I DREAMED that I had started on a journey, and as I trudged along the path alone a man carrying a mirror, stopped me, saying:
“I want to speak with you.”
I replied: “From whence do you come, and what may your calling be?”
He answered: “I come from beyond that steep hill in front of you which you have yet to climb; and I am a teacher, teaching by the things that I show in my mirror.”
Then he held his mirror up before my eyes and told me to look. I obeyed, and saw a ship tossed in a storm. The sails were blown to pieces, the boats were broken, the deck was swept by the waves, and the ship was ready to sink. Then I saw the master come to the side, and stand there pouring oil from a vessel in his hand on the angry waters. And presently, although the storm continued to rage over the rest of the ocean, the ship seemed to be rocked in a little basin that was calm.
Said the teacher: “Gentleness overcomes where resistance would be in vain.”
He held up the mirror again, and I saw two stone-cutters at work dressing a great block of granite. On the wall above them was a clock. Now, one of the men stood with his back to the clock, so that he could not see it, and his arm dealt strong and rapid blows on the stone, seeming never to tire. But the other man stood facing the clock, and was constantly lifting up his eyes to it; and I noticed that his arm was raised slowly and feebly, as if losing its strength, and his face wore an expression of weariness.
The teacher said: “He who does not set his heart on his task, but on the rest that comes after it, makes poor work for his employer and long hours for himself.”
Again he held the mirror up, and I saw a vine planted in the ground, with branches growing out of each side. Now, the vine was as if it were made of glass, so that I could see the sap running from the stalk into the branches. And as it did this they all put forth leaves and blossoms. But suddenly, as I looked, the sap ceased to flow into one of the branches. Then the buds and blossoms fell from it to the earth, and the branch withered and died before my eyes.