the Talmud nothing is said about a union of the sirens and men, and it is uncertain whether this statement of Rashi is based on a different text (עם for כבני) or whether, influenced by the belief in fays and naiads, prevalent in the Middle Ages, all through Europe, Rashi ascribes to the Talmud something which is alien to it. According to the Tosefta and the Talmud, the dolphins give birth to their children in the same manner as human beings do. The assertion of Duran, Magen Abot, 68a, concerning the dolphins belongs rather to European folklore, although it pretends to be Jewish. Comp. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, 153–155; Löw, Aramaische Fischnämen, No. 49, in Nöldeke-Festschrift; Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 101. According to Enoch 19.2, the women who caused the fall of the angels were transformed into sirens; comp. Apocalypse of Baruch 10.8.
169 Comp. vol. I, pp. 26, 28, 30; further note 322 on vol. I, p. 424.
170 Comp. vol. I, pp. 23–24, concerning the fall of the moon. But in none of the sources is it mentioned (comp. notes 100, 110–112) that the light taken from the moon was added to the sun.
171 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 25a and 34a. Perek Shirah (cat and mouse) very likely alludes to this legend.
172 2 Alphabet of Ben Sirah 25a–25b. The other legend of the origin of the enmity between the cat and the mouse which is found in Iggeret Ba’ale Hayyim 2, 6, is derived from Arabic sources, since these animals are brought into relation with the descendants of Cain and Abel, whereas according to Jewish and Christian legends Abel died childless; comp. Index s.v. Abel.
173 The text of 2 Ben Sira does not seem to be in proper form.
174 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 26a–26b; see also 34b, where it is said that Noah stole the hair which he needed for his work, from a sleeping swine. The story told in this source (25a–34b) concerning the donkey, which was shocked at having to serve man without any compensation, practically agrees with the Sicilian legend by Dahnhardt, Natursagen, III, 178. The characteristics of these animals to scent their excrement and to urinate, as soon as one of them starts to do it, is explained in the following manner. They threatened God that they would stop to propagate their species in case they were not to receive their reward for their work. They received the following answer: “Ye will receive your reward for your labor as soon as your urine will flow as a stream big enough to work a mill and when your excrement will smell as perfume.” Hence the donkeys
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