The Laughable Stories Collected by Mar Gregory John

STORIES OF WONDERFUL EVENTS AND OCCURRENCES. I 73
''middle of it one thousand mathkals of gold, and be-
"hold, with them I purchased the things which I have
"with me; and I thank God that He hath not deprived
*'me of what belonged to my uncle, even though he
"hated me and would not willingly have given me any-
"thing at all." Now when they arrived at their city
they found that the old man was dead and that he
had no other heir except his brother's son; so he took
the silk which the merchant had with him and every-
thing which he found in his uncle's house.
DCLXXI. It is said that a certain man was sitting
in company with some other men, and that some one
called to him from behind him; and when he turned
round to see who it was, he died. And some days
after his son was asked, "How did thy father die?" and
as he was shewing them and saying, "He turned round
"and died, just like this," he also died as he uttered
the words.
DCLXXII. A certain young man whilst sleeping one
night saw in his dream that the angels carried him to
Gehenna and delivered him over to the devils who cast
him into Gehenna; and by reason of his terror when he
rose in the morning all the hair of his head and of his
beard was quite white like that of an old man eighty
years old. And his acquaintances wondered at him.
DCLXXIII. It is said that a certain king wished to
put one of his soldiers to death by poison, and having
heard that he was about to have a vein opened he
called the physician who usually bled him, and giving
him gifts ordered him to poison the scalpel. And he
went and did so, and he opened the vein of the soldier
and he died; and the physician put the scalpel among
his other scalpels and forgot it. And it came to pass