 Following the example of other European epics, the "Shmuel-Bukh" was not simply recited, but sung or chanted to musical accompaniment; its melody was widely known in Jewish communities.Far from being rhymed adaptations of the Bible, these old Yiddish epic poems fused the Biblical and Midrashic material with European courtly poetry, thus creating an Ashkenazic national epic, comparable to the "Nibelungenlied" and The Song of Roland.Another influential work of old Yiddish literature is the "Mayse-bukh" (“Story Book”).