The Mercy of Allah: Essay. Hilaire Belloc
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу The Mercy of Allah: Essay - Hilaire Belloc страница 10
Название: The Mercy of Allah: Essay
Автор: Hilaire Belloc
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Языкознание
isbn: 4064066396893
isbn:
“I prayed earnestly for guidance, and one night as I so prayed an idea was revealed to me by the Most High.
“I approached the King and told him how, all my life, I had nourished the secret belief that a trade necessary to the whole community should not, in justice, be controlled by a private individual, but should rather be the full property of the State, of which His Majesty was the sole guardian.
“The King listened to me with rapt attention as I unfolded with an inspired eloquence my faith that no one man should intercept profits which were due to the work of all. ‘It is your majesty,’ I cried, ‘who alone should have control over what concerns the body corporate of your people.’ He and he alone should superintend the purchase of pipkins, should regulate their sales, should receive all sums paid for them, and should use that revenue as he might think best for himself and the commonwealth. ‘While I was struggling in the dust and confusion of commercial life,’ I concluded, ‘I had no leisure to work out my scheme in its entirety, nor even to appreciate its serene equity—but now … now, I see, I understand, I know!’
“Carried away by the fire of my conviction, my Royal Master could no longer brook delay. He bade me put the idea in its main lines before him at once, and assured me it should at once be put into execution.
“I thereupon pulled out a paper showing that since I was fully agreeable to take no more than the cash value of the trade plus goodwill and plus certain probable gains which I might reasonably expect in the future, I would be amply compensated if I were to hand all over to the Commonwealth for the merely nominal sum of half a million dinars—500,000. ‘A sum which,’ I continued, ‘is of little moment to your Majesty; especially as it will be met by the taxation of your willing and loyal subjects.’
“The matter was at once concluded. My great act of renunciation was everywhere acclaimed with transports of public joy. Every honour was heaped upon me. The King himself pronounced my panegyric at the farewell banquet given in my honour, and an inscription was ordered to be encrusted in the most gorgeous tiles on the chief gate of the city: ‘On the tenth day of the month Shaaban in the three hundred and third year from the Flight of the Prophet, by the act of Mahmoud the Magnificent all citizens became in the matter of Pipkins his common heirs.’ ”
The Merchant had been so moved by these old memories that he had difficulty in proceeding. He was silent for a few moments, and then ended in a more subdued tone.
“The sum of 500,000 dinars, well packed, will load without discomfort some dozen camels. These and their drivers were provided me by a grateful nation. I passed out of the town at sunrise, attended by a vast concourse of the populace who pressed round me in a delirium of grateful cries, and so took my way eastward across the mountains and left this happy vale forever.”
At that moment the detestable falsetto of the Muezzin was heard from the neighbouring minaret, and the boys, all dazed at the recital of such triumphs, left the presence of their uncle as though it had been that of a God.
AL-KANTARA
That is:
The Bridge
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.