Gibran Stories Omnibus

 
     

THE SAINT
         
      In my youth I once visited a saint in his silent grove beyond the
hills; and as we were conversing upon the nature of virtue a brigand
came limping wearily up the ridge. When he reached the grove he knelt
down before the saint and said, “O saint, I would be comforted! My sins
are heavy upon me.”
      And the saint replied, “My sins, too, are heavy upon me.”
      And the brigand said, “But I am a thief and a plunderer.”
      And the saint replied, “I too am a thief and a plunderer.”
      And the brigand said, “But I am a murderer, and the blood of many
men cries in my ears.”
      And the saint replied, “ I am a murderer, and in my ears cries the
blood of many men.”
      And the brigand said, “I have committed countless crimes.”
      And the saint replied, “I too have committed crimes without number.”
      Then the brigand stood up and gazed at the saint, and there was a
strange look in his eyes. And when he left us he went skipping down the
hill.
      And I turned to the saint and said, “Wherefore did you accuse
yourself of uncommitted crimes? See you not this man went away no
longer believing in you?”
      And the saint answered, “It is true he no longer believes in me. But
he went away much comforted.”
      At that moment we heard the brigand singing in the distance, and the
echo of his song filled the valley with gladness.
       
     

THE PLUTOCRAT
         
      In my wanderings I once saw upon an island a man-headed, iron-hoofed
monster who ate of the earth and drank of the sea incessantly. And for
a long while I watched him. Then I approached him and said, “Have you
never enough; is your hunger never satisfied and your thirst never
quenched?”
      And he answered saying, “Yes, I am satisfied, nay, I am weary of
eating and drinking; but I am afraid that tomorrow there will be no
more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.”
       
     

THE GREATER SELF
         
      This came to pass. After the coronation of Nufsibaal King of Byblus,
he retired to his bed-chamber —the very room which the three
hermit-magicians of the mountains had built for him. He took off his
crown and his royal raiment, and stood in the centre of the room
thinking of himself, now the all-powerful ruler of Byblus.
      Suddenly he turned; and he saw stepping out of the silver mirror
which his mother had given him, a naked man.
      The king was startled, and he cried out to the man, “What would
you?”
      And the naked man answered, “Naught but this: Why have they crowned
you king?”
      And the king answered, “Because I am the noblest man in the land.”
      Then the naked man said, “If you were still more noble, you would
not be king.”
      And the king said, “Because I am the mightiest man in the land they
crowned me.”
      And the naked man said, “If you were mightier yet, you would not be
king.”
      Then the king said, “Because I am the wisest man they crowned me
king.”
      And the naked man said, “If you were still wiser you would not
choose to be king.”
      Then the king fell to the floor and wept bitterly.
      The naked man looked down upon him. Then he took up the crown and
with tenderness replaced it upon the king's bent head.
      And the naked man, gazing lovingly upon the king, entered into the
mirror.
      And the king roused, and straightway he looked into the mirror. And
he saw there but himself crowned.
       
     

WAR AND THE SMALL NATIONS
         
      Once, high above a pasture, where a sheep and a lamb were grazing,
an eagle was circling and gazing hungrily down upon the lamb. And as he
was about to descend and seize his prey, another eagle appeared and
hovered above the sheep and her young with the same hungry intent. Then
the two rivals began to fight, filling the sky with their fierce cries.
      The sheep looked up and was much astonished. She turned to the lamb
and said:
      “How strange, my child, that these two noble birds should attack one
another. Is not the vast sky large enough for both of them? Pray, my
little one, pray in your heart that God may make peace between your
winged brothers.”
      And the lamb