Two Jews were once carried away into captivity from Mount Carmel, their captor going behind them.

Said one to the other: "In front of us there has passed a camel blind in one eye and carrying two casks, one containing wine and the other oil. There are two men with the camel, one a Jew and the other a Gentile."

When the captor heard this, he said: "You stiff-necked Jews, how do you know all that?"

"We will tell you," they said. "The camel ate the grass on one side of the road, which it could see, but it did not eat the grass on the other side of the road because it was blind in the other eye. As for the second point, we can tell that it is carrying two casks, one containing wine and the other oil, because we can see the road is moist on both sides, where the casks leaked. That which dropped from one side sank into the earth, showing that it was wine, while the drops on the other side remained on the ground, hence we know that it must be oil. In regard to the two men who were along with the camel, we know that one is a Jew and the other a Gentile, because we can see that the Gentile performed his necessities in the middle of the road, while the Jew turned to the side of the road."

The captor hastened his pace, caught up with the camel, and found that the facts were exactly as the two captives had said. Such exceedingly wise people were at this period in Jerusalem, who because of their sins were taken into captivity.