The Bird Hol Who Refused Eve and Lives a Thousand Years

["And why do you harden your hearts, etc." (1 Samuel 6:6) — this is what is written:] "Strike a scoffer and the simple will become prudent, etc." (Proverbs 19:25). "Strike a scoffer" — this is the serpent; "and the simple will become prudent" — this is Eve. All of them listened to Eve and ate from that tree, as it is written, "and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6). And the word "also" includes the eating by the cattle, and by the wild beast, and by the birds — except for one bird, whose name is Hol, as it is written, "And I said, I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the Hol" (Job 29:18); "ka-Hol" it is written. The house of Rabbi Yannai and Rabbi Yehudah bar Rabbi Simon [differ]. The house of Rabbi Yannai say: a thousand years it lives; after a thousand [years], fire comes forth from its nest and consumes it, and there remains of it the size of an egg, and it returns and grows limbs and lives again. [And Rabbi Yehudah bar Rabbi Simon says: a thousand years it lives, and at the end of a thousand years its body is consumed and its wings molt away, and there remains of it the size of an egg, and it returns and grows limbs and lives again.] Another interpretation: "Strike a scoffer" — this is Amalek; "and the simple will become prudent" — this is Yitro. Rabbi Yehudah bar Simon said: Yitro was enrolled in the army of Amalek, and when [Amalek] fell, he came and converted, as it is written, "And Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard" (Exodus 18:1). Another interpretation: "Strike a scoffer" — these are the Philistines; "and the simple will become prudent" — these are the prefects. Another interpretation: "Strike a scoffer" — these are the Philistines; "and the simple will become prudent" — these are the lords [seranim]. "And why do you harden your hearts, etc."