The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

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STORIES OF WONDERFUL EVENTS AND OCCURRENCES. I
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that such and such an one had given it to him. And
the original owner said, "And I gave it to him, but
"justice demandeth that we should divide it among the
"three [of us]." And they sent and called the other man
and divided the money equally among them.
DCLXXVI. A certain sailor, that is to say a mariner,
related the following:— "Once when I was in a certain
"^city of Hagiopontos a merchant called me into his
''house, and said unto me, 'If thou canst carry me in
''thy ship to the country of Palestine secretly, I will
'"give thee whatsoever thou askest;
for the king of the
'"country hath set his eye upon me, and he is expecting
" 'gifts from me, the which I am bringing from my store.'
"Then I being greedy said, '[It shall be according to]
"'thy command;' so I took all the possessions of the
"man, which [in value] amounted to more than one
"hundred thousand dinars of Egyptian gold, besides
"royal apparel. And I took the man also, and one
"night we embarked in the ship and put out to sea,
"and there fell upon us sea-robbers and they carried
"off all the merchant's property and also wished to kill
'him. Then I entreated them to let me put him ashore
"naked, and after a time I myself escaped from them.
"And I went to one of the cities of Palestine and I
"found that same man sitting by a roadside asking for
"alms; and I glorified God Who maketh rich and Wi\o
"maketh poor."
DCLXXVII. Another man told the following story:
"One day I lost a horse, and I went out to the plain
"to find him ; and being hungry and thirsty I went into
"a certain village where I saw in a certain house a
"young woman with a beautiful face; and I asked her
"for a little bread, and she said, 'Sit down that I may