Surely you are not greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us the well, and used to drink from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle!"

Upon this his neighbors, and those who had formerly known him by sight as a beggar, exclaimed: "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"

Then Jesus again crossed the Jordan to the place where John used to baptize at first, and stayed there some time, during which many people came to see him.

He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and, being in charge of the purse, used to take what was put in it.

"In truth I tell you," he continued, "when you were young, you used to put on your own girdle, and walk wherever you wished; but, when you have grown old, you will have to stretch out your hands, while some one else puts on your girdle, and takes you where you do not wish."