158 MR. WILLIAM E. A. AXON ON THE 



judgments all are true ; His eyes note all mankind, and 

 none can say, ' What dost thou ? ■" " 



" With these words Elijah disappeared, and Jochanan 

 was left alone ^^■^. 



There is another story illustrating the same moral. 

 ^* Moses sees a warrior come to a fountain, by whose side 

 he leaves a sack of gold, which was taken away by a 

 shepherd. An old man, bending beneath a heavy burden, 

 then came to the fountain, when the horseman returned 

 and accused him of having purloined the sack of gold. 

 In spite of his protestations of innocence the warrior drew 

 his sword and slew the old man. Whilst Moses is filled 

 with horror at the sight, the voice of God explains to 

 him that the old man had murdered the father of the 

 warrior, that the money really belonged to the shepherd, 

 although he was unaware of it, and that the warrior lost 

 because he had acquired it without right and used it only 

 for evil purposes " f. 



This has also found its way into the ' Gesta Romanorum ' 

 and similar collections. 



We have thus traced ParnelFs ' Hermit ' as far back 

 as is at present possible. Whether it was the in- 

 vention of a Jewish poet or borrowed by a Hebrew 

 moralist from some still earlier source it is impossible 

 to say. 



That the Prophet of Islam learned it from some of the 

 Arabian Jews is very probable ; but the manner in which 

 it entered Europe and the mode in which it became in- 

 corporated with the ecclesiastical literature of the middle 

 ages are not known ; though M. Paris has conjectured that 



* 'The Talmud,' by H. Polano, (London, n. d.) p. 313. Bai-ing-Grould's 

 'Legends of Old-Testament Characters,' vol. ii. (1871) p. 113. 



t Bariug-G-Quld's ' Legends of Old-Testament Characters,' Tol. 11.(1871) 

 p. 113. 



