The Rooster Prince

The Rooster Prince—sometimes called The Turkey Prince—is a Jewish mashal (parable) originally told by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the founder of the Breslov branch of Hasidic Judaism. It was first shared orally and later appeared in print, becoming a staple of folklore collections and works on Hasidic storytelling.

In the tale, a young prince begins to act like a rooster (or turkey). He removes his clothes, sits naked under a table, and pecks at food from the floor. The king and queen, horrified that their heir behaves this way, summon sages, healers, and other experts to convince the prince to act human again, but none succeed. Then a new wise man arrives and claims he can cure the prince. He too undresses, sits naked under the table, and declares himself a rooster. The prince gradually accepts him as a friend. The sage then tells the prince that a rooster can wear clothes and eat at the table. The prince accepts this idea step by step, eventually acting fully human again.

The main interpretation holds that the prince represents a simple Jew who has lost touch with his true self, while the sage stands for a Hasidic rebbe who can heal his soul. Instead of condemning the non-religious Jew, the rebbe “descends” to his level, meets him where he is, and guides him back to God in small, acceptable steps. Some Breslov Hasidim believe the wise man is Rabbi Nachman himself. In 1991, Breslover Hasid Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum published a self-help book based on the story, *Under the Table and How to Get Up*, which expands each detail into a lesson on spiritual growth. Two key Yiddish concepts illustrated are *rakhmones* (compassion for others) and *mitzvot* (good deeds); the prince becomes human not just by looking and acting human, but by caring for himself and others. The story also questions what wisdom is, as the king and queen’s wealth and power offered no solution.

There is debate about which bird the story originally referred to. The parable was told in Yiddish, and some early translations rendered the word *אינדיק* (indik) as “Indian rooster” (for example, in Elie Wiesel’s *Souls on Fire*, where he retells it as heard from his Hasidic grandfather). Others thought it meant male junglefowl or peacock. More recently, the Breslov Research Institute and other translators have used “turkey,” noting that a turkey’s fan tail resembles a peacock’s.