Once upon a time a pious man ransomed a beautiful woman from the hands of the heathen, and when they came to the inn in the evening, he put the young woman to sleep at the foot of his bed. In the morning he went to the bathhouse and took a bath, and then he went to teach his pupils.

While he was teaching them he asked, "Did you suspect .me of anything last night when you saw the young maiden lying at the foot of my bed?"

They replied, "We did not suspect you of anything; we thought that you put her near you because you had among your pupils one whom you did not know, and you would not let her sleep in a separate room for fear that harm might come to her."

Then the pious man asked, "Why did you think I went in the morning and took a bath?"

"What else do you believe we could have thought," replied his pupils, "except that probably on the way you had touched something unclean which made it necessary for you to take a purifying bath?"

Then he said, "I swear that it was exactly as you thought. And as you thought well of me and did not suspect me of anything wrong, so may the Lord, blessed be He, think well of you and of your work."