The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

STORIES OF MEN WHO FOLLOWED DESPISED HANDICRAFTS. I 2 3
CCCCLXXII. Another weaver was asked by a certain
man, "If thou wert king what wouldst thou desire?"
He repHed, "Honey and pounded sesame seeds."
CCCCLXXIII. Luck came to a certain weaver and
he became a governor. And one day his music player
said to him, "O master, give me a fine cloak wherein
"I may dress myself at the feast." He replied to him,
"Bring me the stuff for weaving it, and in the three
"days which are yet to pass before the feast day I will
"make for thee a cloak."
CCCCLXXIV. Another man said, "The intelligence
"of seventy women is like unto that of one man, and
"the mind of seventy weavers is as that of one woman."
CCCCLXXV. Another man said, "They were weavers
"who stole Joseph's cup, and the rod of Moses, and the
"fleece of Gideon, and the sling of David, and the
"swaddling bands of John, and the sandals of the
"Apostles; and when Mary asked them to shew her
"the way to the Sepulchre, they sent her by a wrong
"road. For this reason she prayed and entreated her
"Lord, saying, 'Wherever weavers live let them toil
"'with their hands and feet for others, and let no
ever come upon them.'"
CCCCLXXVI. Another man went to
'"blessing
a tooth-drawer
to extract for him a tooth which was diseased, and the
man said,
tooth-drawer asked him for a susa; and the
"I will not give a whole zuza,, but only a half." Then
the handicraftsman said to him," Less than a zuza
I will not take, but if thou wishest it, and on account
"of thine honourable position, I will pull out another
"tooth also, and I will not charge thee any more than
"the zusa."
CCCCLX,XVII. Another man had a diseased tooth
Q2