The Man Who Became a Turkey

Stories by Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (Breslov)

The Turkey Prince
(The Man who Became a Turkey)

Once there was a prince who went mad and imagined that he was a turkey. He undressed, sat naked under the table, and abjured all food, allowing nothing to pass his lips but a few oats and scraps of bones. His father, the king, brought all the physicians to cure him, but they were of no use.

Finally, a wise man came to the king and said: I pledge to cure him.

The wise man promptly proceeded to undress and sat under the table next to the prince, pecking oats and heaving at scraps of bones, which he gobbled up.

The prince asked him:
'Who are you and what are you doing here?'

Said the wise man:
'Who are YOU and what are YOU doing here?'

The prince replied:
'I am a turkey.'

To which the wise man responded:
'I am a turkey too.'

So the two turkeys sat together until they became accustomed to one another. Seeing this, the wise man signaled to the king to fetch him a shirt. Putting on the shirt, he said to the prince:
'Do you really think that a turkey may not wear a shirt? Indeed he may, and that does not make him any less a turkey.'

The prince was much taken by these words and also agreed to wear a shirt.

At length, the wise man signaled to be brought a pair of trousers. Putting them on, he said to the prince:
'Do you really think that a turkey is forbidden trousers? Even with trousers on, he is perfectly capable of being a proper turkey.'

The prince acknowledged this as well, and he too put on a pair of trousers, and it was not long before he had put on the rest of his clothes at the wise man's directions.

Following this, the wise man asked to be served human food from the table. He took and ate, and said to the prince:
'Do you really think that a turkey is forbidden to eat good food? One may eat all manner of good things and still be a proper turkey "comme il faut".'
The prince listened to him on this too, and began eating like a human being.

Seeing this, the wise man addressed the prince:
'Do you really think that a turkey is condemned to sit under the table? That isn't necessarily so -- a turkey also walks around any place it wants and no one objects.'

And the prince thought this through and accepted the wise man's opinion. Once he got up and walked about like a human being, he also began behaving like a complete human being.

Translations and commentaries copyright © 2002, Lewis Glinert

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav was born in Medzibuz, Poland, in 1772, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism. He became a prominent Hasidic rabbi, who, on Friday nights would tell his disciples stories he has invented during the week. The disciples would retell the stories to each other all during the Sabbath, when they were not permitted to write, and Nachman's disciple Nathan, who served as his scribe, would write them down when the Sabbath was over. The entire body of tales that has come down is only thirteen, but the stories are in every sense exceptional and in advance of their time. Two translations of Nachman's tales have appeared, one by Martin Buber entitled The Tales of Rabbi Nachman, and one by Meyer Levin entitled Classic Tales of the Hasidim. Rabbi Nachman died in Uman in 1810.

Anthologies:

Imperial Messages (1976)