Rabbi Meir used to stop at the house of Judah the butcher whenever he made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Judah's wife was a righteous woman who looked after the traveling sage with great hospitality. When she died, Judah remarried — and at the butcher's insistence, Rabbi Meir agreed to lodge there again.
Rabbi Meir was known to be extraordinarily handsome. The new wife saw him, and something dark took hold of her. She plied him with wine until he was completely drunk, and in his stupor, she deceived him.
When Rabbi Meir woke the next morning and realized what had happened, he wept bitterly. He traveled immediately to the Rosh Yeshiva (the head of a Torah academy)h and demanded judgment upon himself — what punishment did he deserve? The Rosh Yeshivah ruled that Meir must be taken to the forest, bound hand and foot, and left for the lions.
Two men were ordered to carry out the sentence and watch from the treetops. The first night, a lion approached, sniffed Meir, and walked away. The men reported this. The Rosh Yeshivah said: leave him another night. The second night, a lion came and roared — but did not touch him. The third night, a lion finally tore a small piece from his side.
The Rosh Yeshivah declared that this small wound was equivalent to having been devoured. He ordered physicians to heal Rabbi Meir. And when Meir recovered, a heavenly voice rang out: "Rabbi Meir is worthy of the bliss of the World to Come." The Nissim collection (28a) preserves this terrifying ordeal as proof that even the greatest sage held himself to an unforgiving standard of accountability.