Soft, the Weaver

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 labors, 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 dear. 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, efFordess, 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, ‘Twas fate that blocked his efforts, not

The man who was to blame.

I must go to another country.” So he went to Grow- ing 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 blessed 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 Grow- ing 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 oflF 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 per- son 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-bom.

And again:

Is honored by the world For charity forlorn.

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

In a certain town lived a bull named Hang-Ball. From excess of male vigor he abandoned the herd, tore the river-banks with his horns, browsed at will on emerald-tipped grasses, and went wild in the forest.

In that forest lived a jackal named Greedy. One day he sprawled at ease with his wife on a sandy river- bank. At that moment the bull Hang-Ball came down to the same stretch of sand for a drink. And the she- jackal said to her husband when she saw the hanging testicles: “Look, my dear! See how two lumps of flesh hang from that bull. They will fall in a moment, or a few hours at most. So you must follow him, please.”

“My dear,” said the jackal, “nobody knows. Per- haps they will fall some day, perhaps not. Why send me on a fool’s errand.? I would rather stay here with you and eat the mice that come to water. They follow this trail. And if I should follow him, somebody else

would come here and occupy the spot. Better not do it. You know the proverb:

If any leave a certain thing. For things uncertain wandering, The sure that was, is sure no more; What is not sure, was lost before.”

“Come,” said she, “you are a coward, satisfied with any little thing. You are quite wrong. We al- ways ought to be energetic, a man especially. There is a saying:

Depend on energetic might. And banish indolence’s blight. Let enterprise and prudence kiss - All luck is yours - it cannot miss.

And again:

Let none, content with fate’s negation,

Sink into lazy self-prostration:

No oil of sesame, unless

The seeds of sesame you press.

“And as for your saying: ‘Perhaps they will fall, perhaps not,’ that, too, is wrong. Remember the proverb:

Mere bulk is naught. The resolute

Have honor sure: God brings the plover water. Who

Dare call him poor?

“Besides, I am dreadfully tired of mouse-flesh, and these two lumps of meat are plainly on the point of falling. You must not refuse me.”

So when he had listened to this, he left the spot

where mice were to be caught and followed Hang- Ball. Well, there is wisdom in the saying:

Only while he does not hear Woman’s whisper in his ear, Goading him against his will. Is a man his master still.

And again:

In action, should-not is as should.

In motion, cannot is as can, In eating, ought-not is as ought.

When woman’s whispers drive a man.

So he spent much time wandering with his wife

after the bull. But they did not fall. At last in the

fifteenth year, in utter gloom he said to his wife:

“Loose they are, yet tight; Fall, or stick, my dear? I have watched them now Till the fifteenth year.

Let us draw the conclusion that they will not fall in the future either, and return to the old mouse-trail.”

“And that is why I say:

Loose they are, yet tight, … and the rest of it.

“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 ex- pense 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 acquisi- tion 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 honor, 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 to- gether. 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 police- man came with money, a favor 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 learnM tomes; Wives fructify in joy and son; And money’s fruit is gifts and fun.

“So may the blessed 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, …

and the rest of it. Therefore, my dear friend Gold, recognize the facts and feel no uneasiness in the de- partment of finance. You know the proverb:

A lofty soul, in days of power. Is tender as a lotus-flower; But, meeting misadventure’s shock. Grows hard as Himalayan rock.

And again:

The goal desiderating powers at strain, Is reached by listless sleepers with no pain: Though panting life go struggling ceaselessly, The to-be is, is not the not-to-be.

And once again:

Why think and think without relief? Why weight the mind with aimless grief? All finds fulfilment, soon or late, If written on the brow by fate.

Or put it this way:

From distant island, central sea.

Or far horizon’s brink. Fate brings and links its wilful whims.

Before a man can wink.

Or this way:

Fate links the unlinked, unlinks links; It links the things that no man thinks.

All life, unwilling, faces its

Unbidden doom - Some ill, no doubt, but blessings, too -

Why sink in gloom?

And yet again:

Courageous, cultivated minds

Their fate would supervise; But linked causation masters them.

And makes it otherwise.

And He who made the parrots green, But made the king-swans white.

And peacocks particolored. He Will order us aright.

