The Story of Ahikar 6 - CHAP. VI. The ruse succeeds. Ahikar answers every question of Pharaoh. The boys on the eagles are the climax of the day. Wit, so rarely found in the ancient Scriptures, is revealed in Verses 34-45. AND Haiqâr went to his dwelling, and wrote a letter, saying in it on this wise: 2 From Sennacherib king of Assyria. and Nineveh to Pharaoh king of Egypt. 3 Peace be to thee, O my brother! and what we make known to thee by this is that a brother has need of his brother, and kings of each other, and my hope from thee is that thou wouldst lend me nine hundred talents of gold, for I need it for the victualling of some of the soldiers, that, I may spend it upon them. And after a little while I will send it thee. 4 Then he folded the letter, and presented it on the morrow to Pharaoh. 5 And when he saw it, he was perplexed and said to him, Verily I have never heard anything like this language from any one. 6 Then Haiqâr said to him, Truly this is a debt which thou owest to my lord the king. 7 And Pharaoh accepted this, saying, O Haiqâr, it is the like of thee who are honest in the service of kings. 8 Blessed be God who hath made thee perfect in wisdom and hath adorned thee with philosophy and knowledge. p. 214 9 And now, O Haiqâr, there remains what we desire from thee, that thou shouldst build as a castle between heaven and earth. 10 Then said Haiqâr, To hear is to obey. I will build thee a castle according to thy wish and choice; but, O my lord I prepare us lime and stone and clay and workmen, and I have skilled builders who will build for thee as thou desirest. 11 And the king prepared all that for him, and they went to a wide place; and Haiqâr and his boys came to it, and he took the eagles and the young men with him; and the king and all his nobles went and the whole city assembled, that they might see what Haiqâr would do. 12 Then Haiqâr let the eagles out of the boxes, and tied the young men on their backs, and tied the ropes to the eagles feet, and let them go in the air. And they soared upwards, till they remained between heaven and earth. 13 And the boys began to shout, saying, Bring bricks, bring clay, that we may build the kings castle, for we are standing idle! 14 And the crowd were astonished and perplexed, and they wondered. And the king and his nobles wondered. 15 And Haiqâr and his servants began to beat the workmen, and they shouted for the kings troops, saying to them, Bring to the skilled workmen what they want and do not hinder them from their work. 16 And the king said to him, Thou art mad; who can bring anything up to that distance? 17 And Haiqâr said to him, O my lord! how shall we build a castle in the air? and if my lord the king were here, he would have built several castles in a single day. 18 And Pharaoh said to him, Go, O Haiqâr, to thy dwelling, and rest, for we have given up building the castle, and to-morrow come to me. 19 Then Haiqâr went to his dwelling and on the morrow he appeared before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said, O Haiqâr, what news is there of the horse of thy lord? for when he neighs in the country of Assyria and Nineveh, and our mares hear his voice, they cast their young. 20 And when Haiqâr heard this speech he went and took a cat, and bound her and began to flog her with a violent flogging till the Egyptians heard it, and they went and told the king about it. 21 And Pharaoh sent to fetch Haiqâr, and said to him, O Haiqâr, wherefore dost thou flog thus and beat that dumb beast? 22 And Haiqâr said to him, my lord the king! verily she has done an ugly deed to me, and has deserved this drubbing and flogging, for my lord king Sennacherib had given me a fine cock, and he had a strong true voice and knew the hours of the day and the night. 23 And the cat got up this very night and cut off its head and went away, and because of this deed I have treated her to this drubbing. 24 And Pharaoh said to him, O Haiqâr, I see from all this that thou art growing old and art in thy dotage, for between Egypt and Nineveh there are sixty-eight parasangs, and how did she go this very night and cut off the head of thy cock and come back? 25 And Haiqâr said to him, O my lord! if there were such a distance between Egypt and Nineveh how could thy mares hear when my lord the kings horse neighs and cast their young? and how could the voice of the horse reach to Egypt? 26 And when Pharaoh heard p. 215 that, he knew that Haiqâr had answered his questions. 