The Madman | Page 3

lot."
But the older hermit said again, "I will have but justice and mine own,

and I will not trust justice and mine own to vain chance. The bowl must
be divided."
Then the younger hermit could reason no further and he said, "If it be
indeed thy will, and if even so thou wouldst have it let us now break the
bowl."
But the face of the older hermit grew exceedingly dark, and he cried,
"O thou cursed coward, thou wouldst not fight."
On Giving and Taking
Once there lived a man who had a valley-full of needles. And one day
the mother of Jesus came to him and said: "Friend, my son's garment is
torn and I must needs mend it before he goeth to the temple. Wouldst
thou not give me a needle?"
And he gave her not a needle, but he gave her a learned discourse on
Giving and Taking to carry to her son before he should go to the
temple.
The Seven Selves
In the stillest hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat
together and thus conversed in whisper:
First Self: Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with
naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night.
I can bear my fate no longer, and now I rebel.
Second Self: Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given to
me to be this madman's joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his
happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts.
It is I that would rebel against my weary existence.
Third Self: And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of
wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would
rebel against this madman.

Fourth Self: I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was
given me but odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the
tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would
protest against serving this madman.
Fifth Self: Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the fanciful self, the self of
hunger and thirst, the one doomed to wander without rest in search of
unknown things and things not yet created; it is I, not you, who would
rebel.
Sixth Self: And I, the working self, the pitiful labourer, who, with
patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days into images and give
the formless elements new and eternal forms--it is I, the solitary one,
who would rebel against this restless madman.
Seventh Self: How strange that you all would rebel against this man,
because each and every one of you has a preordained fate to fulfill. Ah!
could I but be like one of you, a self with a determined lot! But I have
none, I am the do-nothing self, the one who sits in the dumb, empty
nowhere and nowhen, while you are busy re-creating life. Is it you or I,
neighbours, who should rebel?
When the seventh self thus spake the other six selves looked with pity
upon him but said nothing more; and as the night grew deeper one after
the other went to sleep enfolded with a new and happy submission.
But the seventh self remained watching and gazing at nothingness,
which is behind all things.
War
One night a feat was held in the palace, and there came a man and
prostrated himself before the prince, and all the feasters looked upon
him; and they saw that one of his eyes was out and that the empty
socket bled. And the prince inquired of him, "What has befallen you?"
And the man replied, "O prince, I am by profession a thief, and this
night, because there was no moon, I went to rob the money-changer's
shop, and as I climbed in through the window I made a mistake and

entered the weaver's shop, and in the dark I ran into the weaver's loom
and my eye was plucked out. And now, O prince, I ask for justice upon
the weaver."
Then the prince sent for the weaver and he came, and it was decreed
that one of his eyes should be plucked out.
"O prince," said the weaver, "the decree is just. It is right that one of
my eyes be taken. And yet, alas! both are necessary to me in order that
I may see the two sides of the cloth that I weave. But I have a
neighbour, a cobbler, who has also two eyes, and in his trade both eyes
are not necessary."
Then the prince sent for the cobbler. And he came. And they took out
one of the cobbler's two eyes.
And justice was