begin their journey to the great city. All that day they travelled with
horses and camels over plains and hills, and fruitful fields and deserts,
until, just as the sun went down, they came to the walls of a great city;
and they knew that it was here they were to traffic for their king upon
the morrow.
Then the thoughtful servants began carefully to unpack their goods; they
looked into their bales of precious stuffs to see that they had got no
injury from the dust and sand of the desert; they counted over their bags
of money to see that all was right; and began to lay them all in order,
that they might enter the town as soon as the gates were open, and trade
for their king in the morning hours, which he had told them were the
best.
{The King and His Servants: p115.jpg}
But some of the other servants laughed at them for taking all this care
and trouble. "Surely it will be time enough," they said, "to get every
thing ready when the markets are open to-morrow. We have had a long,
hot, weary journey, and we must rest and refresh ourselves before we
think of trading." So they spread the tables, and began to feast in a
riotous way, quite forgetting the king's service, and putting the morrow
out of their thoughts.
Now as soon as the sun was up, in the morning, there was a great stir
amongst the servants. Those who had been careful and watchful in the
evening were ready with all their bales; and as soon as ever the city-
gates were open, they marched in through them with their goods. It was a
great wide city into which they entered, and must hold, they thought, a
vast multitude of men. Houses and streets of all sizes met their eyes
here and there; but they passed easily along, because it was still so
early in the morning, that few persons were in the streets, and those few
were all bent upon business, as they were themselves. So they passed on
to the great market where the merchants bought and sold, and here they
set out all their goods; and the merchants came round them to look over
their wares, and to shew them what they had to sell in return. Now they
found it true as the king had foretold them. For they had the first
choice of all that the merchants could offer. One of them opened his
stores, and shewed them rubies, and diamonds, and pearls, such as they
had never seen before for size and beauty. So they chose a pearl of
great price, and they bought it for their prince, and they trafficked in
their other wares, and gained for him more than as many bags of treasure
as he had given them at first. Thus they traded according to their
skill, and every one had now secured something for his lord. The pearl
of great price was stored by some; others had rich dresses adorned with
gold and precious stones; others had bags of the most refined gold;
others had the spices of Arabia and the frankincense of the islands of
the East.
One there was amongst them who seemed to have got nothing to carry home
with him; and yet he, as well as the rest, had laid out his master's
gifts. Then some of the other servants asked him, what he had stored up
for the king? and he said that he had no riches which he could shew to
them, but that he had an offering which he knew that the merciful heart
of the king would make him love and value. Then they asked him to tell
them his story; so he said that, as he was walking through the market, he
had seen a poor woman weeping and wringing her hands, as if her heart
would break: he stopped, and asked her the cause of her sorrow; and she
told him that she was a widow, and that some merchants, to whom her
husband had owed large sums of money, had come that morning to her house
and taken all that she had, and seized her children too; and that they
were dragging them away to the slave-market to sell them for slaves in a
far land, that they might pay themselves the debt which her husband had
owed them. So when he heard her sad tale, he opened his bag of treasure,
and found that all the gold which he had got in it would just pay the
widow's debt and set her children free. Then he went with her to the
merchants, and he told out to them all that sum, and set the children of
the widow free, and gave them back to their mother; "and I am taking," he
said, "to our merciful king the offering of the widow's tears and
gratitude; and I know well that this is an offering which will be well-
pleasing in his sight."
So it fared with these faithful servants in their trading; and all the
while they were cheerful and light-hearted, because they remembered
constantly the love and kindness which their king had shewed to them; and
they rejoiced that they were able to serve him and to trade for him with
his gifts. They thought also of the goodness of the king's son towards
them; they remembered how he had sought them when they were prisoners in
the dark dungeons of their tyrant enemy; and they were full of joy when
they thought that they should be able to offer to him the goodly pearl,
and the other curious gifts, which they had bought. They thought of
these things until they longed to hear the trumpet sound, which was to
call them out of the town and gather them together for their journey
home. When that trumpet might sound, they knew not; but the sun was now
passed its noon, and the town, which had been so quiet when they came in
the early morning along its empty streets, was now full of noise, and
bustle, and confusion, as great towns are wont to be, when all the
multitude of sleepers awaken and pour out for pleasure, or business, or
idleness, into the streets, and squares, and market-places.
