read
and water, for I am fatigued with travelling." "I have neither bread nor
water," rejoined the inhospitable matron. "Well," said the patriarch,
"tell Ishmael when he comes home that an old man came to see him, and
recommends him to change the door-post of his house, for it is not
worthy of him." On Ishmael's return she gave him the message, from which
he at once understood that the stranger was his father, and that he did
not approve of his wife. Accordingly he sent her back to her own people,
and Hagar procured him a wife from her father's house. Her name was
Fatima.

Another period of three years having elapsed, Abraham again resolved to
visit his son; and having, as before, pledged his word to Sarah that he
would not alight at Ishmael's house, he began his journey. When he
arrived at his son's domicile he found Fatima alone, Ishmael being
abroad, as on the occasion of his previous visit. But from Fatima he
received every attention, albeit she knew not that he was her husband's
father. Highly gratified with Fatima's hospitality, the patriarch called
down blessings upon Ishmael, and returned home. Fatima duly informed
Ishmael of what had happened in his absence, and then he knew that
Abraham still loved him as his son.

This is one of the few rabbinical legends regarding Biblical characters
which do not exceed the limits of probability; and I confess I can see
no reason why these interesting incidents should be considered as purely
imaginary. As a rule, however, the Talmudic legends of this kind must be
taken not only _cum grano salis_, but with a whole bushel of that most
necessary commodity, particularly such marvellous relations as that of
Rabbi Jehoshua, when he informs us that the "ram caught in a thicket,"
which served as a substitute for sacrifice when Abraham was prepared to
offer up his son Isaac, was brought by an angel out of Paradise, where
it pastured under the Tree of Life and drank from the brook which flows
beneath it. This creature, the Rabbi adds, diffused its perfume
throughout the world.[67]

[67] The commentators on the Kuran have adopted this legend.
But according to the Kuran it was not Isaac, but
Ishmael, the great progenitor of the Arabs, who was to
be sacrificed by Abraham.

_Joseph and Potiphar's Wife._

The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, as related in the Book of
Genesis, finds parallels in the popular tales and legends of many
countries: the ven