The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

96 THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR/EUS.
it and brought it to him, he took the picture and placed
it on the cushion {or pillow) and said to the philosophers
who were able to read characters in faces, "What
"say ye of the man who hath such features as these?"
And they said to him, "There is no need for us to
"tell thee anything about his features, for inasmuch as
"thou hast placed him on thy pillow, he will in very
"truth reign in thy room." And thus it happened.
CCCLXXXIX. Another king gathered together his
troops and went forth to make war against his adversary,
and as they were passing by a certain village
they saw two rams fighting and their owners came
and each took his own ram, and they went away. And
a wise man said to the king, "Thou wilt neither con-
"quer nor be conquered, but even as thou art, so wilt
"thou return." And it came to pass that when they had
marched for a few days, a certain report came to the
king, and he went back to his own country.
CCCXC. A certain man asked a fortune-teller about
a relative of his who had gone to a far country, and
of whom for a long time he had heard no news. And
it came to pass that whilst they were in the midst of
the narrative behold a dead man passed by, being
carried on his way to be buried; and his hand was
upon his breast. And the fortune-teller said, "He
"about whom thou askest is dead," whereupon his
disciple said to him, "He is not dead, for the dead
"man who hath his hand on his breast indicateth that
"it is the dead man himself who is dead and not any one
"else." And after some time he that had gone away
returned.
CCCXCI. They say that in a certain village a troop
of devils appeared in the form of men, and they said