feast. The lady no sooner perceived it, than she ordered him to be carried to her father's house, and to be put into a bed prepared for the purpose. The fumes of the wine having gradually evaporated, the man awoke. Finding himself in a strange place, he wondered and exclaimed, "Where am I? How came I here? What means all this?" His wife, who had waited to see the issue of her stratagem, stepped from behind a curtain, and begging him not to be alarmed, told him that he was now in her father's house. "In thy father's house!" exclaimed the still astonished husband; "how should I come in thy father's house?" "Be patient, my dear husband," replied the prudent woman; "be patient, and I will tell thee all. Recollect, didst thou not tell me last night, I might take out of thy house whatever I valued most? Now, believe me, my beloved, among all thy treasures there is not one I value so much as I do thee; nay, there is not a treasure in this world I esteem so much as I do thee." The husband, overcome by so much kindness, embraced her, was reconciled to her, and they lived thenceforth very happily together.
Page:Hebrew tales; selected and translated from the writings of the ancient Hebrew sages (1917).djvu/32
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HEBREW TALES
Midrash Rabba to Canticles, I, 4. Pesikta de R. K., XXII, p. 147a (ed. Buber).