than to be kind, but only good judges can be just; let those who cannot be just be kind."
" In the capital he lived by begging ."
At this point I could not help but interrupt. I told Foila that I thought it was wonderful that she understood so well what each of the stock phrases the Ascian used meant in the context of his story, but that I could not understand how she did it—how she knew, for example, that the phrase about kindness and justice meant that the hero had become a beggar.
"Well, suppose that someone else—Melito, perhaps—were telling a story, and at some point in it he thrust out his hand and began to ask for alms. You'd know what that meant, wouldn't you?"
Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch I agreed that I would.
"It's just the same here. Sometimes we find Ascian soldiers who are too hungry or too sick to keep up with the rest, and after they understand we aren't going to kill them, that business about kindness and justice is what they say. In Ascian, of course. It's what beggars say in Ascia."
"Those who cry longest shall be heard, and justice shall be done to them."
" This time he had to wait a long while before he was admitted to the palace, but at last they let him in and heard what he had to say ."
"Those who will not serve the populace shall serve the populace."
" They said they would put the bad men in prison. "
"Let there be clean water for those who toil. Let there be hot food for them, and a clean bed."
" He went back home. "
"No one is to receive more than a hundred blows."
" He was beaten again. "
"Behind our efforts, let there be found our efforts."
" But he did not give up. Once more he set off for the capital to complain. "
"Those who fight for the populace fight with a thousand hearts.
Those who fight against them with none."
" Now the bad men were afraid. "
"Let no one oppose the decisions of the Group of Seventeen."
" They said to themselves, 'He has gone to the palace again and Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch again, and each time he must have told the rulers there that we did not obey their earlier commands. Surely, this time they will send soldiers to kill us. "
"If their wounds are in their backs, who shall stanch their blood?"
" The bad men ran away. "
"Where are those who in times past have opposed the decisions of the Group of Seventeen?"
" They were never seen again. "
"Let there be clean water for those who toil. Let there be hot food for them, and a clean bed. Then they will sing at their work, and their work will be light to them. Then they will sing at the harvest, and the harvest will be heavy."
" The just man returned home and lived happily ever after. "
Everyone applauded this story, moved by the story itself, by the ingenuity of the Ascian prisoner, by the glimpse it had afforded us of life in Ascia, and most of all, I think, by the graciousness and wit Foila had brought to her translation.
I have no way of knowing whether you, who eventually will read this record, like stories or not. If you do not, no doubt you have turned these pages without attention. I confess that I love them.
Indeed, it often seems to me that of all the good things in the world, the only ones humanity can claim for itself are stories and music; the rest, mercy, beauty, sleep, clean water and hot food (as the Ascian would have said) are all the work of the Increate. Thus, stories are small things indeed in the scheme of the universe, but it is hard not to love best what is our own—hard for me, at least.
Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch From this story, though it was the shortest and the most simple too of all those I have recorded in this book, I feel that I learned several things of some importance. First of all, how much of our speech, which we think freshly minted in our own mouths, consists of set locutions. The Ascian seemed to speak only in sentences he had learned by
" In the capital he lived by begging ."
At this point I could not help but interrupt. I told Foila that I thought it was wonderful that she understood so well what each of the stock phrases the Ascian used meant in the context of his story, but that I could not understand how she did it—how she knew, for example, that the phrase about kindness and justice meant that the hero had become a beggar.
"Well, suppose that someone else—Melito, perhaps—were telling a story, and at some point in it he thrust out his hand and began to ask for alms. You'd know what that meant, wouldn't you?"
Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch I agreed that I would.
"It's just the same here. Sometimes we find Ascian soldiers who are too hungry or too sick to keep up with the rest, and after they understand we aren't going to kill them, that business about kindness and justice is what they say. In Ascian, of course. It's what beggars say in Ascia."
"Those who cry longest shall be heard, and justice shall be done to them."
" This time he had to wait a long while before he was admitted to the palace, but at last they let him in and heard what he had to say ."
"Those who will not serve the populace shall serve the populace."
" They said they would put the bad men in prison. "
"Let there be clean water for those who toil. Let there be hot food for them, and a clean bed."
" He went back home. "
"No one is to receive more than a hundred blows."
" He was beaten again. "
"Behind our efforts, let there be found our efforts."
" But he did not give up. Once more he set off for the capital to complain. "
"Those who fight for the populace fight with a thousand hearts.
Those who fight against them with none."
" Now the bad men were afraid. "
"Let no one oppose the decisions of the Group of Seventeen."
" They said to themselves, 'He has gone to the palace again and Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch again, and each time he must have told the rulers there that we did not obey their earlier commands. Surely, this time they will send soldiers to kill us. "
"If their wounds are in their backs, who shall stanch their blood?"
" The bad men ran away. "
"Where are those who in times past have opposed the decisions of the Group of Seventeen?"
" They were never seen again. "
"Let there be clean water for those who toil. Let there be hot food for them, and a clean bed. Then they will sing at their work, and their work will be light to them. Then they will sing at the harvest, and the harvest will be heavy."
" The just man returned home and lived happily ever after. "
Everyone applauded this story, moved by the story itself, by the ingenuity of the Ascian prisoner, by the glimpse it had afforded us of life in Ascia, and most of all, I think, by the graciousness and wit Foila had brought to her translation.
I have no way of knowing whether you, who eventually will read this record, like stories or not. If you do not, no doubt you have turned these pages without attention. I confess that I love them.
Indeed, it often seems to me that of all the good things in the world, the only ones humanity can claim for itself are stories and music; the rest, mercy, beauty, sleep, clean water and hot food (as the Ascian would have said) are all the work of the Increate. Thus, stories are small things indeed in the scheme of the universe, but it is hard not to love best what is our own—hard for me, at least.
Wolfe,_Gene_-_Book_of_the_New_Sun_4_-_The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch From this story, though it was the shortest and the most simple too of all those I have recorded in this book, I feel that I learned several things of some importance. First of all, how much of our speech, which we think freshly minted in our own mouths, consists of set locutions. The Ascian seemed to speak only in sentences he had learned by
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