There is great wisdom in the old story:

Within a basket tucked away In slow starvation’s grim decay, A broken-hearted serpent lay.

But see the cheerful mouse that gnaws

A hole, and tumbles in his jaws

At night - new hope’s unbidden cause!

Now see the serpent, sleek with meat. Who hastens through the )\o\i, to beat From quarters cramped, a glad retreat!

So fuss and worry will not do;

For fate is somehow muddling through

To good or bad for me and you.

“Adopt this point of view, and give some atten- tion to ultimate salvation. There is a verse about that, too:

Let some small rite - vow, fasting, self-control - Be daily pracdced with a quiet soul; For fate chips daily from our days to be, Though panting life go struggling ceaselessly.

“This being so, contentment is always wise:

Gjntentment’s nectar-draught supphes The quiet joy that satisfies; How can the money-maddened know That joy in bustlings to and fro?

And once again:

No penance like forbearance;

No pleasure like content; No friend like gifts; no virtue

Like hearts on mercy bent.

• “But why bore you with a sermon? In this place you are at home. Pray divest yourself of disturbing worries, and spend your time in friendship with me.” Now when Swift had listened to these observations of Slow, set off as they were with the inner truth of numerous authoritative works, his face blossomed, his heart was satisfied, and he said: “Slow, my dear fellow, you are good. Your virtue is something to rely on. For in the act of offering this comfort to Gold, you have brought perfect satisfaction to my heart. As the proverb puts it:

They taste the best of bliss, are good.

And find life’s truest ends. Who, glad and gladdening, rejoice

In love, with loving friends.

And again:

The richest man is penniless, A living naught, a vain distress, If greed, true wealth destroying, bends His soul to lack the charm of friends.

“Now by means of this first-class advice you have rescued our poor friend, sunk in the sea of wretched- ness. After all, it is quite in the nature of things:

The good forever save the good.

When dull misfortunes clog: For only elephants can drag

Their comrades from the bog.

And again:

No man deserves the praise of men, Nor meets the vow of virtue, when

The poor or suppliant from him go Averted, sunk in hopeless woe.

Yes, there is wisdom in this:

What manhood is there, making not

The sad, secure? What wealth is that, availing not

To aid the poor? What sort of act, performed without

Good consequence? What kind of life, that glory feels

To be offense?”

While they were conversing thus, a deer named Spot arrived, panting with thirst and quivering for fear of hunters’ arrows. On seeing him approach. Swift flew into a tree, Gold crept into a grass-clump, and Slow sought an asylum in the water. But Spot stood near the bank, trembling for his safety.

Then Swift flew into the air, inspected the terrain for the distance of a league, then settled on his tree again, and called to Slow: “Slow, my dear fellow, come out, come out! No evil threatens you here. I have inspected the forest minutely. There is only this deer who has come to the lake for water.” Thereupon all three gathered as before.

Then, out of friendly feeling toward a guest. Slow said to the deer: “My good fellow, drink and bathe. Our water is of excellent quality, and cool.” And Spot thought, after meditating on this invitation: “Not the slightest danger threatens me from these. And

this because a turtie has no capacity for mischief when out of water, while mouse and crow feed only on what is dead. So I will make one of their com- pany.” And he joined them.

Then Slow bade him welcome and did the honors, saying: “I trust your circumstances are happy. Pray tell us how you happened into this neck of the woods.” And Spot replied: “I am weary of a life without love. I have been hard pressed on every side by mounted grooms and dogs and hunters. But fear lent speed, I left them all behind, and came here to drink. Now I am desirous of your friendship.”

Upon hearing this. Slow said: “We are little of body. It is unnatural for you to make friends with us. One should make friends with those capable of re- turning favors.” But Spot rejoined:

“Better with the learnM dwell, Even though it be in hell Than with vulgar spirits roam Palaces that gods call home.

“And since you know that one little of body may be of no little consequence, why these self-deprecia- tory remarks.? Yet after all, such speech is becoming to the excellent. I therefore insist that you make friends with me today. There is a good old saying:

Make friends, make friends, however strong

Or weak they be: Recall the captive elephants

That mice set free.”

“How was that?” asked Slow. And Spot told the story of

THE MICE THAT SET ELEPHANTS FREE