A certain man was condemned to death and led out to be stoned. Large stones were thrown at him but he remained silent, for he saw that evil had befallen him and that no outcry would help him or free him. But one of his close friends passed by and picked up a little stone and tossed it at him to show that he had never been one of his companions and had never listened to him. When the stone struck the man and he thought how the other had turned against him in his distress, he burst into a great and bitter outcry.
“Go and ask him,” said the king to one of his servants, “why he cried when a little stone hit him but remained silent at all the great big stones?” The condemned man answered: “Your majesty, when many large stones were flung by those who did not know me I kept still, but when a small stone hit me from a good friend I have to cry out for I remember how he was my companion at play and how he has now turned away. For now I see “even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.” (Psalm 41:9). Indeed, I find that death is sweet, and that is why I cried out.”
Then the king took pity on him and remembered that “every friend declares friendship, but there are friends who are friends in name only.” (Ben Sira 37:1) The king promptly ordered him to be released and free, saying: “Were it not that no man may be sentenced to death without clear and definite evidence, I would have stoned his comrade who turned against him in his distress.”
Mishle ‘Arav in haLevanon II 208 (13th Cent)
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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