shabbat 77

small things can bother big things.

so they need to be in a good mood before asking lots, and lots, of pesty questions.

(while discussing how much honey is needed to cover a wound, and thus giving the measure about carrying on shabbat. the talmud has a tangent about various creatures that were created as a remedies. which then goes into how some large animals dread and fear tiny animals. what then follows is an odd exchange between R. Zeira who, when seeing that R. Yehudah was very cheerful and therefore will answer anything, proceeds to ask him all sorts of questions about the natural world and the different names of objects... it's more than a little absurd. if you could ask anything to a wise man, would you ask: why are camel's tails so short? for english translation of this talmud page, see here)