Thirteenth Tale Of Seven Beggars #3
In the land that once had a garden, the people whose senses had been spoilt began to look for a way to restore their ruined country.
They recalled that the Land of Riches was nearby, and it occurred to the now gardenless countrymen that their gardener—who had gone missing and who had once provided their good life—originally hailed from the Land of Riches, where they also lived the good life.
They got the notion to send word to the Land of Riches, for they would surely help them.
So that is what they did. They sent envoys to the Land of Riches. On the way, their envoys crossed paths with envoys from 199 the Land of Riches. The envoys asked each other, Where are you going?
They replied, We are going to the Land of Riches to seek help.
The others responded, We are from the Land of Riches, and we are on our way to you.
Then I told them, the beggar said, You are in need of me, for you cannot go there and help them lest you suffer their fate. So stay here, and I will go with the envoys to help them.
So I went with the envoys and arrived in the county.
I entered a city and saw some people coming.
One of them told a joke. Then more people showed up until a crowd had formed, and they were all telling each other jokes and laughing.
So I listened to what they were saying and it was all obscenities.
This one told a dirty joke, then that one told one that was slightly cleaner, then another laughed and another was most entertained by it, as is common.
Then I went on to another city. There I saw two people arguing over some business deal.
They went to the court to seek judgement.
The court ruled that the one was owed damages and the other was obliged to pay.
They left the court and recommenced their quarrelling.
They said they did not want to go to the same court this time but rather a different one.
So they decided on another court and brought their suit before that court.
Later on, one of them started arguing with someone else, and once again they decided to take that matter to a different court.
And in that way they kept on quarrelling, this one with that one, then another with someone else.
Each time they chose a different court until the whole city was full of courts.
The more I looked, I saw that this was because there was no truth there.
Justice was 200 being perverted for some, while favouritism distorted fairness for others.
Bribery reigned and there was no truth there.
Then I saw that they were full of debauchery, so much debauchery that it was almost as if they had been granted a special exemption from basic propriety.
I told them that was why their senses of taste, smell and vision had spoilt.
For the cruel king had given his three squads of henchmen free rein to go about ruining the country.
They went about speaking obscenities and they brought obscenity into the country.
Through obscenity their sense of taste was spoilt and everything tasted of rotten flesh.
And they introduced bribery into the country, because of which their sight was spoilt and their vision was clouded. As it is written: For bribery blindeth the eyes of the wise.
The henchmen brought debauchery into the country, because of which their sense of smell was spoilt, since debauchery spoils the sense of smell.
So, I said to them, you shall heal the country of these three sins; and you shall search for the henchmen who brought these sins into the country and banish them.
And once you have cleansed the country of these three sins, I tell you, not only shall your sense of taste, sight and smell be set right, but what is more, even the gardener who has gone missing shall be found.
Thus they did. They began cleansing the country of those three sins and searching for the henchmen. They seized person after person, asking each one, Where have you come from?, until they had caught the cruel king’s henchmen and banished them and had cleansed the country of those sins. 201
In the meantime, a commotion erupted. A madman had been wandering about saying that he was the gardener.
Maybe he really was the gardener after all?
Everyone thought he was mad, so they threw stones at him and drove him away.
But, perhaps, he really was the gardener?
So they went and fetched the man they had thought mad.
I told them, He is most certainly the gardener.
As a result, I have it on the good authority of the Land of Riches that I am living the good life because I have set things right in that country. And now I grant you these words as a simple gift, the gift of my good life.
And there was great celebration and rejoicing, and they were very merry. The first beggar had gifted them long life, and the second had gifted them the good life.
On the third day the bride and groom again wept longingly: Where can we find that third beggar, the one who was slow of speech and stammered?
Just then he entered and said, I am here.
He fell upon them and embraced them and said all that the previous beggars had said: Once it was but my wish that I blessed you that you might be like me.
But now I grant it by my words as a simple gift: may you be as I am.
You may think that I am slow of speech, but really I am not at all.
It is just that utterances of this world that are not in praise of the Supreme One are worthless.
So it only seemed that he was slow of speech and unable to talk. Rather, his speech faltered in his reluctance to utter a single word that was not in praise of Blessed God—for no such speech had any value. 202
In truth, he continued, I am not at all slow of speech.
On the contrary, I am a great orator and quite eloquent.
My poems, paeans and mysterious fables are most astonishing.
There is not a man alive who would not wish to hear my mellifluence, and I have that on the good authority of the greatest of men, the True Man of Mercy.
Once upon a time, all the sages were sitting together and each was boasting of his wisdom.
One boasted that he possessed the wisdom of iron; he knew how to extract it from the earth—and he brought that knowledge into the world.
And another boasted that he knew how to extract another metal—tin or lead.
Still another boasted that he possessed the wisdom of silver, and yet another boasted that he could bring forth gold.
One boasted that he could produce weapons of war.
One boasted that he could alloy iron with unusual substances.
And still others boasted of the unique wisdom that they possessed, for there are so many things in the world produced by wisdom—such as saltpetre and gunpowder and the like—and each bragged of his own particular wisdom.
One of those sitting among them declared, I am cleverer than all of you. I have the wisdom of a day.
No one understood what he was talking about.
He told them, Taken together, all your wisdoms would amount to no more than an hour.
Every one of your wise ways is but an amalgam, in which individual elements have been combined.
Each element has its origin on the given day that the Lord God 203 created it.
And from these minute elements come the raw materials that are wisely mixed together to create that amalgam, be it silverwork or metalware or what have you.
Nevertheless, all of your wisdoms could be wisely put together and they would still amount to no more than a single hour.
But, the sage boasted, I have the wisdom of a whole day.
I asked him, As which day?
He responded, Now this man here is even cleverer than I am since he asks me which day! Whatever day you wish, that is how clever I am.
Why, then, am I—the one who asked which day—the cleverest person present, cleverer even than the sage who has the wisdom of any day you wish? There is a whole story to that:
The True Man of Mercy is a very great man.
And I, the beggar continued, go around gathering all true mercies to deliver to him, and these mercies are the essence of time.
From the moment time itself came into being, when days and years were created by Blessed God, time has been made of mercy.
Thus I go around collecting mercies to bring to the True Man of Mercy, and from those mercies time is woven.
Now there is a mountain.
On this mountain is a rock.
From this rock flows a spring.
And every thing has a heart.
The world, too, has a heart. And the heart of the world takes on the form of a whole being, complete with a face and arms and legs. And even the little toenail of this heart is heartier than any other heart. 204
The mountain with the spring stands on one end of the world, and the world’s heart stands on the opposite end. The heart stands facing the spring. The heart keeps longing and pining for the spring, and cries out constantly in its desire to come to the spring.
The spring, likewise, longs for the heart.
The heart is doubly tormented. Firstly, it is tormented by the sun, which persistently pursues it and scorches it for longing and pining after the spring.
And secondly, the heart can never cease this longing and pining, which it continues with such an intensity that it cries out constantly to be allowed to come to the spring.
When the heart needs some relief and to catch its breath a bit, a giant bird comes and spreads its wings to protect it from the sun. Then the heart can rest a little. But even while resting, it keeps its gaze fixed on the spring opposite it.