The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

PROFITABLE SAYINGS OF THE ARAB ASCETICS. 7/
wrote to him, saying, " This world is a sleep, and the
"world which is to come is the waking. Therefore,
"although we are unconscious thereof, it is of dreams
"that our conversation consisteth; but when we wake
"up we find most certainly that all the things which
"are here are phantoms."
CCCXIV, Unto another ascetic it was said, "Why,
"since thou art not sick and art not old, dost thou
"always lean upon a staff.!*" He replied, "Because I
"am [travelling] along a road, and I look forward to
"the pleasant time when I shall be removed therefrom,
"and it is manifest that a staff belongeth to the equip-
"ment of him that desireth to journey along a road."
CCCXV. Another ascetic said, "If thou wishest to
"comprehend the folly of [holding] worldly possessions,,
"consider carefully that it is only the fools who gather
"them together,
for good and excellent men are without
"them."
CCCXVI. Another ascetic said,
"It is meet for a man
"to make provision for himself in this world according
"to the time which he shall abide therein, and also
"for the world which is to come according to the time
"which he shall abide therein."
CCCXVII. Another ascetic when he was passing by
saw a certain man standing in the cemetery by the
side of a sepulchral monument, and he said to him,
" Observe, O man, that the place wherein thou standest
"is between two marvellous storehouses; in one are
"heaped up the children of men, and in the other are
"gathered together the things which they desired."
CCCXVIII. Unto another ascetic who lived in the
cemetery it was said, "Why dwellest thou here?" And
he replied, "I wish to distinguish between the bones