The Old man and the doctor, on inveterate wickedness

AN old man said to a doctor, 'My brain I giving me hell.'

The doctor said, 'That infirmity of brain comes from old age.'

The old man said, 'I see dark spot in front of my eyes.'

The doctor said, 'That comes of old age, ancient one.'

The old man said, 'I get terrible backaches.'

The doctor said, 'That comes of old age, skinny old fellow.'

The old man said, 'Everything I eat repeats on me.'

The doctor said, 'A weak stomach comes from old age.'

The old man said, 'It hurts me when I breathe.'

The doctor said, 'Yes, it is probably asthma. Old age brings on two hundred ailments.'

The old man said, 'You fool, you r needle has stuck; that is all you have learned of medicine. Addle-pate, your intellect has not taught you that God has appointed a cure for every pain. Idiot of a donkey, it is sheer incapacity that keeps you stuck in the mud; you have the feet to pick yourself up.'

The doctor said, 'Sexagenarian, you bad temper and rage are also of old age. Since all the functions and parts of your body are attenuated, your self-control and patience have also become feeble.'

An old man cannot endure two words together, he cries out at once; he cannot keep down a single gulp, he vomits it straightaway - except of course the Elder intoxicated with God, whose inward being God endows with 'a goodly life; Outwardly he is old, but inwardly he is youthful.