Thirteenth Tale Of Seven Beggars
Thirteenth Tale
Of Seven Beggars
I shall tell you how
people once were
merry.
A story:
O nce there was a king. The king had an only son to whom he wished to grant his kingdom while he was still living.
So he threw a great banquet. Now when the king throws a banquet, it is, of course, a merry affair.
Handing over his kingdom to his son while he was alive was an especially grand celebration.
All the royal ministers attended the banquet along with all the nobles and dignitaries.
Everyone was so very merry at the banquet.
And throughout the land there was such delight that the living king was giving the kingdom to his son, for it was a great and majestic honour.
What a celebration it was, with musicians and jesters and the like.
Everything that one could wish for at a celebration was there at this banquet.
When everyone was good and merry, the king arose and said to his son: Since I am a seer of the stars, I foretell that one day you will descend from the throne, so see to it that you should 188 not be saddened by your descent but rather remain merry.
For if you will be merry, then I shall be merry, too; even if you will be sad, I shall still be merry—for you ought not be a king if you are not merry.
I mean, if you are the sort of person who cannot be constantly merry, even when you descend from the throne, then you ought not be a king at all.
However, if you will be happy, I shall be exceedingly happy.
The prince took to the throne quite keenly, naming the kingdom’s ministers and appointing dukes and officers.
The prince was wise and loved wisdom. So great sages attended him, and whenever a sage would arrive to expound some wisdom, he was treated with great dignity.
He would also bestow the greatest respect and riches for the wisdom that each offered him.
If one wished for money, he would be given money.
If one wished for honour, he was given honour—all for wisdom.
Since wisdom was so esteemed by him, everyone embraced wisdom, and the entire county was engaged in its pursuit.
Since the whole country was solely occupied with wisdom in those days, they forgot about military stratagems and waging war.
Even the least in this country would have been the most brilliant sage in another; the scholars of the country were sages of the most extraordinary degree.
As a result of all this erudition, the country’s sages slipped into heretical thinking.
The prince, too, was drawn into apostasy.
For their part, the general public was not influenced by this and did not, likewise, slip into heresy.
Since there was such a profundity in the sages’ wisdom, everyday people were not able to delve into it and they remained unharmed by it.
Only the sages and the prince became heretics. 189
The prince, although he was virtuous, for he was born with virtue and had fine qualities, was constantly given to reflecting: Where in the world am I?
What am I doing here?, and to heaving great sighs and groans.
He would consider: What does it mean for me to get caught up in such affairs?
What is the matter with me? Where in the world am I?
, and he would sigh deeply. Nevertheless, as soon as he began to think rationally again, he was drawn back to the study of heretical wisdom.
It happened often that he would ruminate on where in the world he was and what was the matter with him, and the like, sighing and groaning.
Each time he returned to his senses, he became a resolute heretic again.
And it came to pass…
A country was evacuated and all had to take flight.
As they fled, they passed through a forest where two children were left behind—a boy and a girl.
One family lost a son and another lost a daughter.
These children were still small, around four or five years old.
The children had nothing to eat, so they bawled and cried in their hunger.
Then, a beggar approached them, carrying his bundles.
The children began to pester him and clung to him.
So he gave them bread, which they ate. He asked them, How did you get here?
They replied, We do not know, for we are only little children.
He made to leave them and they begged him to take them along. But he told them, I do not want you to come with me. Only then did they realize that the beggar was blind. They were quite astonished that he was blind, for how did he know where he was going? 190
It was astonishing that they were so perplexed since they were such small children. Nevertheless, they were very clever children, which is why they were so amazed.
The blind beggar gave them his blessing: May you be as I am and may you live to be as old as me. He left more bread with them and parted. The children understood that Blessed God was looking out for them and had sent the blind beggar to nourish them.
Later, their bread ran out and, again, they began bawling and crying from hunger.
Then it grew dark and they finally fell asleep.
In the morning, they still had nothing to eat and they bawled and cried.
Just then, another beggar arrived. He was deaf and when they went to speak to him, he gestured to tell them: I hear nothing.
This beggar also gave them bread to eat and made to leave them.
Again they wished for him to take them with him, which he did not want.
He, too, gave them his blessing: May you be as I am.
Then, like the first beggar, he gave them more bread and went on his way.
Later, their bread once more was finished and they bawled and cried as before.
And yet again came a beggar who was slow of speech and stammered.
When they went to speak to him, his stammering was so pronounced that they did not know what he was saying.
Even though he knew what they said, they could not understand him because of his stammer.
This beggar also gave them bread to eat, and when he took his leave, he too gave them his blessing that they might be like him, and departed just as the previous beggars had.
Thereupon another beggar arrived, and this one had a crooked neck and all transpired just as with the 191 others.
Then another beggar came, this one a hunchback.
Later, yet another beggar came, with lame hands.
Afterwards, there came another beggar, with lame legs.
And each of them gave their bread and their blessings: that they might be like him—each and every one of the beggars in his own way.
Sometime after, the children ran out of bread again.
But they had made their way to the outskirts of a settlement and found a road.
They followed the road until they arrived at a village.
The children entered a house where they were pitied and given bread.
Then they found another house, where they were also given bread.
So they started going from house to house, seeking charity.
When they saw that it was all right, and they would always be given bread, they decided that they would remain together forever.
They made their own large sacks so that they could go seeking alms. They attended all sorts of celebrations, circumcisions and weddings.
They begged from one house to the next and went to fairs.
They would sit among the other beggars at the entrances of buildings with their alms plates.
After a while, the children attained renown among the beggars, who were well acquainted with the children and knew that these were the little ones who had been lost in the forest.
Once there was a great fair in a big city.
All the beggars were heading there, including the children.
The notion struck the beggars that the two children should become engaged and married to one another.
As soon as they started discussing it, everyone was pleased with the idea.
And so the two were engaged. But how could they prepare a wedding for them, they pondered.
The king’s name day was at hand and all the beggars would be 192 at the celebration to cadge meat and festival loaves.
From these they could make a wedding. And so it was.
All the beggars came to the royal name day celebration and begged for their share of meat and bread and also collected the scraps of meat and pastry left over from the feast. Then they went and dug a deep pit that could fit a hundred people.
They covered it with twigs and dirt and rubbish, and everyone assembled there.
They held the wedding for the children and hoisted a canopy.
And all the beggars were so very merry and the bride and groom were also very merry.
The bride and groom then began reminiscing about the mercy that Blessed God had shown them when they were in the forest. They started to weep longingly: Where can we find that first beggar, the blind man, who brought us bread in the forest?
Just as they were longing for the blind beggar, he called out, I am here.
I have come to your wedding. I grant you my words as a gift that you may live to be as old as me.
Once, it was but my wish for you both to live to be as old as me.
But now, by the simple gift of my words I grant it: You may live to be as old as me.