Oriental wit and wisdom, or, the "Laughable stories" / collected by Mar Gregory John Bar-Hebraeus ; translated from the Syriac by E. A. Wallis Budge.

  • Bar Hebraeus
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Oriental wit and wisdom, or, the "Laughable stories" / collected by Mar Gregory John Bar-Hebraeus ; translated from the Syriac by E. A. Wallis Budge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that he might eat it, and He—Glory be to His good¬ ness! — shewed him a grasshopper, saying, “Behold “flesh wherein is no blood.” CXXXIII. Another sage said, “He who looseth any “jot of the Law and doeth some other good work in “its place, this* good work is not imputed unto him for “a reward, inasmuch as a gift doth not redeem a “thing which is obligatory.” CXXXIV. Another sage said, “Overabundance of “food poisoneth the heart even as a superfluity of water “[ruineth] seed.” CXXXV. It is said that when Joseph put his brother Benjamin into prison straightway Jacob wrote to him, saying, “Prophets do not steal, neither do “they beget thieves.” CXXXVI. It is said that God said unto Abraham, “Knowest thou why I have chosen thee to be My “friend?” And Abraham replied, “Tell me, O Lord.” And the Lord made answer to him, saying, “It is be- “cause thou hast taken upon thyself to be injured and “not to do injury; therefore let him that would increase “friends do likewise.” CXXXVII. Another sage said, “The man who work- “eth guile is like unto a drawn sword; it is fair in “its appearance, but when it is in action heed must be “paid to it.” CXXXVIII. Another sage commanded his son, saying, “Divide thy time into three seasons. A season for thy “prayer, a season for thy trafficking, and a season for “thy bodily recreation and for thy ordinary meat and “drink; for if thou dost not take thy [season of] recrea- “tion thou wilt not be able to fulfil the other two of “prayer and trafficking.”