(Fol. 50) Our Rabbis were taught: It happened to the daughter of the well-digger, Nechunia, that she fell into a large well. They came and informed R. Chanina b. Dosa of it. During the first hour he said to them: "Peace [to her];" and so also during the second. At the third hour, [when there was fear that she might have died], he said that she was out of the well. When the girl was asked who saved her, she said that a ram passed around the well led by an old man, who saved her. When R. Chanina b. Dosa was asked whether he knew of her safety by prophecy, he said: "I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I thought to myself, Is it possible that the children of that righteous man [Nechunia, who was digging wells to enable the pilgrims to drink water from them] shall die by the very thing he was taking so much pains [to prepare for the welfare of Israel]?" Said R. Acha: "Notwithstanding this, his son died of thirst. The reason is, as the passage says, (Ps. 1, 3), And round Him there rageth a mighty storm, from which it may be inferred that the Holy One, praised be He! is particular with His pious, even on a hairbreadth." R. Chanina says: "From the following passage (Ibid 89, 8) A God dreaded in the great council of the holy ones, and feared by all that are about Him." R. Chanina said: "Whoever says that the Holy One, praised be He, is lax [in dealing out justice], his life shall be let loose (i.e., shall be outlawed, for he encourages people to sin), as it is said (Deut. 32, 4) He is the Rock; His work is perfect; for all His ways are just." R. Chana, and according to others, R. Samuel b. Nachmeni, said: "What is the meaning of the passage (Ez. 34, 6) Long suffering, (in the plural), and not (in the singular)? Long-suffering towards both the upright and the wicked."
Our Rabbis were taught: "One shall not remove stones from his own premises to public ground. It happened once that one did so, and a pious man, who was passing by at that time said to him: "Thou ignoramus, why dost thou remove stones from premises not belonging to thee, unto thy own premises?" He laughed at him. At a later date, the man was compelled to sell his land, and while walking on the public highway in front of his former land, he stumbled over the very stones he once piled up. He then exclaimed: "O how right that pious man was when he said to me, 'Why art thou removing stones from premises not belonging to thee unto thine own premises.' "
(Fol. 52) A certain Galilean lectured concerning R. Chisda: When the shepherd gets angry at his flock, he blinds the leading goat at the head of the flock [so that the leader falls and with him all the flock].
(Fol. 54) R. Chanina b. Egil asked R. Chiya b. Abba: "Why in the first commandments is it not written, That it may be well with thee, and in the second commandments it is so written?" (Fol. 55) He rejoined: "Instead of asking me for the reason, you had better ask me whether it is so written at all; for, even this I do not know. You had better go to R. Tanchum b. Chanilai, who was frequently with R. Joshua b. Levi, w4io was well-versed in Agada." So he went there. R. Tanchum said to him: "From R. Joshua b. Levi I heard nothing about it, but so told me Samuel b. Nachum, the brother of R. Acha b. Chanina's mother, [according to others, the father of R. Chanina's mother]." The reason is because the first commandments were destined to be broken. And if so, what of it? Said R. Ashi: "If this had been written thereon and subsequently [the tables] had been broken, God forbid, 'good' might have ceased from Israel."
R. Joshua b. Levi said: "One who sees the letter Teth in his dream, it is a good omen for him." Why so? Because the first time this letter is used in the Scripture is in the word Tob (good) [Gen. 1, 4] And God saw the light, that it was good (tob)." Another thing said R. Joshua b. Levi: "One who sees a funeral in a dream, it means that he was spared by heaven [and was not punished]. This, however, refers only to when he saw the word funeral written [but not the actual procession]."