Once upon a time four Jews coming from Jerusalem stopped over night with a very rich Jew. They were made very welcome by him and he quickly ordered meat from a Jewish butcher and wine from a Jewish wine dealer, and they ate and drank together and their host was happy with them. When they had finished eating and drinking, he showed them the place where they were going to sleep. Then he stood behind the door to hear what they would talk about, as he could easily tell that they were wise men, because they came from Jerusalem. So he heard one of them saying to his companion, "I am lying in a bed which is neither in heaven nor on the earth," for the bed was suspended by a rope like a hammock, so that one could lie in it comfortably.

And the rich man said to himself: "He has spoken the truth."

Then his companion said, "The meat that we have eaten tasted like the flesh of a dog."

The third one said: "The wine which we drank smelt of a corpse."

The fourth one said: "Our host is a bastard and was not begotten by his mother's legal husband."

Then the master of the house said: "What they said about the bed was true. I must therefore find out about the other things."

Early the next morning, he went to the butcher and said: "Will you please tell me what kind of meat you sent me with my servant yesterday?"

The butcher answered: "What do you mean? I sent you good mutton."

Then he said to him: "Where did you get the meat from?"

To which he replied: "I will tell you. I had a sheep which bore a lamb, and died directly after. I also had a dog, who had pups. So I took the young ewe and put it with the bitch to be suckled. When you sent for meat and I had no other, I slaughtered the lamb and sent it to you."

Then the master of the house said: "The other guest must also have spoken the truth. I must find out further."

So he went to the wine dealer and said to him: "Will you please tell me what kind of wine you sent me yesterday?"

The shopkeeper replied: "I sent you good wine."

Then he asked further: "Where did you get it from?"

The wine dealer replied: "I will tell you. When you sent for the wine, I had none except a single barrel, which I keep as a memorial. When my father died, I planted a vine over his grave, and I keep the wine which it produces in a separate cask in his memory. As I had no other wine, I sent you this wine out of respect for you."

Then the man said to himself: "The third man has also spoken the truth. I will go to my mother and find out about myself."

So he went to his mother and asked her: "Dear mother, who was my father? Whose son am I?"

The mother replied: "Why do you ask? You are my son, begotten by your father."

He said: "If you will not tell me the truth, you will surely die by my hand," and taking hold of a sword, he pointed it at her breast.

She said: "My son, I will tell you the whole truth. I was not able to have any children with the man to whom I was married, and if he had died without leaving children, I would have lost all the property. So I went with another man, and he was your father. Thus I was able to keep the property."

Then the master of the house thought: "The fourth man has also spoken the truth."

Then he thought again: "If this be allowed to go on, the men of Jerusalem will make us all to be bastards."

So the community bound itself by a solemn oath of excommunication not to give shelter to any men of Jerusalem. At the same time people should learn not to be eavesdroppers. Had the man not listened and overheard their conversation, he would not have heard all this from his visitors.