The Talmuds and Midrashim, the great compendia of Jewish law and scriptural exegesis edited between the second and sixth centuries C.E., contain hundreds of stories, many of which are biographical anecdotes about sages and early rabbinic heroes. Later sages fashioned tales, using their predecessors as models, in order to grapple with fundamental tensions and persistent questions of the life dedicated to Torah. Many rabbinic stories entered the popular tradition and have served generation after generation of Jews as a prism through which to view the past and make sense of the present. They touch on every aspect of rabbinic culture - sin and repentance, suffering, theodicy, shame and honour, charity and righteousness - and constitute a critical resource for understanding the self-conception of the sages and their interactions within the academy.