507

(twelve hours).1 One of his friends said to the
author of this book in Kachmir, that Yiisef during a
length of time ate nothing at all. The friend rela-
ted : " I went one night to watch with him ; he said
" to me: * Go and eat something.' I replied : < I
L ' ' will; but it would be well that thou also shouldst
6' ' take something to eat and to drink.' His answer
" was: ' Thou art not- able to satisfy my want
'c * of food/ I assured him: 'I am able/ He
•" then ordered: * Go, bring what thou hast/ I
i6 went home and brought him a great dish full-of
" rice, a large cup of coagulated milk, with bread
tc and other eatables, as much as might have been
,, suflicjenj; for ten gluttons; he eat up every thing,
"and said: ' Bring something more.' I went
44 home, prepared a meal for twenty persons, and
" with the aid of the people of the house, brought
46 it to him. He eat it up, and desired more. I
" returned home, and carried to him meats half
'' cooked and other things. He eat up all, and said:
" £ Bring more.7 I fell at his feet; he called out.:
^ ' Have I not said to thee that thou wouldst not be
4< * able to satisfy my want of food/ "
One of his disciples related : Yiisef said, that he

1 The practice of holding the breath, often mentioned in this work,
is founded upon ihe belief, that to each man a certain number of respir-
ations is allotted: the less he breathes the longer he lives. —(Shakes-
pear's Dictionary, p. 365.)