In the time of R. Judah, the Pious, there lived a mighty duke who in all things followed the advice of R. Judah. One day a Roman king called Philippus came to the duke and asked him to join him in war and to give him his help.

The duke replied: "I must first go to see my Jew, and find out whether he will advise me to go with you or not. For the Jew knows whether we shall be successful or not."

The duke sent for the pious man and told him of the king's request that he join him in war. "Therefore," he said, "I ask for your advice whether I should go or not."

The pious man replied: "I warn your gracious lordship on your life not to go. For if you do, be assured that your gracious lordship will not return alive, for they will all

be killed in the war."

The duke went back to the king and told him that he could not go with him because his wise Jew had advised him against it and had told him that if he went with the king they would both be killed.

"Therefore," he said, "I beg your royal majesty not to take it amiss if I do not go with you this time, for I follow the advice of my Jew in all matters."

The king said: "Do you pay attention to the words of a false Jew? How can he know what our fortunes will be in the war? I will go alone. And as for your false Jew, in whom you put so much faith, if God help me to return home to my land I will fight you, and if God help me to conquer you I will have that false Jew of yours hanged by his feet, and this will be the outcome of his wisdom."

And with these words he departed. When he had gone, the duke repeated the king's words to the pious Jew.

The pious man replied: "By all means let him go to war. He said that when he returned from the war he would fight you, and when he had conquered you, he would kill me. I will forgive him if he kills me when he returns from the war."

Not long after, the news came that the king of Rome with all his army had been killed in the war. The duke sent for the pious man and read the tidings to him.

The pious man replied: "I knew full well that he would never return alive. And if you had gone with him, you would have shared the same fate:"

The pious man thanked God, Blessed be He, and said: "Blessed be the Lord, who frustrates the evil intentions of the wicked."

The duke kissed the pious man and said: "Happy are you, for you are a wonderful

people, and God reveals to you the things that are to be."

And he held the pious man in higher esteem than ever.