Heartily glad were they now that they had been so early at their traffic.
Now the merchants had shut up all their richest stores; and the markets
were full of others who brought false pearls and mock diamonds, instead
of the costly gems for which they had traded in the morning. There
seemed to be hardly any true traders left. Idlers were there in numbers,
and shows and noisy revels were passing up and down the streets; and they
could see thieves and bad men lurking about at all the corners, seeking
whom they could catch, and rob, and plunder.
On all these things the servants looked; sometimes they saw beautiful
sights pass by them, which gladdened their eyes; and sometimes sweet
music would fill their ears, as bands of merry harpers and singers walked
up and down through the market; and they rejoiced in all of these, but
still their hearts were full of thoughts of their kind king, and
recollections of his son their prince; and they longed to be at home with
them, even when the sights round them were the gayest, and the sounds in
their ears were the sweetest; and they were ever watching for the voice
of the trumpet, which was to call them again homeward.
But this happy case was not that of all the servants. When these
watchful men had been entering the gates of the city in the morning, the
thoughtless servants were not yet awake. They had sat up late at their
feasting and rejoicings, and when the morning sun rose upon them, they
were still in their first deep sleep. The stirring of their
fellow-servants moved them a little, and for a while they seemed ready to
rise and join them. But their goods were not ready, so they could not go
with them; and they might as well, therefore, they thought, wait a little
longer and rest themselves, and then follow them to the market. They did
not mean to be late, but they saw no reason why they should be so very
early.
They slept, therefore, till the sun was high, and then they rose in some
confusion, because it was now so late; and they had all their goods to
unpack, their stuffs to smooth out, and the dust to shake off from them.
Soon they began about every little thing to find fault with one another,
because they were secretly angry with themselves. Each one thought that
if his neighbour had not persuaded him to stay, he should have been up,
and have entered the city with the earliest: so high words arose between
them; and instead of helping one another, and making the best they could
of the time which remained, they only hindered one another, and made it
later and later before they were ready to begin their trading.
At length, after many hard words and much bad temper, one by one they got
away; each as soon as he was ready, and often with his goods all in
confusion; every one following his own path, and wandering by himself up
the crowded streets of the full town.
Hard work they had to get at all along it when they had passed the gates.
All the stream of people seemed now to be setting against them. The
idlers jested upon their strange dress; and if they did but try to
traffic for their lord, the rude children of the town would gather round
them, and hoot, and cry: so that they could not manage to carry on any
trade at all.
Then, as I watched them, I saw that some who had been the loudest in
talking of what they should do when they were tried, were now the first
to give up altogether making any head at all against the crowd of that
city. They packed up what goods they might have, and began to think only
of looking about them, and following the crowd, and pleasing themselves,
like any of the men around them. Then I looked after some of these, and
I saw that one of them was led on by the crowd to a place in the town
where there was a great show. Outside of it were men in many-coloured
dresses, who blew with trumpets, and jested, and cried aloud, and begged
all to come in and see the strange sights which were stored within.
Now when the servant came to this place, he watched one and another go
in, until at last he also longed to go in and see the sights which were
to be gazed on within. So he went to the door, and the porter asked him
for money; but when he drew out his purse, and the porter saw that his
money belonged to some strange place, and was quite unlike the coin used
in that town, he only laughed at it, and said it was good for nothing
there, and bid him "stand back." So as he turned away, the porter saw
the rich bundle on his back, and then he spoke to him in another tone,
and he said, "I will let you in, if you like to give me that bundle of
goods." Then for a moment the servant was checked. He thought of his
lord and of the reckoning, and he remembered the words, "As good stewards
of the manifold grace of God;" and he had almost determined to turn back,
and to fight his way to the market-place, and to trade for his lord, let
it cost him what it might;--but just at the moment there was a great
burst of the showman's trumpets; and he heard the people shouting for joy
within; and so he forgot all but his great desire, and slipping off the
bundle from his shoulders, he put it into the hands of the porter, and
passed in, and I saw him no more.
