The anecdote that follows is from Sanhedrin, fol. 97, col 1: — "In reference to the remark of Ravina, who said, ( I used to think that there was no truth in the world,* one of the Rabbis, Toviah (or Tavyoomah, as some say), would protest and say, <If all the riches of the world were offered me, I would not tell a falsehood.* And he used to clench his protestation with the following apologue: (I once went to a place called Kushta, where the people never swerve from the truth, and where (as a reward for their integrity) they do not die until old age; and there I married and settled down, and had two sons born unto me.
One day as my wife was sitting and combing her hair, a woman who dwelt close by came to the door and asked to see her. Thinking that it was a breach of etiquette (that any one should see her at her toilet), I said she was not in. Soon after this my two children died, and the people came to inquire into the cause