"Akiba was so poor in his youth that he served as a shepherd for the wealthy Kalba Chaboua. He became enamoured of his master's daughter, and this love was the source of his wisdom. The young girl responded to the tender sentiment, but she made it the spur of an intelligence of which she had divined the value and the extent.
"'If you wish me to marry you,' said she, 'you must promise to devote your life to science.'
"Akiba promised, and they were married clandestinely. Kalba Chaboua discovered the secret, disowned his daughter, and drove them from his house. They wandered a long time without shelter, sleeping at night under the open sky. For a bed they had only a small bundle of straw, and tradition relates that one morning the beautiful black hair of the young woman was full of straws. Akiba drew them out gently, and lamented their hard fate.
"'Dearest,' said he tenderly, 'if I could I would give thee rich garments, and I would hang on thy neck a golden Jerusalem,'--an ornament which represented the city of Jerusalem, and which was much worn among the Jewish women.
"As he said the words he was accosted by a beggar clothed in rags.
"'Have pity on me,' cried he, 'and give me a handful of straw to put under my wife's head. She is sick, and lying over there on the cold ground.'
"Akiba gave the poor man what he demanded.
"'Behold,' said he, 'an unfortunate still more wretched than ourselves!'
"Akiba, in order to keep his promise to his wife, decided, in spite of his repugnance, to enter the school of Nakhum Gamsu. He was obliged to leave his wife, who entered service, and never ceased during the twelve years that separated them to write her husband encouraging letters, completely forgetting her own discomforts.
"One day, pensive and sad, Akiba followed a solitary path. A little brook attracted his attention. The water had pierced a rock by gradual dropping, and flowed gently through.