Post by Fewms on Oct 2, 2009 13:57:31 GMT
Djelian Moralia
by a Wretched Scribe in Green
Tale the First - Of Capitalist Duplicity
In the days of pre-Revolutionary Djelibeybi a wealthy merchant who could not subdue his enemies made use of the following stratagem. He resigned his Djelian properties, together with what they contained, to be re-auctioned. Before he did so, he mixed his stock of wines with a resin extracted from somniferous seeds, and his provisions with oil of hasheesh. The merchant knew his opponents to be hunger-starved owing to his own predation upon the city's wealth (the glorious Revolution was not yet), and that, overjoyed to find such excellent quarters, they would drink and eat to excess, and fall into an insensible sleep. They did so, and the merchant, returning, put them all to death.
Application:
Comrades, the wealthy merchant is the capitalist: let us beware of what he leaves.
Tale the Second - Of Evil Inspiration
A former Court Scribe has written that if - O, horrendous blasphemy - a priest is killed in Djelibeybi, his corpse will engender no worms; but, if the corpse be struck with lightning, in a few days it will be full of them.
Application:
Comrades, the priest is anyone who is overcome by the will-to-fluff. That soul which cherishes misleading and vapid ideals cannot sustain the worm of Sekkite virtue; but let him be struck by lightning, that is, by the inspiration of the Demon, and he shall be fruitful in evil works.
Tale the Third - Of Idleness and Power
The Pharaoh Pterminus, having three sons, wished to make one of them his heir, but he was perplexed by the fact that they were triplets, making inapplicable the rule of seniority. Calling the three into his presence, he spoke thus: "I have decided to give the kingdom of Djelibeybi to the laziest of you." "Then," said the first, "it should be mine: for I am so lazy that, if a thousand thanras were dropped at my feet, I would deliberate uncertainly over whether I should stoop to pick them up." "My laziness is of a more illustrious water," said the second languidly. "Indeed, were I being hanged, I might not, unless I had plans for the evening, lift a knife to cut the rope." "Brothers," sighed the third, "I would roll my eyes at the inferiority of your inactivity, had I any left; but some days ago as I lay abed, I noticed water dripping from the ceiling onto my eyes; and though from the nature of water I was in danger of becoming blind, I neither would nor could turn my head ever so little, to the right hand or to the left." The Pharaoh, hearing of this concrete and not merely theoretical result of his reluctance to act, bequeathed the kingdom to the him, thinking him the laziest of the three.
Application:
Comrades, the Pharaoh is the Magistracy. The three sons' tales of their inactivity suggest how it is not uncommon for the idlest Magistrates to be favoured by the electorate and by Providence.
Tale the Fourth - Of Infernal Dew
Deep in the cliffs of Klatchistan there is a hidden city in which neither dew nor rain falls. Consequently there is a general aridness and drought; but in this strange country there exists a remarkable fountain (the only one to be found there), from which, when people would draw water, they are accustomed to approach with all kinds of musical instruments. The melody which they produce (which is ever wild, clashing and withal ingenious) miraculously causes the fountain to produce water to the mouth of the fountain, from which it issues forth in great abundance, such that all who have played weird melodies upon their instruments are able to obtain as much as they wish.
Application:
Comrades, the waterless land is man; the fountain, the Orthodox Church of Sek; the musical instruments, devotional exercises and expressing solidarity with His priests.
Tale the Fifth - Of Good Magistrates
It is related that when all the Djelians desired the death of a certain Magistrate for his extensive programme of tyranny, an aged woman every morning entreated the gods to continue his life beyond hers. The hated Magistrate was surprised at this solitary exception to those baying for his blood, and inquired of her the reason for her clement piety. She replied, "When I was a girl, and governed by a tyrant, I wished for his removal, and presently we obtained a worse one still. Having got rid of him, a still more terrible one succeeded; and therefore, under the reasonable apprehension that your place may be filled by yet a worse, I pray the gods to keep you in place until I can be beyond the influence of Magistrates jealous of one another's reputation for despotism." The Magistrate, hearing this, gave her no further trouble.
