The Smell of the Bread

Today’s episode begins with a tale of King Solomon told by the Bay Area teller Joel Ben Izzy. You know Solomon the biblical character – the king who succeeded his father, the great king King David. Solomon is known for his wisdom, and you know of stories like the story of determining the identity of the mother of an infant child by threatening to cut the child in half. Well, wise Solomon is also something of a folk character in Jewish folklore. There’s a huge body of wisdom stories with Solomon at their center. The story you’ll hear today is called “The Smell of the Bread.” You’ll also hear “Mrs. Lunchroom Lady,” by Bill Harley. Bill says that for him, that story is about names – about what you call people. What you call people, he says, is either a sign of respect or of insensitivity, and there are a lot of decent people doing jobs that keep the world turning, and, Bill says, they all deserve a good name. From Margaret Read MacDonald you’ll hear a rhythmic, musical folk tale called “The Little Old Woman who Hated Housework,” and from Syd Lieberman, a classic: “Truffles.”