In ancient Palestine, there was a group of traveling actors who went from village to village entertaining the people.
In one small village, the only son of one of the village elders
was attracted to this life, and ran away with the actors when they moved
on.
When the boy's absence was noticed, the people pursued the
actors, and cornered them among the rocks. The villagers picked up rocks
and were preparing to throw them at the actors, but were unable to
generate the nerve to start until the village chief pushed the boy's
father forward, saying...
"Let he who is without son stone the cast first!"