The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

I 68
THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
said to him, "Where art thou going with us?" and he
replied, "To see the house to which we are going
"from here, for God hath made you to carry for me
"my property without payment."
DCLXVI. Another thief broke into a house and
found there nothing but a jar of wine whereof he was
glad; and he took [it] and drank [it], and became drunken.
In the morning the master of the house rose up and
found him lying there asleep, and he took his upper
tunic and went and sold it in the market, and boueht
something to eat; and this he brought home and cooked
and ate, and the remainder he left. Now when the
thief woke up he found that
the eye of day had risen,
and that as he could not go forth he must hide himself
until the evening. And when the evening had come
the thief waited for the master of the house to go to
sleep so that he might go forth; and when he had
gone to sleep the thief rose up to depart, and again
ransacked everything in the house but found nothing
except that which the master of the house had left of
his food. And this he sat down and ate, and he took
[some of the wine], and drank it and made merry and
did not go forth until the morning. Then the master
of the house arose, and finding him still there, he took
his second tunic and went yet again [to the market]
and sold it, and bought some things to eat; and he
brought these home, and cooked and ate of them, and
what was over he left. And the thief woke up at the
third hour of the day and could not, therefore, depart;
so he remained until the night. Now when he was wishing
to go forth once more, he found the food which had been
left, and he ate it, and drank [wine], and became drunken
and fell asleep. Then the master of the house rose up