R. Akiba used to say, "Whatever God does is done for the best." Once wrhen he was travelling he had with him a lamp, an ass and a cock. Coming to a place where he was refused shelter, he encamped a short distance from the town. The wind came and blew out his lamp but he said, "What God does is done for the best." Then a lion came and devoured his ass, and a cat strangled the cock, but he constantly repeated, "What God does is done for the best." In the morning he came again to the town and found it completely devastated by robbers, so he saw' how mercifully he had been spared. The light of the lamp, the braying of the ass and the crowing of the cock would have attracted the attention of the robbers.
- gi