"'A hundred barrels of oil,' answered the man.
"'Here, take your bill,' said the steward, 'and instead of a hundred barrels, make it fifty barrels.'"
This, you see, was making a present to the man of fifty barrels of oil, but not from the steward himself; instead, stealing it from his master, to give to the man who owed him.
"Then to the next man he said, 'And how much do you owe?'
"'A hundred bushels of wheat,' answered the man.
"'Here is your bill,' said the steward; 'make it eighty.'
"And so he treated all those who were owing to his master, giving to each one a part of his debt; so that they would be friendly to him and give him help when he should need it.
The dishonest steward
"When his master heard of all this, he praised the steward, not for doing rightly, but for looking ahead and taking care for the time to come."