"There is no rule without some exception," as the following tale demonstrates: Rabbi Eliezar, who was as much distinguished by his greatness of mind as by the extraordinary size of his body, once paid a friendly visit to Rabbi Simon. The learned Simon received him most cordially, and filling a cup with wine handed it to him. Eliezar took it and drank it off at a draught. Another was poured out--it shared the same fate. "Brother Eliezar," said Simon, jestingly, "rememberest thou not what the wise men have said on this subject?" "I well remember," replied his corpulent friend, "the saying of our instructors, that people ought not to take a cup at one draught. But the wise men have not so defined their rule as to admit of no exception; and in this instance there are not less than three--the _cup_ is small, the _receiver_ is large, and your WINE, brother Simon, is DELICIOUS!" TALES OF A PARROT. I GENERAL PLAN OF EASTERN ROMANCES--THE "TUTI NAMA," OR PARROT-BOOK--THE FRAME-STORY--TALES: THE STOLEN IMAGES--THE WOMAN CARVED OUT OF WOOD--THE MAN WHOSE MARE WAS KICKED BY A MERCHANT'S HORSE. Oriental romances are usually constructed on the plan of a number of tales connected by a general or leading story running throughout, like the slender thread that holds a necklace of pearls together--a familiar example of which is the _Book of the Thousand and One Nights_, commonly known amongst us under the title of _Arabian Nights Entertainments_. In some the subordinate tales are represented as being told by one or more individuals to serve a particular object, by the moral, or warning, which they are supposed to convey; as in the case of the _Book of Sindibad_, in which a prince is falsely accused by one of his father's ladies, and defended by the king's seven vazirs, or counsellors, who each in turn relate to the king two stories, the purport of which being to warn him to put no faith in the accusations of women, to which the lady replies by stories representing the wickedness and perfidy of men; and that of the _Bakhtyar Nama_, in which a youth, falsely accused of having violated the royal harem, obtains for himself a respite from death during ten days by relating to the king each day a story designed to caution him against precipitation in matters of importance. In others supernatural beings are the narrators of the subordinate tales, as in the Indian romances, _Vetala Panchavinsati_, or Twenty-five Tales of a Demon, and the _Sinhasana Dwatrinsati_, or Tales of the Thirty-two Speaking Statues--literally, Thirty-two (Tales) of a Throne. In others, again, the relators are birds, as in the Indian work entitled _Hamsa Vinsati_, or Twenty Tales of a Goose.