Page:Hebrew tales; selected and translated from the writings of the ancient Hebrew sages (1917).djvu/77

Rh fruit, to let you know. I am that old man and this is the fruit of those very trees. May it please you graciously to accept them as a humble tribute of gratitude for your majesty's great condescension." Hadrian, gratified to see so extraordinary an instance of longevity, accompanied by the full use of manly faculties and honest exertion, desired the old man to be seated, and ordering the basket to be emptied of the fruit, and to be filled with gold, gave it him as a present. Some courtiers who witnessed this uncommon scene, exclaimed, "Is it possible that our great emperor should show so much honor to a miserable Jew!" "Why should I not honor him whom God has honored?" replied Hadrian. "Look at his age, and imitate his example." The emperor then very graciously dismissed the old man, who went home highly pleased and delighted.

Leviticus Rabba, § XXV; Eccles. Rabba, to ch. II, 20; Midrash Tanhuma, Section Kodoshim (to Leviticus xxix. 23).

The Same Things no Longer the Same under Altered Circumstances

the old man came home and exhibited the present he had received, the people were all astonished. Among the neighbors whom curiosity had brought to his house, there was a silly,