27 And Pharaoh said, O Haiqâr, I want thee to make me ropes of the sea-sand. 28 And Haiqâr said to him, O my lord the king! order them to bring me a rope out of the treasury that I may make one like it. 29 Then Haiqâr went to the back of the house, and bored holes in the rough shore of the sea, and took a handful of sand in his hand, sea-sand, and when the sun rose, and penetrated into the holes, he spread the sand in the sun till it became as if woven like ropes. 30 And Haiqâr said, Command thy servants to take these ropes, and whenever thou desirest it, I will weave thee some like them. 31 And Pharaoh said, O Haiqâr, we have a millstone here and it has been broken and I want thee to sew it up. 32 Then Haiqâr looked at it, and found another stone. 33 And he said to Pharaoh O my lord! I am a foreigner: and I have no tool for sewing. 34 But I want thee to command thy faithful shoemakers to cut awls from this stone, that I may sew that millstone. 35 Then Pharaoh and all his nobles laughed. And he said, Blessed be the Most High God, who gave thee this wit and knowledge. 36 And when Pharaoh saw that Haiqâr had overcome him, and returned him his answers, he at once became excited, and commanded them to collect for him three years taxes, and to bring them to Haiqâr. 37 And he stripped off his robes and put them upon Haiqâr, and his soldiers, and his servants, and gave him the expenses of his journey. 38 And he said to him, Go in peace, O strength of his lord and pride of his Doctors! have any of the Sultans thy like? give my greetings to thy lord king Sennacherib, and say to him how we have sent him gifts, for kings are content with little. 39 Then Haiqâr arose, and kissed king Pharaohs hands and kissed the ground in front of him, and wished him strength and continuance, and abundance in his treasury, and said to him, O my lord! I desire from thee that not one of our countrymen may remain in Egypt. 40 And Pharaoh arose and sent heralds to proclaim in the streets of Egypt that not one of the people of Assyria or Nineveh should remain in the land of Egypt, but that they should go with Haiqâr. 41 Then Haiqâr went and took leave of king Pharaoh, and journeyed, seeking the land of Assyria and Nineveh; and he had some treasures and a great deal of wealth. 42 And when the news reached king Sennacherib that Haiqâr was coming, he went out to meet him and rejoiced over him exceedingly with great joy and embraced him and kissed him and said to him, Welcome home: O kinsman! my brother Haiqâr, the strength of my kingdom, and pride of my realm. 43 Ask what thou wouldst have from me, even if thou desirest the half of my kingdom and of my possessions. 44 Then said Haiqâr unto him, O my lord the king, live for ever! Show favour, O my lord the king! to Abu Samîk in my stead, for my life was in the hands of God and in his. 45 Then said Sennacherib the king, Honour be to thee, O my beloved Haiqâr! I will make the station of Abu Samîk the swordsman higher than all my Privy Councillors and my favourites. 46 Then the king began to ask him how he had got on with p. 216 [paragraph continues] Pharaoh from his first arrival until he had come away from his presence, and how he had answered all his questions, and how he had received the taxes from him, and the changes of raiment and the presents. 47 And Sennacherib the king rejoiced with a great joy, and said to Haiqâr, Take what thou wouldst fain have of this tribute, for it is all within the grasp of thy hand. 48 And Haiqâr mid: Let the king live for ever! I desire naught but the safety of my lord the king and the continuance of his greatness. 49 O my lord! what can I do with wealth and its like? but if thou wilt show me favour, give me Nadan, my sisters son, that I may recompense him for what he has done to me, and grant me his blood and hold me guiltless of it. 50 And Sennacherib the king said, Take him, I have given him to thee. And Haiqâr took Nadan, his sisters son, and bound his hands with chains of iron, and took him to his dwelling, and put a heavy fetter on his feet, and tied it with a tight knot, and after binding him thus he cast him into a dark room, beside the retiring-place, and appointed Nebu-hal as sentinel over him to give him a loaf of bread and a little water every day. Next: Chapter VII CHAP. VII. The parables of Ahikar in which he completes his nephews education. Striking similes. Ahikar calls the boy picturesque names. Here ends the story of Ahikar. And whenever Haiqâr went in or out he scolded Nadan, his sisters son, saying to him wisely: 2 O Nadan, my boy! I have done to thee all that is good and kind and thou hast rewarded me for it with what is ugly and bad and with killing. 