A woman was weeping and mourning over the grave of her dead husband for a long time. Close by stood a gallows and a watchman was appointed by the king to see that none of the bodies should be stolen. He saw the woman there, spoke to her and induced her to do his bidding. Whan he returned to the gallows he found that the body had disappeared. So he came back to the woman and told her that he feared for his life, since the king would surely kill him. The woman then told him to take the body of her dead husband and hang it up instead, and she assisted him in dragging the body from the grave.
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443 [Cod. G. 942 f. 15 b]. An emperor once called the Jews together and ordered them to tell him his thoughts in three days on pain of death. The people decreed a fast. On the third day a deaf man was seen walking in the street eating cheese. Rebuked by the people, he asked the cause of the fast and when told, asked them to allow him to answer for them. They came before the emperor. The emperor lifted up two fingers whereupon the deaf man lifted one finger; the emperor then showed an egg whereupon the deaf one pulled out a cheese from his bosom; the emperor then took some corn and scattered it about and the deaf one picked them up and put them in his kerchief. The emperor declared himself satisfied. The Jews afterwards asked the deaf one what it had all meant and he answered, "The emperor pointed with two fingers, meaning to put out my two eyes. I replied that I would do it with one finger. Then the emperor showed me that he had food, whereupon I replied by showing that I had what I wanted. When the emperor scattered the corn, I considered it a sin, so I picked it up and took it away." When asked by the courtiers the meaning of his signs, the emperor replied, "The two fingers meant the duality of God, God and a certain figure. He replied the Jews recognise only one God. I showed him an egg to signify that a certain figure was born not from a man; he replied by showing the cheese, which could not curdle without the sperm, and so a certain figure could not be born otherwise than other human beings. I showed him that God had scattered the Jews as the corn is scattered, and he replied that God would gather them up again."
444 [Cod. G. 274 (Ladino)].
A poor pious man bought flour for 3 silver pieces for his household. As he was carrying it home, the wind blew it out into the sea. The man, therefore, went to David and asked for justice. King David gave him a gold piece and sent him away. At the door he met Solomon who advised him to return the money and insist on a trial. King David
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gave him another gold piece and again sent him away. Again he met Solomon who advised him to insist on his rights. Then David, finding that Solomon was advising him, called the latter and asked him how much he was to give to the man. Solomon replied, “Do not give money but call the wind to justice." David then made a conjuration and the spirit of the wind appeared. Asked why it had blown the poor man's flour into the sea, it replied that a ship on the high seas with many Jews on board, had sprung a leak and was on the point of foundering. The sack of flour would form a dough and stop the leak. The men had vowed a third of their possessions if saved. Six days later the ship came into port and the travellers gave the poor man a third of their possessions which they had vowed as a thank-offering.
445 [Cod. G. 1060 f. 37 a]. An apostate led the king to the synagogue when the people were reading the verse in Deut., “How can one pursue a thousand and two ten thousand?" He told the King that the Jews were boasting that one could kill ten thousand. The king, enraged, called the teacher to explain the meaning. The latter said this referred to those who came out of Egypt. The king then called the wise men and the elders and ordered them as the descendants to prove the truth of the statement. He gave them a year, after which they would either be killed or driven out of the country. After six months of fasting and weeping, a man came and offered to go to the Children of Moses beyond the river Sambatyon and bring one of them who would prove it. They gave him money and he travelled five months and crossed the river on the Sabbath. The people there condemned him to death for breaking the Sabbath; he, however, showed them the letter which he had brought and they then sent a young girl with him, and within one day they were back in the city, thus in time. They told the king they were ready to prove the case and asked him to bring out the army. He gathered all the people in the field and the young girl, dressed as a
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man met him. She asked the king to make two heavy millstones, from a big mountain nearby. They were made and weighed 600 tons. She uttered the Ineffable Name of God, the millstones rose on the air and ground the whole army to dust. When the king saw this, he said, “If this can merely be done by word of mouth, how much greater the power when done by hand?” He acknowledged the truth and the Jews rejoiced, after which the girl returned to her people.
446 [Cod. G. 1380 f. 14a]. A man paid 3000 Dinars for these three maxims, at 1000 Dinars each.