Once upon a time there lived a king, a mighty ruler over many lands, who was a great enemy of the Jews, and his name was Frandik (Frederick).

One day he summoned all his counselors and wise men, and he summoned also eleven of the wisest scholars of the Jews to appear before him. As soon as the latter could be seen from a distance the king and his counselors rose up and went to meet them, and received them with great honor. And the wise men wondered very much

at the honor paid to them.

Then the king said to them: "I love you as the apple of my eye, and I have three requests to make of you, one of which you must do, namely, you must either eat

swine's flesh with me or drink wine with me, or lie with a Christian woman. You must choose one of these three courses, and by so doing you will pay me great honor, and you will find favor in my eyes."

When the men heard this: they were very much frightened, and after thinking over the matter, one of them rose up, bowed before the king and, with tears in his eyes, said:

"Give us three days' time and we will search in our books to see which is the best course."

The king replied: "The three days are granted."

The eleven wise men departed and debated with each other what they should do. They finally decided that they would drink the wine, saying that although it is a custom, handed down by our ancestors, not to drink wine prepared by Gentiles, yet they did not teach us that no good can come from drinking it.

So they came to the king and said: "Our lord the king, we have decided to spend the whole day with you, drinking at your table."

When the wicked king heard this, he was very glad, for he thought: "I will also make them eat swine's flesh and commit the sin of fornication."

So the king said to them: "Order some meat to be prepared that you are allowed to eat, so that you may not have to eat our food."

Then he made a round table that could be revolved slowly. In the meantime the banquet was set. The Jewish scholars came in, and kasher food was brought for them and placed on the king's table. The king and all the lords sat together and the eleven wise men also sat together. Before them were all kinds of delicacies and the choicest

malmsey wine. And they all ate and drank together, and the king carried on long conversations with them. When the king saw that they were beginning to be filled up with wine, he turned the table very gently so that they did not notice it. The forbidden food came in front of them, and they filled their bellies with swine's flesh.

What did the king do next? He put the kasher food away carefully to show it to them on the morrow. When night came, he ordered beautiful beds of gold and silver to be prepared and a harlot to be placed in each one. Being very drunk, they thought the women were their wives. In the morning, the king rose early, came to their beds and said to them: "My dear friends, arise and say your prayers, for you have committed very grave sins. You ate pork of your own free will, leaving your kasher meat uneaten, and you committed fornication."

When they saw the unclean women in their beds, they did not know how it happened, but soon realized that the king had done it intentionally. Then they repented deeply of the sins they had committed and wished they were dead. Their wish was realized and they all died an unnatural death the same year.

And all this happened to them because they had drunk of the forbidden wine. This is why the Torah has placed together the section dealing with the adulterous woman and that which treats of the Nazirite (cf. Num. 5.11-21; 6.1-21).

Therefore, my dear friends, take example from this story and see how forbidden wine leads to an evil death. It is best, therefore, to keep away from much wine and thus avoid great pain.