(Alternative spelling of family name: Kranc) The Dubner Maggid is famous for his fables or parables designed to teach or illustrate an instructive lessons based on Jewish tradition.
He left Dubno for Vilnius at the request of the famous Vilna Gaon, who, having recently recovered from a sickness and being unable to study, sought diversion in his conversation.
Confronted with imposters there were several tests that Kranz would go through to prove he was the true Maggid, opening the Tanakh at random, and inventing parables on the spot.
The editor also revised the work, and added to it a preface containing a sketch of Kranz's life, and glosses of his own under the title "Shiyyure ha-Middot".
Several parables never published till modern times, but passed on orally in the family, have been written down by Moshe Kranc, a descendant of the Dubner Maggid, in a book about business and Jewish tales: "The Hasidic Masters' Guide to Management".