On Buying and Selling

And a merchant said, Speak to us ofBuying and Selling.

And he answered and said:

To you the earth yields her fruit, andyou shall not want if you but know howto fill your hands.

It is in exchanging the gifts of theearth that you shall find abundance andbe satisfied.

Yet unless the exchange be in love andkindly justice, it will but lead some togreed and others to hunger.

When in the market place you toilers ofthe sea and fields and vineyards meetthe weavers and the potters and thegatherers of spices,--

Invoke then the master spirit of theearth, to come into your midst andsanctify the scales and the reckoningthat weighs value against value.

And suffer not the barren-handed to takepart in your transactions, who wouldsell their words for your labour.

To such men you should say,

“Come with us to the field, or go withour brothers to the sea and cast yournet;

For the land and the sea shall bebountiful to you even as to us.”

And if there come the singers and thedancers and the flute players,--buy oftheir gifts also.

For they too are gatherers of fruit andfrankincense, and that which they bring,though fashioned of dreams, is raimentand food for your soul.

And before you leave the market place,see that no one has gone his way withempty hands.

For the master spirit of the earth shallnot sleep peacefully upon the windtill the needs of the least of you aresatisfied.