills" (p. 80, n. 16). 161n "La esposa desobediente," No. 92, pp. 160-162 of Espinosa's Cuentos, love is also the basic factor in the marriage. 8 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 vagary and ridiculed as an obstacle to be overcome by the husband in order to reach domestic felicity. While the characters of Petruchio and the medieval groom are as firmly drawn as those of Katharina and the Moorish bride, the stress in the Judeo-Spanish version is more on the lazy wife than on her husband. In her own bed, in her father's house and in her husband's, she acts out a rebellion against traditional expectations. Later, we follow the slow development of her transformation as she begins to equate idleness with the unpleasantness of fear and physical pain. The taming process in each case involves animals, inanimate objects, or the bride herself, and the plan ofaction utilizes psychological manipulation to reform the conduct of the young wife, threatening her with death or with great discomfort. The strategy by which control is achieved varies, as the character of each genre differs. The medieval technique used to train the wife develops through cumulative physical violence: threats, dismemberment, the slaughter of innocent animals, blood spattered everywhere, terror. By immolating not only household pets but also his only horse, the groom transmits the message to his bride in a dramatic fashion. Although she is made to feel serious mental anguish, however, her body is never subjected to the physical aggression inflicted on the domestic animals. Acting as a silent spectator, she nonetheless understands fully the analogy between the fate of the animal victims and her own, were she to disobey. That the analogy should function as a successful deterrent betrays how medieval Spanish society seemed to perceive women as possessions of the husband, open to a treatment no different from that inflicted on the dog, the cat, or the horse. The laughter evoked from the readers reflects the sympathy for the groom. The situation in the XVlIth-century play is likewise entertaining. We know that Shakespeare did not invent the plot, but he successfully infused it with vitality, turning it into a shining comedy rather than a farce. By satirizing society with memorable characters, the bard clearly displays his understanding of it. The groom appears late for the wedding and is poorly attired, embarrassing his overbearing bride and taking her away from her father's house as soon as the ceremony is over. As if conspiring with him to tame Katharina, her horse eventually slips in the mud and her clothes are soiled. This foreshadowing is not a deliberate device on the part of the husband but an omen which establishes the dramatic quality of the play. At home, Petruchio starves his new wife and keeps her awake and without decent dress, all in apparent reverence to her. Later, he makes absurd statements: he calls the sun the moon and old Vincentio a gentlewoman, Brides and Grooms 9 and orders his wife to kiss him in public.17 Forced to control her temper so that she may be allowed to eat and sleep, the shrew soon capitulates. The events emphasize the farcical tone of the play but remain nonetheless forms of physical violence, far more real than the indirect threats received by the medieval bride. The method of the Sephardic groom may be less sophisticated than that of the other husbands, but in the end it is as effective. Initially, he shows patience with his bride's idleness, perhaps because of his love for her. When his patience is eventually exhausted, he positions two iron globes strategically above her head. The psychological process begins almost as soon as the globes are set in motion, clashing dangerously close to her head. As soon as she begins to perceive the objects as instruments of punishment and pain which represent a real physical danger to herself, her performance shows visible improvement and receives silent praise from her husband and, later, from her parents. The husband's scheme gains momentum in the teller's narration, and we follow the struggle in the bride's mind. Although the threat of punishment is constant, even verbally expressed, it is never clear whether the Judeo-Spanish bride is actually hurt. This ambiguity may reflect the female teller's uneasiness about the use of physical violence as a means of reforming an unruly wife. It may also reflect that of the surrounding society. In Judaism, the opinion that women are lazy passed into a proverb: "As she slumbers the basket falls" (Sanhedrin 7a); but the opposite is also written: "It is not a woman's way to sit at home idle" (Ketubbot 30a).18 The survival of laziness as a bride's character flaw in our tale may represent the