Then I saw another, who was standing at the corner of a street gating at
some strange antics which were being played by a company of the townsmen.
And as he gazed upon them, he forgot all about his trading for his
master, and thought only of seeing more of this strange sight. Then I
saw that whilst he was thinking only of these follies, some evil-minded
men gathered round him, and before he was aware of it, they secretly
stole from him all the gold which his lord had given him to lay out for
him. The servant did not even know when it was gone, so much was he
thinking of staring at the sight before him. But it made me very sad to
think that when he went to buy for his master, he would find out, too
late, his loss; and that when the trumpet sounded, he would have nothing
to carry back with him on the day of reckoning.
Some of these loiterers, too, were treated even worse than this. One of
them I saw whom the shows and lights of that town led on from street to
street, until he came quite to its farther end; and then he thought that
he saw before him, beyond some lonely palings, still finer sights than
any he had left; and so he set out to cross over those fields, and see
those sights. And when he was half over, some wicked robbers, who laid
wait in those desolate places, rushed out upon him from their lurking-
place, and ill used him sorely, and robbed him of all his goods and
money, and left him upon the ground hardly able to get back to the town
which he had left.
Then I saw one of these loiterers who, as he was looking idly at the
sights round him, grew very grave, and began to tremble from head to
foot. One of his fellows, who stood by and saw him, quickly asked him
what made him tremble. At first he could not answer; but after a while
he said, that the sound of the trumpet which they had just heard had made
him think of the great trumpet-sound of their master, which was to call
them all back to his presence, and that he trembled because the evening
was coming on, and he had not yet traded for his lord. And "How," he
said in great fear, "how shall we ever stand that reckoning with our
hands empty?" Then some of his companions in idleness laughed and jeered
greatly, and mocked the poor trembler. But his fears were wiser than
their mockings; and so, it seemed, he knew, for he cared nothing for
them; but only said to them, very sadly and gravely, "You are in the same
danger, how then can you jeer at me?" And with that he pointed their
eyes up to the sky, and shewed them how low the sun had got already, and
that it wanted but an hour at the most to his setting, and then that the
trumpet might sound at any moment, and they have nothing to bear home to
their lord.
Now, as he spoke, one listened eagerly to him; and whilst the others
jeered, he said very gravely, "What can we do? Is it quite too late?"
"It is never too late," said the other, "till the trumpet sounds; and
though we have lost so much of the day, perchance we can yet do
something: come with me to the market-place, and we will try." So the
other joined him, and off they set, passing through their companions, who
shouted after them all the way they went, until the townsmen who stood
round began to jeer and shout after them also: so that all the town was
moved. A hard time those two had now, and much they wished that they had
gone to the market-place in the early morning, when the streets were
empty, and the busy servants had passed so easily along. Many were the
rough words they had now to bear; many the angry, or ill-natured, crowd
through which they had to push; and if any where they met one of their
late and idle companions, he was sure to stir up all the street against
them, when he saw them pushing on to the market-place.
"Do you think that we shall ever get there?" said he who had been moved
by the other's words to him, who led the way, and buffeted with the
crowd, like a man swimming through many rough waves in the strong stream
of some swift river. "Do you think that we shall ever get there?" "Yes,
yes," said the other; "we shall get there still, if we do but persevere."
"But it is so hard to make any way, and the streets seem to grow fuller
and fuller; I am afraid that I shall never get through."
