History Jokes: Crusade of St. Louis — Teaching by the signs

Joinville, in his Memoirs of St. Louis, tells us of a
woman who, in the crusade headed by that king, was
seen carrying in her right hand a porringer of fire,
and in her left a bottle of water. With the fire,
Joinville says, she wished to burn paradise, with the
water to drown hell, so that none might do good for
the reward of the one, nor avoid evil from fear of the
other, since every good ought to be done from the
perfect and sincere love which man owes to his
Creator, who is the supreme good.

WHEN some Arcadian deserters asked to be admitted into the service of the Persian king,
Xerxes asked them what the Greeks were doing. The
answer was that they were keeping the great feast of
Olympia, and beholding the contests of wrestlers and
horsemen. On hearing this, a Persian asked what the
prize might be for which they strove, and was told
that it was an olive wreath. 'Ah, Mardonius,'
exclaimed one of the satraps who were standing by,
'what men are these against whom you have brought
us here to fight, who strive not for money, but for
glory?'