The Good Book (9 page)

23. The king granted her request, sparing the erring couple’s lives but banishing them from the kingdom for ever.

24. Then the peasant’s daughter gestured towards the sage and said, ‘For my second request, I would have this man for my husband, if he will take me,

25. ‘Because wisdom is the fountain of all good things, and is worthy of love itself; and this man is wise.’

26. Now because the sage had heard the peasant’s daughter interpret all his sayings, he had loved her from that moment;

27. So he said to the king, ‘And I would marry her for the same reason; for she is wise, and worthy of love in herself.’

28. So the peasant’s daughter and the sage were married, and between them raised many wise children, and gave the king counsel whenever he asked.

Chapter 8

  1. Charicles was pleased with this story, and thanked the stranger for telling it; and he began to think the stranger was good after all, to honour wisdom with a tale such as this.

  2. ‘You have carried me,’ he said, ‘with an instructive story, and made the journey light.’ It was nightfall, and they were approaching a city, hoping to find an inn.

  3. When Charicles recognised the city they were entering, he wept, and said, ‘Here in this place lived one who was a dear friend of mine;

  4. ‘He died some years ago, but not so many years that my eyes can help filling when I think of him.

  5. ‘His name was Adasnes. He was a judge, and a good man. I will tell you a story to illustrate his cleverness.’ And Charicles told the following tale.

  6. A man once came to Adasnes in distress. His only daughter was betrothed to a young man, who with his father had visited the bride’s house on the eve of the wedding to see her trousseau and the gifts that had been made ready there.

  7. They had come accompanied by a musician who lived nearby, and who played his harp as they sat and enjoyed the rich things made ready for the wedding,

  8. And other guests and visitors came too, who wished to salute the engaged couple, and wish them well for the next day.

  9. The gathering made merry until midnight, and then departed, leaving the bride and her family to sleep.

10. When the bride and all the household rose the next morning, they found that the trousseau and all the gifts had been stolen.

11. The bride and her family were in despair, for every last penny of what they owned had been lavished on the trousseau and gifts.

12. When Judge Adasnes heard this report he went back with the bride’s father to the house to inspect the scene of the robbery.

13. He saw that the walls of the garden in which the house stood were too high to scale.

14. He saw that there was only one possible place of entry, a crevice in the wall where an orange tree grew, covered with a thorny creeper that guarded the crevice like a fence.

15. Adasnes summoned the bridegroom, and the neighbours, and the servants in the neighbours’ houses, and all who had been at the celebration that previous night;

16. All the menfolk who had been at the celebration he gathered, and instructed them to roll up the sleeves of their shirts to the elbow, and their trousers to the knee.

17. When they had all done so Adasnes pointed at the musician, and at his servant. ‘Arrest these men,’ he said, ‘for they are the thieves.’

18. On the arms and legs of the musician and his servant were scratches from the thorny creeper round the orange tree, each like a message of guilt to the judge’s eye.

19. Seeing that he was caught, the musician’s servant fell to his knees and confessed to the crime that he and his master had committed.

20. Adasnes said, ‘The greater crime is committed by he who leads another into crime. A mitigation of punishment is owed to him who confesses freely, and is repentant.’

21. They searched the musician’s house and found all the stolen goods, which were safely restored to the bride in time for the wedding.

22. Adasnes exiled the musician’s servant, but sent the musician to prison, without his harp so that he could not charm the guards with music to let him free.

23. ‘Such was the wisdom of my friend Adasnes the judge,’ said Charicles, and he brushed a tear from his eye.

Chapter 9

  1. ‘Tell me more of the judge’s wisdom,’ the stranger asked, ‘because tales of wisdom, along with tales of courage and kindness, are among our best guides in life.’

  2. ‘Then I will tell you how Adasnes judged the case of the necklace and the nobleman,’ Charicles replied, and recounted as follows.

  3. There was once a broker of this city, a man of tried honesty, who was entrusted with the care of a beautiful and very valuable necklace,

  4. Whose owner asked him to sell it for five hundred pieces of gold. A nobleman holding high office under the king came to the broker’s shop,

  5. Saw the necklace, admired it, and coveted it; and offered three hundred gold pieces for it.

  6. The broker told him that the owner required five hundred gold pieces, and would accept nothing less.

  7. ‘Come with me to my house,’ the nobleman said. ‘Bring the necklace to show my wife, and I will consider the price.’

  8. The broker went with the nobleman to his house, and waited at the gate when the latter went indoors.

  9. There he waited until dusk, and then long into the night; but no one came out to him, or answered his ringing on the bell.

10. After a sleepless and troubled night he went back to the nobleman’s mansion and rang the bell.

11. This time he was admitted. ‘Buy the necklace for the price asked,’ he said to the nobleman, ‘or return the necklace to me.’

12. ‘What necklace?’ asked the nobleman, feigning surprise before those who stood about them in the reception hall. ‘I know of no necklace. You are trying to trick me; leave at once.’

13. So the broker went to Adasnes the judge, and laid the case before him. Adasnes sent for the nobleman, and when he had arrived, he instructed him to remove one of his shoes, and then to wait in another room.

14. Adasnes gave the shoe to the nobleman’s servant, who had been standing outside, and said, ‘Take this to your master’s wife, and say, My master asks for the necklace he brought home to you yesterday, so that he can show off its beauty to his friends.’

15. The servant went, and the nobleman’s wife, seeing the shoe and therefore confident that the message was from her husband, gave the necklace to the servant.