traditional belief, apparent in medieval Jewish responsa, that household chores are the mandatory obligations of a married woman. When a woman refuses to engage in them, she is guilty of breaking the marital contract and deserves punishment. Maimonides wrote that any wife who abstains from performing her wifely duties may be forced to do so, even by whip (or stick).19 His recommendation of corporal punishment as a valid means of punishment, however, is a radical departure from tradition17Example 27 ofEI conde Lucanor, pp. 277-283, and two other Spanish folktales, which show this episode, belong to a distinct northern European subtype of AT 901. See Jose A. Sanchez Perez, CierI cuentospopulares (Madrid, 1942), pp. 213-218, and Espinosa, Cuerltos, pp. 159-160. The theme of delusion versus reality appears in Don Quijote in a more elaborate fashion. 18See A. Cohen, Everyman's Talmud (New York, 1978), p. 161. 19Mishne Torah, Nashim, Ch. 21, Art. 10. 10 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 al rabbinic consensus which establishes that beating or causing harm to one's wife is not permitted. The Code of Jewish Law (Shu/khan Arukh) tells us that it is not the way of Jews to hit their wives. Other authorities also write that there is no legal support in Jewish sources for Maimonides' ruling, and they suggest milder forms of punishment for the recalcitrant wife.20 The Talmud does not mention Wife-beating as a permissible punishment and, in Geniza records, husbands are invariably reprimanded and chastised by the rabbis for such improper behavior.21 Judaism, in fact, directs a husband to love and honor his wife above himself.22 Timing in the training of the wife is crucial in each of our three texts. The groom's objective is clear and the psychological means to achieve it well considered. The couple departs immediately after the wedding, and the taming occurs at the couple's home or on the way to it, after the bride has been isolated from her environment and from her family. In all versions the stress is on how effective techniques used by a skillful husband at the onset of marital life can reform even the most seemingly untamable of women. The persisting speed of transformation, however, has the effect of precluding any sympathy for the bride. We laugh at her, and we have no time to feel pity for her. At the core of the didactic inclination of Don Juan Manuel is that wife-taming should begin at once, as illustrated in the humorous epilogue of the Spanish exemplum, when the admiring father-in-law tries to imitate the groom and belatedly attempts to establish his authority over his wife of many years: he only succeeds in becoming the object of her derision.23 The emphasis on early training is implied rather than stated in The Shrew. Furthermore, while it takes the medieval hero no more than one night to master his spouse's shrewish personality, Petruchio needs a few· days to break Katharina's contrary disposition. The Sephardic hero also understands the rule ofswiftness but displays more tolerance. While he has a specific plan from the start, he spends several months educating his wife in the art of governing a house. As soon as the wedding has been celebrated he takes her to his own home and 2"These include Rabbi Abraham ben David of Posquiere. 21See S. D. Goitein's A Mediterranean Society (Los Angeles, 1978), Ch. III, The Family, pp. 184-189. 22See my article, "Women in the ]udeo.Spanish Folktales," in The Sephardic Scholar, Series 4, 1979-1982 (New York, 1982), pp. 33-47. 23Devoto (1972), p. 430. Brides and Grooms 11 forbids her parents to visit them until his bride is trained. When she refuses to leave her bed, he performs all the household duties himself, in an effort to teach through positive example. This development is unlike anything depicted in the other versions, where a behavior to be avoided is shown by giving a glimpse of possible consequences. None of the texts examined in this paper ends in fairy-tale fashion. They all take us behind the scenes after the curtain falls, where bride and groom face a period of adjustment. In all three versions the reformed bride satisfies an order desired by the husband and legitimized by society. The last episode shows the hero displaying before others his cleverness and his success in subjugating his bride. The mode of action elected by each man reflects the differing characteristics of the genre. In Shakespeare's comedy, the mood is jocose, and the wager on whose wife is the most obedient-which appears in neither of the other two versions-is consistent with the general merriment of the piece. In addition to being amusing, however, the wager serves the purpose of focusing attention on the skill of the tamer. When Petruchio joins other