Gibran Stories Omnibus

singing and shouting together.
      The host and his wife stood in the tavern door and looked after
them.
      “Ah!” said the wife, “these gentlemen! So freehanded and so gay! If
only they could bring us such luck every day! Then our son need not be
a tavern-keeper and work so hard. We could educate him, and he could
become a priest.”

THE NEW PLEASURE
         
      Last night I invented a new pleasure, and as I was giving it the
first trial an angel and a devil came rushing toward my house. They met
at my door and fought with each other over my newly created pleasure;
the one crying, “It is a sin!”-the other, “It is a virtue!”

THE OTHER LANGUAGE
         
      Three days after I was born, as I lay in my silken cradle, gazing
with astonished dismay on the new world round about me, my mother spoke
to the wet-nurse, saying, “How does my child?”
      And the wet-nurse answered, “He does well, Madame, I have fed him
three times; and never before have I seen a babe so young yet so gay.”
      And I was indignant; and I cried, “It is not true, mother; for my
bed is hard, and the milk I have sucked is bitter to my mouth, and the
odour of the breast is foul in my nostrils, and I am most miserable.”
      But my mother did not understand, nor did the nurse; for the
language I spoke was that of the world from which I came.
      And on the twenty-first day of my life, as I was being christened,
the priest said to my mother, “You should indeed by happy, Madame, that
your son was born a Christian.”
      And I was surprised,-and I said to the priest, “Then your mother in
Heaven should be unhappy, for you were not born a Christian.”
      But the priest too did not understand my language.
      And after seven moons, one day a soothsayer looked at me, and he
said to my mother, “Your son will be a statesman and a great leader of
men.”
      But I cried out,-"That is a false prophet; for I shall be a
musician, and naught but a musician shall I be.”
      But even at that age my language was not understood-and great was my
astonishment.
      And after three and thirty years, during which my mother, and the
nurse, and the priest have all died, (the shadow of God be upon their
spirits) the soothsayer still lives. And yesterday I met him near the
gates of the temple; and while we were talking together he said, “I
have always known you would become a great musician. Even in your
infancy I prophesied and foretold your future.”
      And I believed him-for now I too have forgotten the language of that
other world.

THE POMEGRANATE
         
      Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate, I heard a seed
saying, “Someday I shall become a tree, and the wind will sing in my
branches, and the sun will dance on my leaves, and I shall be strong
and beautiful through all the seasons.”
      Then another seed spoke and said, “When I was as young as you, I too
held such views; but now that I can weigh and measure things, I see
that my hopes were vain.”
      And a third seed spoke also, “I see in us nothing that promises so
great a future.”
      And a fourth said, “But what a mockery our life would be, without a
greater future!”
      Said a fifth, “Why dispute what we shall be, when we know not even
what we are.”
      But a sixth replied, “Whatever we are, that we shall continue to
be.”
      And a seventh said, “I have such a clear idea how everything will
be, but I cannot put it into words.”
      Then an eight spoke-and a ninth-and a tenth-and then many-until all
were speaking, and I could distinguish nothing for the many voices.
      And so I moved that very day into the heart of a quince, where the
seeds are few and almost silent.

THE TWO CAGES
         
      In my father's garden there are two cages. In one is a lion, which
my father's slaves brought from the desert of Ninavah; in the other is
a songless sparrow.
      Every day at dawn the sparrow calls to the lion, “Good morrow to
thee, brother prisoner.”

THE THREE ANTS
         
      Three ants met on the nose of a man who was asleep in the sun. And
after they had saluted one another, each according to the custom of his
tribe, they stood there conversing.
      The first ant said, “These hills