The miraculous sleep (ATU 766) is a well-known, recurring tale-type observed in Abrahamic folktales since the Second Temple period. This paper compares variants of ATU 766 on three levels of analysis: as a popular tale in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writings from late antiquity and early medieval times; as a Jewish rendition; and as a multiple tale-type in rabbinic literature. The analysis will contemplate the validity and use of syntactic methods in folklore studies to analyze midrash. The paper introduces a new theoretical perspective for critical reading of rabbinic fiction, using the notions of tale-type, ecotype, conglomerate, and motif as discourse formations of different scales.
