Soft the Weaver
[This story is inserted into The Winning of Friends.]
In a certain town lived a weaver. His name was Soft, and he spent his time making garments dyed in various patterns, fit for such people as princes. But for all his labours, he could not collect a bit of money beyond food and clothes. Yet he saw other weavers, who made coarse fabrics, rolling in wealth, and he said to his wife: "Look at these fellows, my dean They make coarse stuff, but they earn heaps of money. This city does not offer me a decent living. I am going to move."
"Oh, my dear," said his wife, "it is a mistake to say that money comes to those who travel. There is a proverb:
What shall not be, will never be;
What shall be, follows painlessly:
The thing your fingers grasp, will flit,
If fate has predetermined it.
And again:
A calf can find its mother cow
Among a thousand kine:
So good or evil done, returns
And whispers: 'I am thine."
And once again:
As shade and sunlight interbreed,
So twined are Doer and his Deed.
So stay here and mind your business."
"You are mistaken, my dear, said he. "No deed comes to fruition without effort. There is a proverb:
You cannot clap a single hand;
Nor, effortless, do what you planned.
And again:
Although, at meal-time, fate provide
A richly loaded plate,
No food will reach the mouth, unless
The hand co-operate.
And once again:
Through work, not wishes, every plan
Its full fruition reaps:
No deer walk down the lion's throat
So long as lion sleeps.
And one last quotation:
Suppose he gave the best he had,
Yet no fruition came,
It was fate that blocked his efforts, not
The man who was to blame.
I must go to another country." So he went to Growing City, stayed three years, and started home with savings of three hundred gold-pieces.
In mid-journey, he found himself in a great forest when the blessèd sun went to rest. So, forethoughtful for his safety, he climbed upon a stout branch of a banyan tree and dozed. In the middle of the night, as he slept, he saw two human figures whose eyes were bloodshot with fury, and heard them abusing each other.
The first of them was saying: "Come now, Doer! You know you have, in every possible way, prevented this fellow Soft from getting any capital beyond food and clothes. So you have no right ever to let him have any. Why did you give him three hundred gold pieces?"
"Now, Deed!" said the other, "I am constrained to give the enterprising a reward in proportion to their enterprise. The final consequence is your affair. Take it from him yourself." On hearing this, Soft awoke and looked for his bag of gold.
When he found it empty, he thought: "Oh, dear! It was so much trouble to earn the money, and it went in a flash. I have had my work for nothing. I haven't a thing. How can I look my wife in the face, or my friends?" So he made up his mind to return to Growing City. There he earned five hundred gold-pieces in just one single year, and started home again by a different road.
When the sun went down, he came upon the very same banyan tree, and he thought: "Oh, oh, oh! What is fate up to - damn the brute! Here is that same fiendish old banyan tree once more." But he dozed off on a branch, and saw the same two figures. One of them was saying: "Doer, why did you give this fellow Soft five hundred gold-pieces? Don't you know that he doesn't get a thing beyond food and clothes?"
"Friend Deed," said the other, "I am constrained to give to the enterprising. The final consequence is your affair. So why blame me?"
When poor Soft heard this, he looked for his bag and found it empty. This plunged him into the depths of gloom, and he thought: "Oh, dear! What good is life to me if I lose my money? I will just hang myself from this banyan tree and say goodbye to life." Having made up his mind, he wove a rope of spear-grass, adjusted it as a noose to his neck, climbed out a branch, fastened it, and was about to let himself drop, when one of the figures appeared in the sky and said: "Do not be so rash, Friend Soft. I am the person who takes your money, who does not allow you one cowrie beyond food and clothes. Now go home. But, that you may not have seen me without result, ask your heart's desire."
"In that case," said Soft, "give me plenty of money."
"My good fellow," said the other, "what will you do with money which you cannot enjoy or give away? For you are to have no use of it beyond food and clothes."
But Soft replied: "Even if I get no use of it, still I want it. You know the proverb:
The man of capital,
Though ugly and base-born,
Is honoured by the world
For charity forlorn.
And again:
Loose they are, yet tight;
Fall, or stick, my dear?
I have watched them now
Till the fifteenth year."
"How was that?" asked the figure. And Soft told the story of Hang-Ball and Greedy.*
"And that is why I say:
Loose they are, yet tight;
Fall, or stick, my dear?
I have watched them now
Till the fifteenth year."
"Now anybody as rich as that becomes an object of desire. So give me plenty of money.
"If things stand so," said the figure, "go once more to Growing City. There dwell two sons of merchants; their names are Penny-Hide and Penny-Fling. When you have observed their conduct, you may ask for yourself the nature of one or the other." With this he vanished, and Soft returned to Growing City, his mind in a maze.
At evening twilight, he wearily inquired for Penny-Hide's residence, learned with some trouble where it was, and called there. In spite of scoldings from the wife, the children, and others, he made his way into the courtyard and sat down. Then at dinner-time he received food but no kind word, and went to sleep there.
During the night he saw the same two human figures holding council. One of them was saying: "Come now, Doer! Why are you making extra expense for this fellow Penny-Hide, in providing Soft with a meal?
And the second replied: "Friend Deed, it is no fault of mine. I am constrained to attend to acquisition and expenditure. But their final consequence is your affair."
Now when the poor fellow awoke, he had to fast because Penny-Hide was in the second day of a cholera attack.
So Soft left that house and went to Penny-Fling's, who showed him much honour, greeting him cordially and providing food, garments, and the like. In his house Soft rested in a comfortable bed, and in the night he saw the same two figures taking counsel together.
One of them was saying: "Come now, Doer! This fellow Penny-Fling is at no little expense today, entertaining Soft. So how will he pay that debt? He has drawn everything from the bank."
"Friend Deed," said the second, "I had to do it. The final consequence is your affair." Now at dawn a policeman came with money, a favour from the king, and gave it all to Penny-Fling.
When he saw this, Soft thought: "This Penny-Fling person, even without any capital, is a better kind of thing than that scaly old Penny-Hide. The proverb is right:
The Scriptures' fruit is pious homes;
Right conduct, that of learnèd tomes;
Wives fructify in joy and son;
And money's fruit is gifts and fun.
"So may the blessèd Lord of All make me a person whose money goes in gifts and fun. I see no good in Penny-Hiding."
So the Lord of All took him at his word, making him that kind of person.
"And that is why I say:
Your wealth will flee,
If fate decree,
Though it was fairly earned:
So silly Soft,
When perched aloft
In that great forest, learned."
No comments:
Post a Comment