I read in your questions and answers on Eruvin 53b the story about Rabbi Yeshoua asking a small boy what route to take to a town (short and long) road. Do you have any refernces in English to this story which I believe is also retold in the Tanya .I am using this story for my B"H talk at our shul's Tikkun Leil
Gerald Saacks, Cape Town South Africa.
What follows is a summary of the story as recorded in our Review Questions and their Answers. Best wishes,
M. KORNFELD
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Rebbi Yehoshua was a public figure, yet only three people in his whole lifetime outsmarted him (verbally): a woman, a young girl and a young boy.
The young boy was sitting at the crossroads. He told Rebbi Yehoshua, in reply to his request for directions on how to arrive at the town - that if he turned way it would lead along a short road which was long, whereas the other way led along a long way that was short. Rebbi Yehoshua chose the first route, only to find that it was indeed a short route to town, only it ended outside gardens and orchards, through which he had no permission to pass. Upon his return, he met the same boy, and he asked him that it was why he had informed him that this was a short route. To which he replied 'But did I not also tell you that it was long'?
In reaction to the young boy's sharpness, Rebbi Yehoshua kissed him on the head, and exclaimed 'How fortunate are you, Yisrael, that you are all wise, from the youngest to the oldest'!