The story is told of...
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The story is told of Rabbi Joshua, who was a very ugly man, so much so that children were sometimes frightened of him as he passed them on the street. He was so dark, people often took him for a blacksmith. Yet, he was a man of great learning, piety, wit and wisdom, so that everyone who knew him loved him, and he even had found favor with the Emperor Trajan, who often invited him to court. One day, one of the princesses at court mocked him. "How can it be," she questioned him, "that such glorious wisdom is stored in so mean a vessel?" Rabbi Joshua replied, "Tell me, child, how does your father keep his wine?" "In earthen vessels," she responded. "Oh!" exclaimed the Rabbi. "The Emperor stores his wine the way the common folk do? Shouldn't the Emperor's wine be stored in fine vessels of precious metal? For what reason would he use such mean vessels?" Upon hearing this, the princess ordered a portion of her father's wine to be decanted into gold and silver jars. But when they went to drink the wine only a short time afterward, the wine had turned sour and unfit to drink. She hastened to Rabbi Joshua. Berating him on his poor advice, she demanded of him, "Did you expect the wine would be spoiled?" "You are convinced, then, that wine keeps best in the plainest clay pots? It is the same with wisdom. There may be a few who are both wise and handsome, but most would probably be wiser if they were plain." -- Herrmann
