Mystery on the Mountain

An illustrated collection of twelve comparative folk tales, ten African and two Jewish.


"A great psychoanalyst," notes the front jacket panel, "intimate friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud—sheds new light on the origins and meaning of Judaeo-Christian religion.


A choice anecdote about Anatole France, published not long after his death in memoirs by an intimate friend, seems easily the best way to introduce the story of the long journey I have undergone in preparing the present book. The anecdote presents the renowned author in an amiable conversation with the secretary of a magazine, who asks impatiently why it is necessary for so seasoned a writer to delay so long before correcting galley proofs. The author explains: "I have first to forget what I have written in order to see it with new eyes. Only then do I become aware of what is not immediately understandable and of what is not simple and clear." He adds finally: "You see, what is natural comes only at the end."