R. Chana b. Bizna said: Eliezer (Abraham’s servant) asked Shem (Noah’s son), “What was it like for you [in the ark]?” He replied, “We had so much trouble in the ark. The animals which usually feed by day we fed by day, and those which normally feed at night we fed by night.
But my father didn’t know what was the food of the chameleon. One day he was sitting and cutting up a pomegranate, when a worm dropped out of it, which [the chameleon] ate. From then on he mashed up bran for
him, and when it became wormy, he ate it ... As for the phoenix, my father discovered it lying in the hold of the ark. “Don’t you require food?” he asked. “I saw that you were busy,” he replied, “so I said to myself, I won’t trouble you.” “May it be [God’s] will that you should never perish,” he exclaimed. Talmud Sanhedrin 108b
trans. David Seidenberg
But my father didn’t know what was the food of the chameleon. One day he was sitting and cutting up a pomegranate, when a worm dropped out of it, which [the chameleon] ate. From then on he mashed up bran for
him, and when it became wormy, he ate it ... As for the phoenix, my father discovered it lying in the hold of the ark. “Don’t you require food?” he asked. “I saw that you were busy,” he replied, “so I said to myself, I won’t trouble you.” “May it be [God’s] will that you should never perish,” he exclaimed. Talmud Sanhedrin 108b
trans. David Seidenberg
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