The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

158 THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
"in the Gospel, 'If they persecute you in one city, flee
'"to another?' and, besides, if they shut up a man how
"can he escape ? It would have been right for our Lord
"to give the command, 'They shall bind in chains no
'"man, neither shall they shut him up.'"
DCXXX. It was said unto a certain lunatic by the
demoniacs, "Number for us the demoniacs that are in
"Emesa." And he replied, "I cannot count the demoniacs
"because they are so many, but I can count the men
"of understanding who are therein because they are
"so
few."
DCXXXI. A certain lunatic put on a skin cloak with
the hairy side outwards, and when people asked him
why he did so, he replied, "If God had known that it
"was better to have the hairy side of the skin cloak
"inwards, He would not have created the wool on the
"outside of the sheep."
DCXXXII. Another lunatic when asked "Wheire is
"thy native land?" replied, "The place where I was
"born was Sinjar', and I was reared in the Monastery
"of Mar Behnam^" because in the majority of cases
demoniacs were accustomed to be carried there bound
in fetters, so that they might be benefited by the
power of the saint.
DCXXXIII. Another demoniac being very mad i^ed
to strike people, and a certain man rose up and took
a stick and beat him severely. Then the people began
to say to him, "Let him alone, for he is a demoniac
"and doth not know what he doeth," and when the
demoniac heard this he said to them, "Make him to
"understand about God, for he knoweth Him not."
'
A city in the mountains about four days' journey east of Mosul.
^
See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 17 ff.