3 O my son! it is said in the proverbs: He who listeneth not with his ear, they will make him listen with the scruff of his neck. 4 And Nadan said, For what cause art thou wroth with me? 5 And Haiqâr said to him, Because I brought thee up, and taught thee, and gave thee honour and respect and made thee great, and reared thee with the best of breeding, and seated thee in my place that thou mightest be my heir in the world, and thou didst treat me with killing and didst repay me with my ruin. 6 But the Lord knew that I was wronged, and He saved me from the ware which thou hadst set for me, for the Lord healeth the broken hearts and hindereth the envious and the haughty. 7 O my boy! thou hast been to me like the scorpion which when it strikes on brass, pierces it. 8 O my boy! thou art like the gazelle who was eating the roots of the madder, and it add me to-day and to-morrow they will tan they hide in my roots. 9 O my boy! thou hast been to who saw his comrade naked in the chilly time of winter; and he took cold water and poured it on him. 10 O my boy! thou hast been to me like a man who took a stone, and threw it up to heaven to stone his Lord with it. And the stone did not hit, and did not reach high enough, but it became the cause of guilt and sin. 11 O my boy! if thou hadst honoured me and respected me and hadst listened to my words thou wouldst have been my heir and wouldst have reigned over my dominions. 12 O my son! know thou that if the tail of the dog or p. 217 the pig were ten cubits long it would not approach to the worth of the horses even if it were like silk. 13 O my boy! I thought that thou wouldst have been my heir at my death; and thou through thy envy and thy insolence didst desire to kill me. But the Lord delivered me from thy cunning. 14 O my son! thou hast been to me like a trap which was set up on the dunghill, and there came a sparrow and found the trap set up. And the sparrow said to the trap, What doest thou here? Said the trap, I am praying here to God. 15 And the lark asked it also, What is the piece of wood that thou holdest? Said the trap, That is a young oak-tree on which I lean at the time of prayer. 16 Said the lark: And what is that thing in thy mouth? Said the trap: That is bread and victuals which I carry for all the hungry and the poor who come near to me. 17 Said the lark: Now then may I come forward and eat, for I am hungry? And the trap said to him, Come forward. And the lark approached that it, might eat. 18 But the trap sprang up and seized the lark by its neck. 19 And the lark answered and said to the trap, If that is thy bread for the hungry God accepteth not thine alms and thy kind deeds. 20 And if that is thy fasting and thy prayers, God accepteth from thee neither thy fast nor thy prayer, and God will not perfect what is good concerning thee. 21 O my boy! thou hast been to me (as) a lion who made friends with an ass, and the ass kept walking before the lion for a time; and one day the lion sprang upon the ass and ate it up. 22 O my boy! thou hast been to me like a weevil in the wheat, for it does no good to anything, but spoils the wheat and gnaws it. 23 O my boy! thou hast been like a man who sowed ten measures of wheat, and when it was harvest time, he arose and reaped it, and garnered it, and threshed it, and toiled over it to the very utmost, and it turned out to be ten measures, and its master said to it: O thou lazy thing! thou hast not grown and thou hast not shrunk. 24 O my boy! thou hast been to me like the partridge that had been thrown into the net, and she could not save herself, but she called out to the partridges, that she might cast them with herself into the net. 25 O my son! thou hast been to me like the dog that was cold and it went into the potters house to get warm. 26 And when it had got warm, it began to bark at them, and they chased it out and beat it, that it might not bite them. 27 O my son! thou hast been to me like the pig who went into the hot bath with people of quality, and when it came out of the hot bath, it saw a filthy hole and it went down and wallowed in it. 28 O my son! thou hast been to me like the goat which joined its comrades on their way to the sacrifice, and it was unable to save itself. 29 O my boy! the dog which is not fed from its hunting becomes food for flies. 30 O my son! the hand which does not labour and plough and (which) is greedy and cunning shall be cut away from its shoulder. 31 O my son! the eye in which light is not seen, the ravens shall pick at it and pluck it out. 32 O my boy! thou hast been to me like a tree whose branches they were cutting, and it said p. 218 to them, If something of me were not in your hands, verily you would be unable to cut me. 33 O my boy! thou art like the cat to whom they said: Leave off thieving till we make for thee a chain of gold and feed thee with sugar and almonds. 