But Joseph's appetite was not to be stayed by such tales as this. So Enan
tells him of the "Lean Fox and the Hole"; but in vain. "Open not thy mouth
to Satan," says Joseph. "I fear for my appetite, that it become smaller";
and goes on eating.
Now Enan tries another tack: he will question him, and put him through his
paces. But Joseph yawns and protests that he has eaten too much to keep his
eyes open.
"How canst thou sleep," said Enan, "when thou hast eaten everything,
fresh and stale? As I live, thou shalt not seek thy bed until I test thy
wisdom-until I prove whether all this provender has entered the stomach
of a wise man or a fool."
Then follows an extraordinary string of anatomical, medical, scientific,
and Talmudic questions about the optic nerves; the teeth; why a man lowers
his head when thinking over things he has never known, but raises his head
when thinking over what he once knew but has forgotten; the physiology of
the digestive organs, the physiology of laughter; why a boy eats more than
a man; why it is harder to ascend a hill than to go down; why snow is
white; why babies have no teeth; why children's first set of teeth fall
out; why saddest tears are saltest; why sea water is heavier than fresh;
why hail descends in summer; why the sages said that bastards are mostly
clever. To these questions, which Enan pours out in a stream, Joseph
readily gives answers. But now Enan is hoist with his own petard.
"I looked at him," continues the poet, "and sleep entrapped his eyes, and
his eyelids kissed the irides. Ah! I laughed in my heart. Now I will talk
to him, and puzzle him as he has been puzzling me. He shall not sleep, as
he would not let me sleep. 'My lord,' said I, 'let me now question thee.'
'I am sleepy,' said he, 'but ask on.' 'What subject shall I choose?' I
said. 'Any subject,' he replied; 'of all knowledge I know the half.'"
Joseph asks him astronomical, musical, logical, arithmetical questions;
to all of which Enan replies, "I do not know." "But," protests Joseph,
"how couldst thou assert that thou knewest half of every subject, when it
is clear thou knowest nothing?" "Exactly," says Enan, "for Aristotle
says, 'He who says, I do not know, has already attained the half of
knowledge.'"
But he says he knows medicine; so Joseph proceeds to question him. Soon he
discovers that Enan is again deceiving him; and he abuses Enan roundly for
his duplicity.
Enan at length is moved to retort.
"I wonder at thy learning," says Enan, "but more at thy appetite." Then
the lamp goes out, the servant falls asleep, and they are left in
darkness till the morning. Then Joseph demands his breakfast, and goes
out to see his ass. The ass attempts to bite Joseph, who strikes it, and
the ass speaks. "I am one of the family of Balaam's ass," says the
animal. "But I am not Balaam," says Joseph, "to divine that thou hast
eaten nothing all night." The servant asserts that he fed the ass, but
the animal had gobbled up everything, his appetite being equal to his
owner's. But Joseph will not believe this, and Enan is deeply hurt.
"Peace!" he shouts, and his eyes shoot flames, and his nostrils distil
smoke. "Peace, cease thy folly, or, as I live, and my ancestor Asmodeus,
I will seize thee with my little finger, and will show thee the city of
David."