Once upon a time there lived a man who was called Hanan the Hidden One, for he used to hide himself. He was the grandson of Honi the Circle Drawer on his mother's side. Whenever the Jews were in need of rain, the rabbis used to send young children to the house of the rabbi to ask him to pray for rain. When the children came to him, they took hold of his mantle and said to him: "Father, father, give us rain."

Hanan began to pray and said: "Lord of the universe, give rain for the sake of the little children, for they cannot distinguish between a father who gives rain and a father who does not give rain, for they believe that it is I who give them rain."

The reason why he was called the hidden is that he used to hide in a privy place. Some say he was very poor, and when he said his prayers, he did so privily; others say that whenever he gave anything to a poor man, he hid himself so as not to put the poor man to shame, for it is wrong to put a poor man to shame, as I will tell you later on.