Jonah

RELUCTANT PROPHET--Harald Tandrup --Knopf ($2.50).

Until he was 32, little doe-eyed Jonah, the Tyre cakeseller, merely talked with the Lord for his own personal pleasure. But when he was ordered on a propaganda mission to Nineveh, the pleasure went out of it. Why pick on him, said Jonah, he wasn't interested in joining the ragged martyrs. He wanted to be good but he wanted to make some money too. He argued, he whined, he got uppity. Nevertheless, said the Lord, you're going to Nineveh, like it or not.

Told by an elderly Danish humorist, this modernized version of the Jonah story proceeds in like vein. Its humor comes from breezy folktale slang, matter-of-factness in the miracle scenes, with Jonah fumbling around in the whale's belly like a man looking for a light switch.

The Danish religious press was undecided whether Author Tandrup was being satirical or only devoutly whimsical. U. S. readers will recognize the tone: that of Green Pastures. Essentially the tale is serious enough; its symbolism includes politics as well as religion. As for the humor of Jonah's situations, the original author appears to have been something of a humorist himself.

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