husbands in testing his wife's docility, it is primarily to prove that his strategy has succeeded and to win acclaim. No clear traces of a wager about the wife's obedience can be found in versions from the countries of Romance Languages or the East. It appears to be concentered in northern Europe.24 In La mujer brava, when the husband demands from his wife that she stand guard for him against early morning noise which might disturb his sleep, and the frightened bride obeys, her behavior is so uncharacteristic that visitors misinterpret the scene and suspect her of killing the groom. The final anecdote in the epilogue is a supreme compliment to the groom's skill and reinforces the moral of the story in a humorous fashion while stressing that the success of the taming results as much from its timing as from the groom's ability.25 In the Judeo-Spanish version, when a long-awaited visit to the bride's parents takes place, it is to display her radically improved behavior. The parents are so filled with admiration for the successful groom that they ignore their daughter's appeal for sympathy and support. The Sephardic 21Brunvand, p. 120. 25For the treatment ofwomen in El conde Lw:anor, see Robert E. Rockwood, Don]uan Manuel: His Conception and Consideration of Women, Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1924) and Maria Velasco y Arias, "El conde Lw:arlOr" y sus mujeres (Buenos Aires, 1935). I was unable to consult the latter volume. 12 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 storyteller also approves of the change. True to traditional form, she "meets" the tale by interposing her own subjectivity at the end of the narration. With her final interjection, the tale takes on the form of a recit or true account in which the teller shares with us her personal reality. Raconteurs generally choose to remember and retell the oral narratives they like, or which for one reason or another fit meaningfully into their culture. Our teller gives no setting for the story and offers no contextual information regarding the purpose of telling it (to teach a lesson, to give advice, to entertain, etc.), but she gives to the resolution of the tale's conflict her personal stamp of approval and, simultaneously, the stamp of authenticity.26 In conclusion, the similarities between the examples under consideration appear in their structure (marriage-taming-peace) and in the taming devices (punishing an animal or other thing that disobeys).27 Differences lie in the recipients of the punishment (an animal or an object) and in the taming processes. Also, although the illustrations of the Shrew type in the literary versions appear generally to be more violent and cruel-bloody executions in Don Juan Manuel; deprivation of basic needs in Shakespeare -it is only in The Lazy Wife that the possibility of inflicting bodily harm on the bride exists, although her body may not be beaten or hurt directly.28 All three narratives show us that a woman must submit to male expectations and authority in order to achieve matrimonial harmony. The final difference between the oral tale and the literary versions is in the ultimate recipient of the message. Be it humorously or didactically, both Shakespeare and Don Juan Manuel show men how to tame their new brides. Although our Sephardic tale also carries that lesson, its ultimate aim seems to be the indoctrination ofyoung women, stressing the necessity for them to master the fundamentals of housekeeping, in preparation for their future roles as wives and mothers. In the reality of Sephardic life, girls were confined to the home, trained in household skills, and betrothed at 26Gaston Bachelard, La psycharzalyse dufeu (Paris, 1928), poses the question: how can a legend be kept alive and perpetuated if each generation has no intimate reasons for believing it? 27Brunvand, p. 230. 28In his article, "Taming of the Shrew in the Folk-Lore ofthe Ukraine," The lnterrzatiorzal Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbia Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893 (Chicago, 1898), pp. 368-373, Michael Dragomanov writes that AT 1370 radically changes the Eastern version in which the bride is frightened but not hurt (p. 370). Brides and Grooms 13 a young age to a barely known suitor.29 The message of the tale is a guide to conduct and a technique of social control, a means of confirming societal values and condemning aberrant behavior. The message is reinforced further by being conveyed by a woman. As an oral tale, our version must be understood within its cultural context. The tale's denouement reflects the official culture, endorsing a code which condemns idleness and disobedience. like her counterparts in the other versions, the Sephardic bride is