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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 288, Supplementary Number by Various
page 16 of 59 (27%)
moment, heard the voice of the Prince of Mazikin ordering him to open
them again. And, behold, when he opened them, he stood in the centre of
his own chamber, in his house at Cairo, with the keys in his hand.

When he recovered from his surprise, and had offered thanksgivings to
God, he opened his house, and his heart also. He gave alms to the poor,
he cheered the heart of the widow, and lightened the destitution of
the orphan. His hospitable board was open to the stranger, and his
purse was at the service of all who needed to share it. His life was
a perpetual act of benevolence; and the blessings showered upon him
by all, were returned bountifully upon him by the hand of God.

But people wondered, and said, "Is not this the man who was called Rabbi
Jochonan the miser? What hath made the change?" And it became a saying
in Cairo. When it came to the ears of the Rabbi, he called his friends
together, and he avowed his former love of gold, and the danger to which
it had exposed him; relating all which has been above told, in the
hall of the new palace that he built by the side of the river, on the
left hand, as thou goest down by the course of the great stream. And
wise men, who were scribes, wrote it down from his mouth, for the
memory of mankind, that they might profit thereby. And a venerable man,
with a beard of snow, who had read it in these books, and at whose feet
I sat, that I might learn the wisdom of the old time, told it to me.
And I write it in the tongue of England, the merry and the free, on
the tenth day of the month Nisan, in the year, according to the lesser
computation, five hundred ninety and seven, that thou may'st learn good
thereof. If not, the fault be upon thee.

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