R. Joshua son of Hananiah said: "I have never been defeated in an argument by anyone except a woman, a youth and a damsel. I once stayed in a house and the woman prepared lentils for my meal. (Some say it was beans.) The first day I ate the whole plateful and left nothing. The next day I also ate the whole plateful and left nothing. The third day the woman over-salted the lentils. I tasted the lentils and finding them salty, stopped eating. The woman said: 'Why do you not eat the lentils and why have you suddenly stopped eating'? I replied: 'I had a meal earlier in the day.' Then she said: 'Why, then, did you wash your hands and say the blessing if you had no desire to eat?' Then the woman said to me again: 'Dear Rabbi, why did you eat up all that was in the plate for the last two days? Do you not know that our sages tell us that nothing should be left in the pot, but one should leave some food in the dish for the manservant or the maidservant?' And thus the woman got the better of me. Thus far the story of the woman.

"The story of the damsel is as follows. One day I was walking along the highway, and there was a beaten path across the field, so I took that road. Then a girl said to me: 'Is this a highway across the sown field? Is there not a law that one should not walk across a sown field?' Then I said: 'My dear daughter, this is a beaten path.' Then the girl said to me: 'Yes, robbers and others like you made it.' Thus the girl also put me to shame, showing me that I was wrong.

"My third experience was with a young lad. One day as I was walking across a field, I saw a boy sitting at the crossing of two roads which led to the town. So I asked the boy: 'Which is the best road to town?' The boy replied: 'Dear Rabbi, this road is short and yet long, while the other is long and yet short.' So I took the road which was short and long. When I reached the outskirts of the town, I noticed that the town was surrounded by vineyards, which prevented my entering, So I had to go back to the boy. And I said to him: 'My dear boy, you told me this road was short.' The boy replied: 'My dear Rabbi, I told you that it was short and yet long. What I meant was that it was a short road to the town but that one could not enter the town by it, as one has to make a long detour by reason of the vineyards. The other road, however, is long, but it leads straight into the town.' When I heard the cleverness of the boy, I rose up and, kissing him on the forehead, said: 'Happy are you, O Israelites, that you have such clever boys in your midst'."