Just as he spoke, a great band of the townspeople, with music, and
trumpets, and dancing, met them like a mighty wave of the sea, and seemed
sure to drive them back: one of their old companions was dancing amongst
the rest; and as I looked hard at him, I saw that it was the same who had
given away his precious burden in order to go into the show. Now, as
soon as he saw these his former fellows, he called to them by their
names, and bid them join him and the townsmen round him. But he that was
leading the way shook his head, and said boldly: "No: we will not join
with you; we are going to the market-place to traffic for our lord." "It
is too late for that," said he; "you lost the morning, and now you cannot
trade." Then I saw that he who before had trembled exceedingly grew very
pale; but still he held on his way; and he said,--"Yes, we have lost the
morning, and a sore thing it is for us; but our good lord will help us
even yet; and we WILL serve him, 'redeeming the time, because the days
are evil.'" Then he turned to the other and said to him,--
"And will not you stop either? Do not be fooled by this madman: what use
is it to go to buy when the shops are all shut, and the market empty?"
Then he hung down his head, and looked as though he would have turned
back, and fallen into the throng; but his fellow seized him by the hand,
and bid him take courage, and think upon his kind master, and upon the
king's son, whose very blood had been shed for them; and with that he
seemed to gather a little confidence, and held for a while on in his way
with the other.
Then their old companion turned all his seeming love into hatred, and he
called upon the crowd round him to lay hands on them and stop them; and
this the rabble would fain have done, but that, as it seemed to me, a
power greater than their own was with those servants, and strengthened
them; until they pushed the rude people aside on the right and on the
left, and passed safely through them into another street.
Here there were fewer persons, and they had a breathing-time for a while;
and as they heard the sound of music and of the crowd passing by at some
little distance from them, they began to gather heart, and to talk to one
another. "I never thought," said the one, "that I could have held on
through that crowd; and I never could, if you had not stretched out your
hand to help me." "Say, rather, if our master's strength had not been
with us," said the other. "But do you think," said he that was fearful,
"that he will accept any thing we can bring him now, when the best part
of the day is over?" "Yes, I do," he replied. "I have a good hope that
he will; for I remember how he said, 'Return, ye backsliding children,
return ye even unto me.'" "But how can one who is so trembling and
fearful as I am ever traffic for him?" "You can, if you will but hold
on; for he has once spoken of his servants 'as faint yet pursuing.'"
"Well," said the other, "I wish that I had your courage; but I do believe
that I should not dare to meet such another crowd as that we have just
passed through; I really thought that they would tear us in pieces." "Our
king will never let that be," said the other, "if only we trust in him."
"But are you sure," replied he, "that our king does see us in this town?"
Just as he said this, and before his companion had time to answer him
again, they heard a louder noise than ever, of men dancing, and singing,
and crowding, and music playing, and horns blowing, as if all the mad
sports of the city were coming upon them in one burst. At the front of
all they could see their old companion; for the band had turned round by
a different street, and now were just beginning to come down that one up
which they were passing. Then he who had been affrighted before, turned
white as snow; and he looked this way and that, to see what he could do.
Now it so happened, that just by where they stood was a great shop, and
in its windows there seemed to shine precious stones and jewels, and fine
crystals, and gold and ivory. And, as he looked, his eyes fell full upon
the shop, and he said to his fellow,--"Look here; surely here is what we
want: let us turn in here and traffic for our master, and then we shall
escape all this rout which is coming upon us." "No, no!" said the other;
"we must push on to the market; that is our appointed place; there our
lord bids us trade: we must not turn aside from the trouble which our
lateness has brought upon us--we must not offer to our master that which
costs us nothing. Play the man, and we shall soon be in the market."
"But we shall be torn in pieces," said the other. "Look at the great
crowd: and even now it seems that our old companion sees me, and is
beginning to lead the rabble upon us." "Never fear," said he who led the
way; "our king will keep us. 'I will not be afraid for ten thousands of
the people who have set themselves against us round about.'"