forced to conform to her role as a woman in a male-dominated environment. Only when she complies with her husband's priorities does she become a good wife in the eyes of society. Thus, her rehabilitation severely restricts her personal choices, leading to a submissive uxorial role in her husband's bed and house, to a socially acceptable passivity.30 Following the psychological process which brings about the transformation of each bride, the effect on the Shakespearian readers is one of infinite amusement and support for the groom. The readers of Juan Manuel find no less humor in the situation. What makes the medieval exemplum more serious is the didactic frame of the collection in which it is inserted. In contrast, the Sephardic tale offers us not only a moral which reflects the cultural setting of the teller's life experience and serves to acculturate young women to a traditional and docile role in marriage, but it does so while inviting the listener to feel sympathy also for the bride. APPENDIX THE LAZY WIFE The only daughter of a very rich man was extremely beautiful, but so lazy! No one could talk her into leaving her bed, and she found no joy in work. Suitors came and said: -This man has a very beautiful daughter. I'll ask for her hand in marriage. They wanted a bride and would ask the father. He would reply: 291n his Literatura Sefardita de Oriente (Madrid-Barcelona, 1960), p. 93, Michael Molho writes: ". . . la mujer judia estaba desprovista de toda instrucci6n, laica 0 religiosa aun cuando fuese educada en el temor de Dios, en el respecto a los padres y fuese frecuentemente imbuida por la conciencia de los deberes de su sexo." 3 0 Gen. 3:16 says that the husband will rule over his wife. 14 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 -Don't ask for my daughter's hand! My daughter is lazy! She'll do no housework of any kind. Her mother must bring her food and drink in bed, and, begging your pardon, she even pisses in bed! She is beautiful, indeed, but lazy. She has no skills at all. One suitor came: -He is not for my daughter! Another suitor came: -She is not for you! My daughter is lazy! The father and mother both said that their daughter was lazy, that she had no skills at all. -She won't do anything. Why would you want such a bride? Disappointed, the young men went away. One of them, however, who saw how beautiful she was, how very beautiful, decided: -I shall take her as a bride! 1 shall turn this girl into a human being! The father and mother tried to discourage him: -Do not even think of it! My daughter won't leave her bed! My daughter is inept. Even pissing, she must be helped to piss in bed. She will never leave her bed! -My good man, 1 shall marry your daughter and turn her into a human being! Yes! No! The suitor liked the girl ... So now he comes to the house. Now that they are engaged he comes every night ... and sits by the bed. Let her move! She doesn't move from her seat! -Mama, bring a cup of coffee for my fiance! Mama, bring him some sweets! Mama!!! She doesn't leave her bed. She is rooted there. And the day finally comes: -Oh God! This man's daughter is getting married. Let us go and see how the lazy one is doing! But, no! Let the hairdresser comb her hair in bed! Let the dressmaker fit the bridal gown in bed! Her mother can't stand the embarrassment: _ -For goodness' sake, she won't· leave her bed ... , not even to put on her wedding gown. Everything in bed! The bridegroom came to fetch her and the wedding took place. She was now married: in bed! The bridegroom held her in his arms and took her away because she still refused to get up! -I shall take you from one bed to another. 1 shall take you to my own bed. The bridegroom carried her to his house because she still refused to get up. He warned her father and mother: Brides and Grooms 15 -Don't come to visit us, ever. Not until I have trained her. You must not set foot in my house until then! They were determined to turn her into a human being, to train her. The groom took her home, to bed. Although many guests were present, there was no dancing and no rejoicing, just sitting in bed. So the,groom took her home, to bed. One day, the husband got up to go to work. -Look: you'll get up, tidy up, sweep the floor, and cook dinner. -I don't know how to! I don't know how to! When you come home, you'll do it yourself. She remained in bed! One day, two days, three days! What did the husband do? He bought two iron globes and hung them from the ceiling, exactly above where she lay in bed. He hung them up there and left for work while she remained in bed. He would come home from work, he would clean, cook, give her her meals in bed, and help her piss in bed. Everything in bed! After he bought the iron globes, he