The Red Cow, the Yoke, and the Idolater Who Hanged Himself

Another interpretation: "This is the statute of the Torah... and let them bring you a red cow without blemish" (Numbers 19:2). Let our master teach us: a cow whose horns and hoofs are black, what is its status, is it fit? Thus our Rabbis taught: a cow whose horns and hoofs are black is fit, but all the rest of it must be red. They said: It once happened that one year they were going about seeking a red cow without blemish. They came to a certain idolater and found one with him. They said to him, "Sell it to us." He saw that they had great need of it, and he began to drive up the price upon them. They said to him, "For how much?" He said to them, "For a hundred gold coins." They said to him, "Take it, and bring it out," and they gave it to him. He entered his house and came out. He said to them, "I will not sell it unless you add more for me." They added fifty gold coins for him; and again he entered his house and came out, until they gave him three hundred gold coins. He said within himself, "I will mock the Jews." He went in and took the yoke and set it upon her neck all the night. In the morning he brought her out to them. When they saw her, they knew that a yoke had gone upon her, for they saw her eyes rolling; when they came to set a yoke upon her, her eyes would roll, and she would gaze at the yoke. Since they saw the signs upon her that a yoke had gone upon her, they said to him, "Give us back the gold coins, for even for free we will not take her from you; we have no need of her." When he saw that they had looked closely at her and knew that a yoke had gone upon her, he gave them back their money, and he began to praise the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, "Blessed is your God, who has placed within you wisdom and knowledge." He returned to them the gold coins and strangled himself. This is to make known to you that it is a decree of Scripture that they bring only a red cow. From where? From what is written on the matter: "And let them bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect, upon which no yoke has gone" (ibid.).