16. In this way the theft was proved, the necklace restored to the honest broker, and the nobleman punished for his crime.

Chapter 10

  1. ‘Worthy judge,’ said the stranger, ‘who makes the truth come to light. This comes about by understanding the nature of men.’

  2. ‘True,’ Charicles said, ‘and nothing shows this better than the story of how Judge Adasnes dealt with a certain servant and a rich man’s son. The story is as follows.’

  3. There was a very wealthy merchant of this city, who had an only son. The son said to his father one day, ‘Father, send me on a voyage, that I might learn to trade, to see foreign lands, and to talk with men of wisdom, and learn from my experiences.’

  4. Pleased with this request, the father bought a full-bottomed ship, filled it with quality goods, and sent his son abroad with steady companions and sound words of advice.

  5. He himself remained at home with his servant, whom he trusted and who held the second place in his affection after his son.

  6. Some years after the son had gone abroad, with only rare messages to tell of his wanderings, the merchant was seized at the heart, and died before he had directed how his property was to be divided.

  7. The servant, by now passing himself off as the merchant’s son, took possession of everything, and lived thereafter as a wealthy man.

  8. Ten years passed, and the real son returned, his ship freighted with wealth many times greater than his father had given him on departing.

  9. But before the ship had weathered the treacherous cape beyond which the harbour’s mouth lay, a sudden storm blew up,

10. And drove the ship onto the rocks, where it foundered, and everything was lost, goods and lives all, except for the son himself,

11. Who struggled ashore, with nothing but the wet rags in which he had escaped death.

12. He went to his father’s house, and entered; but the servant drove him away with harsh words, denying his identity, and calling him a beggar and imposter;

13. Though in truth the servant knew who he was, but he had no intention to share the old merchant’s wealth with anyone; and was determined to claim himself the merchant’s son.

14. The real son went to Adasnes the judge to lay his case before him. Adasnes said, ‘Bring the merchant’s heir before me too, who also says he is the son,’ and the servant was summoned.

15. Then Adasnes said, ‘Go to the merchant’s grave, and dig up the bones; and bring them here to be burnt, as a posthumous punishment for making no will, and leaving his property to be a cause of strife.’

16. The servant immediately rose in obedience to go to the grave, there to dig up the bones for burning;

17. But the son also immediately rose and petitioned Adasnes, saying, ‘Let this servant keep everything; I would not disturb my father’s bones, or have him punished even in death.’

18. ‘This proves that you are the true son,’ said Adasnes the judge. ‘Let all be restored to you, and take this man as your slave.’

Chapter 11

  1. After their long journey, and these tales, Charicles and the stranger were weary, and slept; but they were woken early by the noise of the city, and decided to go on their way before the sun grew hot.

  2. As they rode their asses along the main street, the stranger said, ‘You can ask me anything, for I know the half of all knowledge.’

  3. ‘The half of all knowledge? I cannot believe that,’ said Charicles with a laugh. ‘Who can know the half of all knowledge?’

  4. ‘But I do know it,’ insisted the stranger; ‘I know the half of all knowledge in the world. Test me.’

  5. So Charicles asked the stranger what he knew of medicine, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

  6. And Charicles asked him what he knew of mathematics, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

  7. And Charicles asked him what he knew of astronomy, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

  8. And Charicles asked him what he knew of philosophy, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

  9. And Charicles asked him what he knew of history, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

10. And Charicles asked him what he knew of literature, and the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

11. And Charicles asked him what he knew of this subject and that, and every time the stranger said, ‘Nothing.’

12. Eventually Charicles said, ‘How can you claim to know the half of all knowledge, which is something not even the wisest man would claim?

13. ‘For it is clear that when I ask you on any subject we study in the schools, you know nothing at all.’

14. To which the stranger replied, ‘Exactly so; for Aristotle says, “He who says, I do not know, has already attained the half of all knowledge.”’

Chapter 12

  1. ‘And yet,’ said the stranger, ‘if only you will consider the questions you asked to test my knowledge, and what answers any man could give.

  2. ‘He could answer that he knows medicine, because he can say that if a man is buried, he was formerly ill or had an accident;

  3. ‘He knows astronomy, for he can tell that it is day when the sun shines, and night when he sees stars;

  4. ‘He knows arithmetic, because he can ask for a second pot of beer to follow the first;

  5. ‘He knows measurement, because he can tell whether his belly has grown bigger with feeding;

  6. ‘He knows music, for he can tell the difference between the barking of a dog and the braying of an ass.

  7. ‘What is the worth of mere words, if their true meanings make no difference to what a man does?

  8. ‘In my land, to which I am taking you, though you feared to come with me, every stone has a story to tell of times past, and in every garden the roses bloom.

  9. ‘The city sits on a hill, on whose slopes the vineyards flourish, and it overlooks a valley, where the vegetable plots are full of ripeness, and a river flows with clear waters.

10. ‘On the walls of our city, so pleasant and in a land so fruitful, we have inscribed the teachings of our sages.

11. ‘On the walls by the great gates we have placed the teachings of Tibon, who wrote to his son,

12. ‘“Plant your garden of flowers and herbs by the river; but let your bookshelves also be gardens and pleasure grounds;

13. ‘“Pluck the fruit that grows there, gather the spices and myrrh. If your heart grows weary, go from garden to garden of your bookshelves,

14. ‘“From flower bed to flower bed, scene to scene; and refresh yourself;