The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

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THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
"upon, and sit thou beside him, and chafe and rub
"his
feet."
CCCCXLVIII. Another miser whilst quarrelling violently
with his neighbour was asked by a certain man,
"Why art thou fighting with him?" He replied to
him, "I had eaten a roasted heSd, and I threw the
"bones outside my door, so that my friends might re-
"joice and mine enemies be sorry when they saw in
"what a luxurious manner I was living; and this fellow
"rose up and took the bones and threw them before
"his own door."
CCCCXLIX. Whilst the wife and son of another
miser were eating with him at table he said, "Laziness
"is accursed at the table." His son said to him, "Dost
"thou now speak concerning me, O my father?" And
his father said to him, "Wouldst thou then have thy
"mother to understand that she was to go out and la-
"bour, and then eat?"
CCCCL. Three misers hired a house and dwelt
therein together, and they bought the oil for the lamp
from a common fund; and they bound up in a napkin
the eyes of him that had nothing to contribute to the
price of the oil, until they went to sleep and had hung
up the
lamp.
CCCCLI. A certain
author composed a tract wherein
he praised miserly conduct, and he brought it unto a
king who was a miser. And it came to pass that when
the king had read it,
he sent to the author, and said unto
him, "We do not wish to give thee any money so that
"it may not be we who shall destroy thy good and
"excellent counsels;" thus was the author put to shame
by that which he himself had written.
C.CCCL1I.
Another miser having taken a hireling said