R. Johanan said: "All his lifetime the pious Honi, the Circle Drawer, was worried over the verse in Psalm 126: 'Song of Degrees. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream.' The meaning is that God

regards the seventy years of the Babylonian exiIe as though they had been a dream and we had been asleep seventy years.

But Honi said: 'Is there any man who can sleep seventy years in one stretch? It is not possible.'

One day, as Honi was riding upon a she-ass through the field, he saw a man planting a carob tree. So he said to the man who was planting the tree: 'Friend,' tell me, how long will it take before this tree which you are planting will grow up?'

And the man replied: 'It will take seventy years before it can produce fruit.'

Then he said to him: 'My dear son, are you sure that you are going to live seventy years and eat of the fruit of the tree?'

And the man answered: 'My dear Rabbi, I found a carob tree when I came into the world, one that had been planted by my father. Therefore I will also plant a carob tree for my son after me.'

Honi, the Circle Drawer, sat down and ate some bread. Suddenly he became drowsy arid fell asleep. Then a rock grew up around him and no one knew what had become of him. And so he slept for seventy years. When he woke up, he saw a man shaking the fruit from the carob tree and picking it up to eat it.

Honi said to him: 'Are you the man who planted this tree!'

The man replied: 'No, I am not the man who planted this tree, I am his grandson.'

Then Honi said: 'It seems that I have slept seventy years.'

Then he looked for his ass, and saw a whole herd of young asses, for they had multiplied three or four times during the seventy years that he had slept. Then Honi wept to his own home and said to the people there: 'Is. the son of Honi, the Circle Drawer, still living?'

And the people replied: 'No, his Son is dead, but his grandson is still living.'

Then he said: 'I am Honi, the Circle Drawer.'

But the people did not believe him, for they thought he had died long ago. Then Honi went to the college and held a discourse. And he heard the scholars say: 'This halakah sounds as if it had been taught in the days of Honi, the Circle Drawer.' For Honi, the Circle Drawer, was a great scholar and whenever he came to the college he answered all the questions which were put to him.

When he heard them speak thus, he said, 'I am Honi, the Circle Drawer.'

But the rabbis did not believe him. They thought that he had died many years before, not knowing anything of his sleep. And they did not show him the respect that was due to him. Then he grew, despondent and prayed to God that he might die, and shortly afterwards he died.

In reference to this Raba said: 'This is the meaning of the proverb: When your associates cease to show you the honor that they gave you in the past, it is better to be dead; or, as the proverb runs: 'Either companionship or death.' "