2i6 The Legends of the Jews
found the two purses he had. lost on his first and second trips. Later he sold the same pair of oxen to the king for a considerable price, and he became very wealthy.'1
As Elijah coerced this merchant into humility toward God, so he carried home a lesson to the great Tanna Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai. This Rabbi stood in need of correction on account of his overweening conceit. Once, on returning from the academy, he took a walk on the sea-beach, his bosom swelling with pride at the thought of his attainments in the Torah. He met a hideously ugly man, who greeted him with the words : " Peace be with thee, Rabbi." Eliezer, instead of courteously acknowledging the greeting, said : " O thou wight, " how ugly thou art ! Is it possible that all the residents of thy town are as ugly as thou ? " "I know not," was the reply, " but it is to the Mas- ter Artificer who created me that thou shouldst have said: ' How ugly is this vessel which Thou hast fashioned.' " The Rabbi realized the wrong he had committed, and humbly begged pardon of the ugly man — another of the protean forms adopted by Elijah. The latter continued to refer him to the Master Artificer of the ugly vessel. The inhabitants of the city, who had hastened to do honor to the great Rabbi, earnestly urged the offended man to grant pardon, and finally he declared himself appeased, provided the Rabbi promised never again to commit the same wrong."
The rigor practiced by Elijah toward his friends caused one of them, the Tanna Rabbi Jose, to accuse him of being passionate and irascible. As a consequence, Elijah would have nothing to do with him for a long time. When he re- appeared, and confessed the cause of his withdrawal, Rabbi