Then I saw that he to whom he spoke did not seem to hear these last
words, for the master of the shop had noticed how he cast his eyes upon
the goods that were in the window, and was ready in a moment to invite
him in. "Come in, come in," he said, "before the crowd sweep you away;
come in and buy my pearls, and my diamonds, and my precious stones; come
in, come in." And while he halted for a moment to parley with the man,
the crowd came upon them, and he was parted from his friend, who had held
up his fainting steps; and so he sprung trembling into the shop, scarcely
thinking himself safe even there.
Now the man into whose house he had turned, though he was a fair-spoken
man, and one who knew well how to seem honest and true, was altogether a
deceiver. All his seeming jewels, and diamonds, and pearls, were but
shining and painted glass, which was worth nothing at all to him who was
so foolish as to buy it: but this the servant knew not. If it had been
in the bright clear light of the morning, he would easily have seen that
the diamonds and the pearls were only sparkling and painted glass, and
the gold nothing but tinsel; but the bright light of the morning had
passed away, and in the red slanting light of the evening sun he could
not see clearly; and so the false man persuaded him, and he parted with
all the rich treasures which his king had given him, and got nothing for
them in exchange which was worth the having, for he filled his bag with
bits of painted glass, which his lord would never accept.
However, he knew not how he had been cheated; or if, perhaps, a thought
crossed his mind that all was not right, it was followed by another,
which said that it was now too late to alter, and that if he had chosen
wrongly, still he must abide by it; and so he waited for the trumpet. But
he was not altogether happy; and often and often he wished that he had
faced the strife of the multitude, and pressed on with his trusting
companion to the market.
A hard struggle had been his before he had reached it. It seemed indeed
at times as if the words of his fearful companion were coming true, and
he would be torn altogether in pieces, so fiercely did the crowd press
upon him and throng him. But as I watched him in the thickest part of
it, I saw that always, just at his last need, something seemed to favour
him, and the crowd broke off and left room for him to struggle by. I
could hear him chanting, as it were, to himself, when the crowd looked
upon him the most fiercely, "I will not be afraid for ten thousands of
the people that have set themselves against me round about." And even as
he chanted the words, the crowd divided itself in two parts, like a
rushing stream glancing by some black rock; and on he passed, as though
they saw him not.
So it continued, even till he reached the market-place. Right glad was
he to find himself there: but even now all his trials were not over. Many
of the stalls were empty, and from many more the fair and true traders
were gone away; and instead of them were come false and deceitful men,
who tried to put off any who dealt with them with pretended jewels and
bad goods.
Then did he look anxiously round and round the market, fearing every
moment lest the trumpet should sound before he had purchased any thing
for his lord. Never, perhaps, all along the way, did he so bitterly
regret his early sloth as now, for he wrung his hands together, and said
in great bitterness, "What shall I do?" and, "How shall I, a loiterer,
traffic for my lord?"
Then his eyes fell upon a shop where were no jewels, nor gold, nor costly
silks, nor pearls of great price; but all that was in it was coarse
sackcloth, and rough and hairy garments, and heaps of ashes, and here and
there a loaf of bitter bread, and bitter herbs, and bottles wherein tears
were stored. As he gazed on this shop something seemed to whisper to his
heart, "Go and buy." So he went with his sorrowful heart, as one not
worthy to traffic for his master, and he bought the coarsest sackcloth,
and the ashes of affliction, and many bitter tears: and so he waited for
the sounding of the trumpet.
Then suddenly, as some loud noise breaks upon the slumbers of men who
sleep, that great trumpet sounded. All through the air came its voice,
still waxing louder and louder; and even as it pealed across the sky, all
that great city, and its multitudes, and its lofty palaces, and its show,
and its noise, and its revels, all melted away, and were not. And in a
moment all the servants were gathered together, and their lord and king
stood amongst them. All else was gone, and they and their works were
alone with him.