34 And she said, I am not forgetful of the craft of my father and my mother. 35 O my son! thou hast been like the serpent riding on a thorn-bush when he was in the midst of a river, and a wolf saw them and said, Mischief upon mischief, and let him who is more mischievous than they direct both of them. 36 And the serpent said to the wolf, The lambs and the goats and the sheep which thou hast eaten all thy life, wilt thou return them to their fathers and to their parents or no? 37 Said the wolf, No. And the serpent said to him, I think that after myself thou art the worst of us. 38 O my boy! I fed thee with good food and thou didst not feed me with dry bread. 39 O my boy! I gave thee sugared water to. drink and good syrup, and thou didst not give me water from the well to drink. 40 O my boy! I taught thee, and brought thee up, and thou didst dig a hiding-place for me and didst conceal me. 41 O my boy! I brought thee up with the best upbringing and trained thee like a tall cedar; and thou hast twisted and bent me. 42 O my boy! it was my hope concerning thee that thou wouldst build me a fortified castle, that I might be concealed from my enemies in it, and thou didst become to me like one burying in the depth of the earth; but the Lord took pity on me and delivered me from thy cunning. 43 O my boy! I wished thee well, and thou didst reward me with evil and hatefulness, and now I would fain tear out thine eyes, and make thee food for dogs, and cut out thy tongue, and take off thy head with the edge of the sword, and recompense thee for thine abominable deeds. 44 And when Nadan heard this speech from his uncle Haiqâr, he said: O my uncle! deal with me according to thy knowledge, and forgive me my sins, for who is there who hath sinned like me, or who is there who forgives like thee? 45 Accept me, O my uncle! Now I will serve in thy house, and groom thy horses and sweep up the dung of thy cattle, and feed thy sheep, for I am the wicked and thou art the righteous: I the guilty and thou the forgiving. 1 46 And Haiqâr said to him, O my boy! thou art like the tree which was fruitless beside the water, and its master was fain to cut it down, and it said to him, Remove me to another place, and if I do not bear fruit, cut me down. 47 And its master said to it, Thou being beside the water hast not borne fruit, how shalt thou bear fruit when thou art in another place? 48 O my boy! the old age of the eagle is better than the youth of the crow. 49 O my boy! they said to the wolf, Keep away from the sheep lest their dust should harm thee. And the wolf said, The dregs of the sheeps milk are good for my eyes. 50 O my boy! they made the wolf go to school that he might learn to read and they said to him, Say A, B. He said, Lamb and goat in my bell 51 O my boy! they set the ass p. 219 down at the table and he fell, and began to roll himself in the dust and one said, Let him roll himself, for it is his nature, he will not change. 52 O my boy! the saying has been confirmed which runs: If thou begettest a boy, call him thy son, and if thou rearest a boy, call him thy slave. 53 O my boy! he who doeth good shall meet with good; and he who doeth evil shall meet with evil, for the Lord requiteth a man according to the measure of his work. 54 O my boy! what shall I say more to thee than these sayings? for the Lord knoweth what is hidden, and is acquainted with the mysteries and the secrets. 55 And He will requite thee and will judge, betwixt me and thee, and will recompense thee according to thy desert., 56 And when Nadan heard that speech from his uncle Haiqâr, he swelled up immediately and became like a blown-out bladder. 57 And his limbs swelled and his legs and his feet and his side, and he was torn and his belly burst asunder and his entrails were scattered, and he perished, and died. 58 And his latter end was destruction, and he went to hell. For he who digs a pit for his brother shall fall into it; and he who sets up traps shall be caught in them. 59 This is what happened and (what) we found about the tale of Haiqâr, and praise be to God for ever. Amen, and peace. 60 This chronicle is finished with the help of God, may He be exalted! Amen, Amen, Amen. Footnotes 218:1 Compare the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke XV. 19.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:34:10 +0000
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