The Story Of Ahikar
1926 anthology, complete selected publisher reading text
Rutherford H. Platt
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.’ [16]
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 sheep’s 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 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.