The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

CHOICE STORIES OF THE SPEECH OF IRRATIONAL BEASTS. 93
"towards me because of thy strength but because of
"my feebleness; if this be not so, go and try [to
*'catch] a wolf."
A house-sparrow having been caught
CCCLXXXII.
by a man said to him, "What wouldst thou do with
"me?" and he replied, "I am going to kill and eat
"thee." The sparrow said to him, "How can the little
"flesh which is on my body satisfy thee? Only promise
"that thou wilt let me go and I will teach thee three
"things which will be much better for thee than eating me.
"The first thing I will teach thee whilst I am still in
"thine hands; the second when I am on a tree; and
"the third when I am on a rock." The birdcatcher
said, "Teach me [the first] now." And the bird said,
"Take heed that
thou dost not repent of a thing which
"is past," whereupon the birdcatcher let the sparrow
go free. And when the sparrow was sitting on a tree,
he said, "Take heed that thou dost not believe in that
"which cannot happen." And then he began to fly
away, saying, "O fool, if thou hadst killed me thou
"wouldst have found in my stomach two precious stones
"which are beyond price." And the birdcatcher began
to bite his fingers and said, "Teach me the third thing
"before thou fliest away." Then the bird said to him,
"Since thou hast forgotten the two things which I have
"taught thee what will it profit thee if I teach thee the
"third? Did I not say, 'Thou shalt not repent over
"'that which is past,' and, 'Thou shalt not believe in
'"that which cannot be?' whenever was a precious
"stone seen in the stomach of a sparrow?"
CCCLXXXIII. A certain hawk was vexing a cock
with abuse and saying,
"all.
"Thou hast no love for man at
For behold men with their own hands cause thee