Thirteenth Tale Of Seven Beggars #2
Now, you may think I am a blind man, but I am not blind at all.
The whole world rushes before me in the blink of an eye, a flash.
(This is why he appeared to be blind, for he could not fix his gaze on the world.
Not a single moment in the entire world was beheld by him, since he could not set his sight upon it.) Although I am old, he went on, I am also very young—I have barely begun to live and yet I am already very old.
It is not only I who say so; I have it on the authority of the giant eagle.
I shall tell you a tale, said the blind beggar. 193
Once some men were travelling in many ships on the sea.
They were overtaken by a tempest and the ships were smashed.
The men survived and they came to a tower, which they ascended.
There they found all kinds of delicacies and drinks and clothes, everything that anyone could need.
There was an array of good things and dainty morsels.
They decided that each man would tell a story of long ago, which he could recollect from earliest memory. Young and old were present, so the honour went to the oldest among them to be the first to tell.
The eldest then spoke: What can I say—I still remember when the apple was snipped off its branch.
No one understood what he was talking about. However, there were some sages among them, and they said: Oh, my, my! That is a tale from very long ago.
Then the honour passed to another old man, though younger than the first, to relate his memory. That man spoke: Is that an old memory?, he asked in surprise. I, too, remember that and I also recall how the candle was burning.
The sages exclaimed: Well, then this is an even more ancient memory than the first!
They were all astonished that the second man was younger and yet remembered an even older memory than the previous teller.
Then the honour passed to a third elder, so that he could tell his story.
The third one was younger still and he said: I recall how the fruit first began to develop, that is, when it just was becoming a fruit.
They exclaimed that this was a yet older memory. 194
Then the fourth elder, who was even younger, spoke: I can remember how the seed was brought to be sown to grow the fruit.
And the fifth, younger still, spoke: I even remember the wise ones who produced the seed.
The sixth one to speak, younger even than all those who had spoken before, said: I remember the fruit’s flavour, before it permeated the fruit.
The seventh added: I recall the fruit’s fragrance before it infused the fruit.
The eighth man spoke: I can recall the appearance of the fruit, before it had even taken shape.
I was but a child then, the blind beggar continued. I was there and this I said: I remember all that you described and yet I remember not a thing.
The sages exclaimed: This is a most ancient memory, older than all others!
They were truly astonished that a child remembered more than anyone else.
Just then, a giant eagle came and perched on the tower. He said to them: Cease your scrounging! Return to your riches and use them!
He told them that they were to leave the tower in order of age, with the eldest descending first. The giant eagle carried each from the tower.
He took me first, although yet a child, since, in truth, I was the oldest of them all.
He took the youngest first and he brought out the most aged elder last, since whoever was younger was indeed the older, in that the youngest could remember the 195 earliest memory.
The elder with the most years was, in fact, the youngest of them all.
The giant eagle then spoke again: I shall explain the recollections you have told.
The one who recounted that he remembers when the apple was snipped from the branch meant to say that he remembers when they cut his umbilical cord at the very moment of his birth.
The second, who said that he remembers how the candle was burning, was referring to the time he was in utero and a candle was above his head.
That is the candle that, as our Talmudic sages of old described, illumines the head of the foetus to allow it to see in the womb’s darkness.
He who said he recalls how the fruit started to form meant he remembers how his body began to take shape, when the embryo was forming.
And he who remembers when the seed was brought to be sown to grow the fruit remembers how the sperm was drawn to the egg.
The one who remembers the wise ones who produced the seed is referring to when the sperm was still in the marrow.
He who remembers the fruit’s flavour means the vital lifeforce; and the fragrance is the spirit; and the appearance is the soul.
As for the child who said he remembers not a thing, his memory is the utmost: he remembers what was there before the force of life, the spirit and the soul.
That is why he said he does not remember a thing, for he can recall when there was nothing.
He remembers everything that was happening then, and this surpasses all.
The giant eagle then told them: Go back to your ships, for they are your broken bodies and they should be rebuilt. Return to them now!, and he gave them his blessing. 196
Then he turned to me, the blind beggar continued, and said: You, come with me, for you are like me—as you are both very old and still young. You have hardly begun to live and you are already very old. I am like that, too.
Thus, I had it on the good authority of the giant eagle that I am both very old and yet quite young. Now I grant you these words as a simple gift, that you may be as old as I am.
And there was great celebration and rejoicing. And they were very merry.
On the second day of the seven days of the wedding feast, the bride and groom once again were given to reminiscing and this time they recalled the second beggar, who was deaf and who had sustained them and given them bread. They wept longingly, Where can we find that deaf beggar who sustained us?
Just as they were longing for him, he entered and said: I am here.
He fell upon them and kissed them. And he said to them, Now I shall present you with my gift.
May you be like me; may you live the good life as I have.
While that is how I blessed you before, now I present you my good life by the simple gift of my words.
You think me deaf, but I am not deaf. Nothing in the world is worth hearing since it is all lacking.
All the sounds of the world are simply deficient.
Everyone bemoans what he lacks. So even the world’s joys are nothing more than imperfections, as one delights over that which had once been lacking but which one lacks no more.
Nothing in this world is worth hearing that I should hear its deficiencies, because I am living the good life free of imperfection.
I have it on good authority of the Land of Riches that I am living the good life. 197
His good life consisted of eating bread and drinking water.
He recounted:
There is a land in which the people have much treasure and live in great prosperity.
Once, the rich all gathered and each one began boasting about the good life he was living.
And each one described the details of his good life.
Then I spoke up and told them, I am living a better life than you.
So look here: if you are living such a good life, then go help out this country I know.
For there is a country that once had a garden.
And in the garden were fruits with every flavour and every fragrance found anywhere in the world.
And in the garden could be found a dazzling array of colours, and all the world’s flowers were there in the garden.
Overseeing the garden was a gardener, and the country lived the good life because of his gardening.
But then the gardener went missing. Unsurprisingly, everything in the garden went to rack and ruin without a gardener to look after it and busy himself with its needs.
Even so, they were still able to live off the aftergrowth of the garden.
Then there arose a new king over the country who was cruel but feckless.
So he went and made a ruin of the good life they derived from the garden.
It was not he himself who spoilt the garden, rather it was on account of his entrusting the country to three squads of henchmen, who he told to do as he ordered.
To carry out the king’s orders, they ruined the people’s sense of taste.
Because of what they did, whoever wished to taste something tasted only rotten flesh.
And thus they spoilt the people’s 198 sense of smell, so that every fragrance reeked only of turpentine.
And they ruined the people’s vision and made it so they saw only darkness, as if everything were beclouded.
Now, if you are living such a good life, then go help out this country. And I am telling you that if you do not help them, their ruin will be your lot as well.
The wealthy men rose and set off for that country, and I went with them, continued the beggar.
On the way, each of them lived the good life of his, given that they had their treasures.
As they neared the country, they, too, began to feel the spoil.
First their sense of taste and then all their other senses began to sour.
So I said to them, If your sense of taste, sight and smell have spoilt now, before you have even set foot in the country, how will it be once you have entered it?
And moreover, how will you be able to help them?
So I took my bread and my water and I gave it to them. And in my bread and water they perceived all the flavours and smells, and everything that had been spoilt was set right.