The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [31]
5. But the first beggar was truly hungry. The second beggar said to him, ‘I do not want this fowl; you may have it for the coins you have begged today.’
6. The first beggar said, ‘The coins here are not many, and nowhere near the price of a cooked chicken.’
7. But the second said, ‘You can have it anyway.’ So they exchanged, and the second beggar went home.
8. The first beggar was of course vastly the gainer, finding as he satisfied his hunger the money hidden inside the chicken’s carcase.
9. The next day the same thing happened; and again the first beggar found that he was vastly the gainer,
10. Even though he tried to tell the second beggar what a mistake he was making in selling the king’s gift so cheaply.
11. For the second beggar did not wish to listen to one whom he thought a fool for giving away all his begged coins for a mere chicken.
12. As a result of this good fortune the first beggar had enough money to open a little shop on the street corner.
13. But again the second beggar came, crying out, ‘Give alms to bring luck to the king and his kingdom!’
14. When the king heard the beggar cry out in this way for the third time, he grew impatient. ‘I have given that beggar enough to start a little business of his own,’ he said. ‘Why does he continue to beg outside my palace windows?’
15. So he sent his servants to bring the beggar in, that he might question him. ‘After all I have given you, why do you still beg in the street outside my windows?’ asked the king. ‘Are you so greedy that you cannot be satisfied with what is sent to you?’
16. And the second beggar said, ‘But all I have had is the fowls you gave me, which, not requiring food, I sold for a few pennies to the other beggar who cried in the street with me.’
17. At this the king marvelled, and said, ‘The person who gained was one who asked us to think of the less fortunate;
18. ‘The one who sought only to flatter me did not understand his good fortune.
19. ‘Thus, justice has been done in how matters have here worked out.’
Chapter 21
1. The king of the City of Stones once disputed with his chamberlain whether more kindness was to be found among poor people than among the rich.
2. The chamberlain maintained that only those who are well-to-do show kindness and charity, because only they can afford it.
3. The king, not persuaded by this, summoned a scribe to write down the arguments he and the chamberlain had put forward, and then to lay up the document in a box.
4. After the chamberlain had departed, the king asked the scribe to accompany him in disguise around the kingdom, to see for themselves which of the king or chamberlain was right.
5. They walked in the darkness for a long time before seeing a distant light, which they discovered came from a poor goatherd’s hut. There they knocked on the door, and were welcomed by the goatherd and his family, and offered bread and fruit.
6. The disguised king said, ‘We are wayfarers who have taken a vow to eat only kidneys on our journey.’
7. Immediately the goatherd went and slaughtered all four of his goats, and removed their kidneys, so that he had something to offer his guests.
8. The disguised king said, ‘Our vow also precludes us from eating before midnight; so we must travel on.’
9. So the goatherd lit them to their path with the only lantern in his hut, leaving his wife and daughters for a time in darkness.
10. The king and scribe then made their way to the mansion of the chamberlain, who had grown wealthy in the king’s service;
11. And they found the chamberlain entertaining lavishly, with many guests and much food and wine burdening great tables in his hall.
12. The king and the scribe knocked at the door, and asked if they could have a little food and something to drink.
13. Hearing this the chamberlain strode to the door where they stood and said, ‘Off with you beggars! If you do not leave my premises immediately I will have you whipped and beaten. How dare you trouble your betters!’
14. The next day the king sent his courtiers to bring the goatherd and his family