The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

142 THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
DXLV. Stultus alius quidam quum cum virgine
quam
duxerat concubuisset virglnis patrem mane salutatum
ivit dixitque, "Filia tua me noctu sanguine perfudit— quod
"credo te fraude finxisse ne quid de istius castitate du-
"bitarem."
DXLVI. Another fool, who was a Jew, when his son
was being circumcised said to him that was making
the cutting, "Cut him little by little, for he hath never
"before been circumcised."
DXLVII. A son having been born to another simpleton,
he brought an astrologer to cast his nativity,
that is, to declare the sign of the Zodiac under which
he was born; and he said to him, "I entreat thee
"to make Hermes his sign of the Zodiac, for I have
"heard that he who is born under such circumstances
"becometh a scribe."
DXLVIII. The neighbour of another silly fellow said
to him, "I see that thy wife is with child," and he replied,
"[Yes], in a slight way and not very much."
DXLIX. A certain simpleton looked at the moon
when it was fourteen days old, and said, "Blessed
"month." And when it was said to him, "How is it
"thou didst not see the moon before?" he answered,
"I was not in the city having only just come."
DL. Another silly man said, "I was wishing that God
"had never created me at all, or that I had been now
"blind, or that my hands and my feet were cut off."
DLL When another fool was passing by some fishermen,
he said to them, "Are those fish which ye are
"catching fresh or salted?"
DLII. Another simpleton asked his disciple, "On what
"day did we celebrate the fifth day of the week of the
"Mysteries a year ago?" And the disciple who was