Some said that in his youth he had earned and spent large quantities of money, only to turn from what he saw as a life of vanity to the pursuit of wisdom. Others said that had that been true, he was proved all the more fool for giving up the good life for a life of hardship that was of little use to anyone. Thus, for every person who called him The Wise One with reverence, twenty pronounced his name with irony.
Of the stories still not erased by the hand of time, consider these and judge the man as you will:
* * *
One day a man, clearly troubled by the cares of life, came to The
Wise One and spoke thusly:
"My son, to whom I had entrusted my farm, last week stole my best cows, sold them in the market, and spent the money in wild and shameful living. Now he says he is sorry and will repay me. What should I do?"
"Tell me," replied the old man, "when you drop your bar of soap while bathing, what do you do?"
"I pick it up, of course," the man answered, with some irritation.
"And now tell me, which is of more value, a bar of soap or a human soul?"
While the questioner left not at all certain about what to do, one of The Wise One's disciples, who had been deeply affected by this exchange, rose and said, "Excuse me, O Wise One, but I must go and reconcile myself to a man I have wrongly ceased to love."
"Yes, my daughter," is all The Wise One said.