hung them just above her head and swung one hard against the other: -Usten, globe! I am going to work. You must get up. You'll tidy up, sweep, wash the floor, prepare a meal. If not, this. other globe will strike you. It'll break your head. I'll break your head! She heard that. Meanwhile, the globes continued to clash. Bang! Bang! Watching the blows, she was frightened: -Ah! Isn't it a shame for this globe to receive so many blows? Isn't it a pity? Poor thing! It can't do housework.TII get up and do it myself. To save the globes from clashing, she got up, tidied up, and swept the floor. Then she sat down and said: -God of Mercy! It's almost nightfall. My husband will come home soon and hit the poor things again. He will hit them! ' The husband had lowered one globe a notch, to bring it closer to his wife's head. In the evening, when he came home, he asked: -Globe, what did you do? Did you ftx the bed only? And here you are, sitting on it again? You shall remain there forever! He took one globe, and bang! She was so frightened lest it struck her that she turned away. Her husband said: -Don't turn away. If not today, tomorrow. The globe will strike your head eventually. Once you have felt the blow, you'll die. She was so frightened! -Oh globe! What shall I do? I must get up. If not, my husband will come home at noon and hit us both. While banging against each other, one of the globes also struck her. 16 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 -He'll kill us with these blows. What shall we do? Can an iron globe speak? When it did not answer her, she got up: -I have no choice. I must do the work myself. She got up and began to tidy up, to sweep, to wash the dishes, to clean the floor. She even cooked dinner. When her husband came home in the evening, he looked around and said: -Globe, did you do any work today? It looks as though you want me to strike you. -No! No! Don't strike it! It helped me. I did it myself. Don't strike it! From now on I'll do the work myself! -If you don't, I'll hit your head with this globe. -I'll do it! I'll do it! I'll do it! Don't strike the globe, for pity'S sake. You are giving it such blows! -Of course! These chores must be 'done. And so it was, day after day, after day, after day. A month went by. Then two. Then three. The mother could not wait to see her daughter, but her son-in-law would visit every day and remind her: -Don't come to the house! Neither you nor your husband! Not until I've trained her, not until I've turned her into a human being! No one must come to the house! Another two, three months went by. The wife got up every day and -Before my husband comes home and strikes me with the globe! He might strike me ... He might strike the globe! So she would get up and busy herself with her chores, cleaning the floor, washing the dishes, cooking! When the husband came home in the evening, he would find everything in its place, everything. He thought to himself: -Oh, this is good! This is fine by me! She had now become a good housewife. She cooked, she cleaned ... -What would you say if we paid a visit to your mother and father today? -Oh yes, let'S do that. It has been a long time since I've seen my mother. I want to see her. -Of course you'll see her. Get up and tidy up! -All right, all right, all right! First Fll wash the floor, make everything ready, put everything in its place, and then we'll go. I'll help my mother. My poor mother. I'll help her. Let me take my little apron along. I'll take my little apron and go to my father's and mother's house. Brides and Grooms 17 And they were on their way early that morning. When her parents opened the door they saw her, their beautiful girl, plump and beautiful. She went in with her mother and said: -Mama, don't touch anything. I'll take care of everything myself. -Well, but you are a guest! -No, mother! You looked after me for so long! And, anyway, ifl don't work, the globe will strike me. It'll hit me on the head. Do you know what my husband does? He strikes one globe against another. When he strikes the globe it strikes me. One day I'll die of the blows. So I have to work now. She went into the kitchen and helped her mother cook. She said: -Mama, sit down. I'll take care of everything. I'll set the table and serve lunch. Whatever you want. Go and sit down with father and keep him company. I'll do the work. And she set a beautiful table and they ate and drank. Her mother could not believe it! Neither could her father! How did that husband of hers train her? How did he succeed in turning her into this human being who does her chores? Why not? She was terribly slothful! Her mother used to do everything for her! Now she has become a human being and she is very, very good. I know her myself! ...