One day R. Judah was walking along the street in Regensburg, when he met the mayor of the town, who was followed by a little lamb, calling "me! me!" as lambs do.

The mayor said to R. Judah: "My dear Rabbi, you are the oldest rabbi among the Jews and profess to know all that happens in the heavens above and on the earth below, tell me, why is the lamb crying 'me! me!'? Surely you understand all languages."

He said this in jest.

The pious man replied: "I know very well what the lamb is saying, but it is not proper to tell."

The mayor begged him insistently to tell him, but the rabbi refused, for he feared lest some harm might result. The mayor insisted that he should tell him, no matter who might be involved, and gave him his word of honor that no harm would come to him.

Then the pious man said: "Dear sir, I will tell you. The lamb is crying so loudly to tell you that while you are walking about here, another man is lying with your wife in the house. To prove that this is true, go home quickly and you will still find them together."

The mayor did not wait to be told a second time, and ran home as fast as he could and found them together, just as the pious rabbi had told him. So he sent for the pious man and said to him: "I thank you for having told me, you shall never have reason to regret it," and he gave him a generous present and became friendly, to the Jews.

But his wife was innocent, for the man had violently assaulted her, and he was punished by the mayor accordingly.