The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

I 66
THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR.EUS.
whom he sold.
And when he was asked why he did
this, he said, "I steal children because they will all
"rise at the Resurrection, and when people demand
"their children from me I shall be able to say, 'Here
"'are your children, take them.' But if I were to steal
"an ass or a garment, whence should I obtain them
"when they were demanded from me in the day of
"the Resurrection?"
DCLVII. Another thief having stolen much clothing
from a certain house, the owners of the house found
out who he was and captured him: and he began to
entreat them to let him go, and took an oath that he
would leave off stealing. Then they said unto him, "Let
"go our clothing then, and go to the Devil's per-
"dition," whereupon the thief said to them, "If ye
"take those things away from me on what shall I live
"during the time of [my] repentance?
For behold, I have
"sworn to you that I will not steal again, and I have
"no other handicraft."
DCLVIII. Some thieves went to the house of a certain
man by night, and began to search for something which
they found not, whereupon the owner of the house
said to them, "O brave boys, that which ye seek to
"find in this house by night I have looked for therein
"very carefully, but have not found it."
DCLIX. Another man was repeating a story of how
whilst travelling along the road together with twenty
men, two wicked highwaymen fell upon them and
stripped them of what they had. And when it was
said to him, "How could two men get the mastery over
"you?" he said, "What could we do? For one of them
"seized one of us and the other did the plundering;
"how then could one of us vanquish two?"