Application:
Comrades, be not too desirous of change; the dialectic of history swings this way and that, sometimes resembling the guillotine.
by a Wretched Scribe in Green
Tale the First - Of Capitalist Duplicity
In the days of pre-Revolutionary Djelibeybi a wealthy merchant who could not subdue his enemies made use of the following stratagem. He resigned his Djelian properties, together with what they contained, to be re-auctioned. Before he did so, he mixed his stock of wines with a resin extracted from somniferous seeds, and his provisions with oil of hasheesh. The merchant knew his opponents to be hunger-starved owing to his own predation upon the city's wealth (the glorious Revolution was not yet), and that, overjoyed to find such excellent quarters, they would drink and eat to excess, and fall into an insensible sleep. They did so, and the merchant, returning, put them all to death.
Application:
Comrades, the wealthy merchant is the capitalist: let us beware of what he leaves.
Tale the Second - Of Evil Inspiration
A former Court Scribe has written that if - O, horrendous blasphemy - a priest is killed in Djelibeybi, his corpse will engender no worms; but, if the corpse be struck with lightning, in a few days it will be full of them.
Application:
Comrades, the priest is anyone who is overcome by the will-to-fluff. That soul which cherishes misleading and vapid ideals cannot sustain the worm of Sekkite virtue; but let him be struck by lightning, that is, by the inspiration of the Demon, and he shall be fruitful in evil works.
Tale the Third - Of Idleness and Power
The Pharaoh Pterminus, having three sons, wished to make one of them his heir, but he was perplexed by the fact that they were triplets, making inapplicable the rule of seniority. Calling the three into his presence, he spoke thus: "I have decided to give the kingdom of Djelibeybi to the laziest of you." "Then," said the first, "it should be mine: for I am so lazy that, if a thousand thanras were dropped at my feet, I would deliberate uncertainly over whether I should stoop to pick them up." "My laziness is of a more illustrious water," said the second languidly. "Indeed, were I being hanged, I might not, unless I had plans for the evening, lift a knife to cut the rope." "Brothers," sighed the third, "I would roll my eyes at the inferiority of your inactivity, had I any left; but some days ago as I lay abed, I noticed water dripping from the ceiling onto my eyes; and though from the nature of water I was in danger of becoming blind, I neither would nor could turn my head ever so little, to the right hand or to the left." The Pharaoh, hearing of this concrete and not merely theoretical result of his reluctance to act, bequeathed the kingdom to the him, thinking him the laziest of the three.
Application:
Comrades, the Pharaoh is the Magistracy. The three sons' tales of their inactivity suggest how it is not uncommon for the idlest Magistrates to be favoured by the electorate and by Providence.
Tale the Fourth - Of Infernal Dew
Deep in the cliffs of Klatchistan there is a hidden city in which neither dew nor rain falls. Consequently there is a general aridness and drought; but in this strange country there exists a remarkable fountain (the only one to be found there), from which, when people would draw water, they are accustomed to approach with all kinds of musical instruments. The melody which they produce (which is ever wild, clashing and withal ingenious) miraculously causes the fountain to produce water to the mouth of the fountain, from which it issues forth in great abundance, such that all who have played weird melodies upon their instruments are able to obtain as much as they wish.
Application:
Comrades, the waterless land is man; the fountain, the Orthodox Church of Sek; the musical instruments, devotional exercises and expressing solidarity with His priests.
Tale the Fifth - Of Good Magistrates
It is related that when all the Djelians desired the death of a certain Magistrate for his extensive programme of tyranny, an aged woman every morning entreated the gods to continue his life beyond hers. The hated Magistrate was surprised at this solitary exception to those baying for his blood, and inquired of her the reason for her clement piety. She replied, "When I was a girl, and governed by a tyrant, I wished for his removal, and presently we obtained a worse one still. Having got rid of him, a still more terrible one succeeded; and therefore, under the reasonable apprehension that your place may be filled by yet a worse, I pray the gods to keep you in place until I can be beyond the influence of Magistrates jealous of one another's reputation for despotism." The Magistrate, hearing this, gave her no further trouble.
Application:
Comrades, be not too desirous of change; the dialectic of history swings this way and that, sometimes resembling the guillotine.