1. Methodology in the study of Jewish court legends -- Definition of legend -- Definition of court -- Definition of wisdom -- 2. The court legend in Ancient Near Eastern, Hebrew, and Greek literature -- Court legends in the East -- Court legends in Egyptian literature -- Story of Ahikar -- Court legends in early Hebrew literature -- Herodotus and Greek sources -- Final stages of the court legend genre -- 3. The cycle of Daniel court legends -- Susanna -- Daniel 1 -- Daniel 2 -- Daniel 3 -- Daniel 4 -- The wall pronouncement of Daniel 4 -- The dream interpretation account of Daniel 4 -- Conclusions concerning Daniel 4 -- English translation of the Old Greek of Daniel 4 -- Daniel 5 -- English translation of the Old Greek of Daniel 5 -- Daniel 6 and Bel and the Dragon: Introduction -- Bel and the Dragon and Daniel 6 compared -- English translation of the Old Greek of Daniel 6 -- English translation of the Old Greek of Bel and the Dragon -- ANalysis of Daniel 6 -- The evolution of Daniel 4, 5, and 6 -- 4. Esther: From court legend to novella -- A new approach to sources in Esther -- Reconstruction of Esth S -- Differences between Esth S and MT Esther -- The Mordecai/Haman source -- Excursus on the reconstruction of the M/H source -- THe nature of the M/H source -- The nature of the stages of Esther -- Genres of the individual narratives -- 5. Conclusion.