parents. One day while the
child was playing he became tired, and lying upon the ground fell
asleep. A weasel bit him in the neck, and he bled to death. The parents
were consumed with grief by this calamity, and it was not until another
son was given them that they forgot their sorrow. But when this second
child was able to walk alone it wandered without the house, and bending
over the well, looking at its shadow in the water, lost its balance and
was drowned. Then the father recollected his perjured vow, and his
witnesses, the weasel and the well. He told his wife of the
circumstance, and she agreed to a divorce. He then sought the maiden to
whom he had promised marriage, and found her still awaiting his return.
He told her how, through God's agency, he had been punished for his
wrongdoing, after which they married and lived in peace.

* * * * *

A wise Israelite, dwelling some distance from Jerusalem, sent his son to
the Holy City to complete his education. During his son's absence the
father was taken ill, and feeling that death was upon him he made a
will, leaving all his property to one of his slaves, on condition that
he should allow the son to select any one article which pleased him for
an inheritance.

As soon as his master died, the slave, elated with his good fortune,
hastened to Jerusalem, informed his late master's son of what had taken
place, and showed him the will.

The young man was surprised and grieved at the intelligence, and after
the alloted time of mourning had expired, he began to seriously consider
his situation. He went to his teacher, explained the circumstances to
him, read him his father's will, and expressed himself bitterly on
account of the disappointment of his reasonable hopes and expectations.
He could think of nothing that he had done to offend his father, and was
loud in his complaints of injustice.

"Stop," said his teacher; "thy father was a man of wisdom and a loving
relative. This will is a living monument to his good sense and
far-sightedness. May his son prove as wise in his day."

"What!" exclaimed the young man. "I see no wisdom in his bestowal of his
property upon a slave; no affection in this slight upon his only son."

"Listen," returned the teacher. "By his action thy father hath but
secured thy inheritance to thee, if thou art wise enough to avail
thyself of his understanding. Thus thought he when he felt the hand of
death approach