The longer a
story was spread by oral tradition among the people, the more
was its root concealed by the shoots springing from it. For
example, we may assume with regard to the story of Joseph that,
just because it has almost grown into a romance, its origin
stretches back to a remote antiquity. The popular fancy plays as
it will; yet it does not make such leaps as to make it impossible
to trace its course. Miracles, angels, theophanies, dreams, are
never absent from the palette. When Rachel eats the mandrakes
which Reuben had found, and which Leah had given up to her, and
they remove her barrenness so that she becomes the mother of
Joseph, we have a story based on a vulgar superstition. Purely
mythical elements are found isolated in the story of Jacob's
wrestling with the Deity at the ford of the Jabbok. Etymology
and proverbs are a favourite motive, and often give rise to lively
and diversified tales. Even in pieces which we should be inclined
to attribute to the art of individuals, old and characteristic
themes may be involved. The story of Jacob and Laban, for
example, is entirely composed of such materials.
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