their pleasure, and they yearned greatly for him, that he, too, might share in their feast.- ‘And there he stood, already, before them, and grasped their hands, and said: “Here I have come to your wedding, to turn my erstwhile blessing into a gift; pronounced over your childhood, that you might be as I. It appears to you I am a hunchback. That is an illusion and vain deception, and comes from the fact that I carry on my back all the burdens of the world, and my back is straight and strong, and it has the gift of the small thing, that masters the great. For I carry on my back all the burdens of the world—fear and suffering, satiety. All these I take upon my shoulders and I carry them. And once the wise men assembled, and they argued who really possessed the small thing that masters the great. One spoke: ‘My brain is the smallest thing that masters the great, for in my brain I bear the needs of thousands upon thousands of people, and these depend upon me, and out of my brain I feed them, and give to each his due.’ Then they laughed at his reasons and shook their heads. And another one spoke: ‘My word is. the .smallest thing that masters the great, for by the great king have I been ordained to receive all praise, and requests, and all thanks, and all utterances, either stammering or mute speech, and to bring them to him in my words. And my word uplifts them, and holds and commands.’ Then they again shook their ‚heads, and a third spoke: ‘My, silence is the small thing that masters the great, for everywhere adversaries and men of foul speech contend against me, and they vaunt themselves and pelt me with their talk, so as to defame me. . And I remain silent in regard to them, and that is my answer to all’ Then they shook ‚their heads again, and a fourth spoke: ‘My sight is the smallest thing that masters the great, for I hold in my eye the march of. the world and all its confusion, and, seeing, I guide the great blind one, the world; the, small thing, the monster. .Though its subject.altogether,.I still can lead it with my eye, that holds the procession in check.” Then they were silent, and gazed on him who had spoken. But I talked to him and said: ‘This one here is. the, ‚greatest of you, but I can surpass him, and I have the gift of the small
thing that masters the great, for I have on my back all the burdens of the world. I wish to disclose something to you.
“ ‘It is known to you that each animal knows some shade where it alone may go for rest, and each bird knows some twig on which it, too, alone may rest. But do you also know that there is a tree whose shade all beasts of the field and whose twigs all birds of heaven may choose for themselves as a resting-place ?’ Then they said, ‘We know it well from our ancestors, and we know that all joy of life is nothing beside the great joy of dwelling at the tree, for all creatures are related there, and so play together. But we have no knowledge how we can get to.the tree, for one says we must go to the east, aud the others think that the west leads to the tree, and we cannot find out’ ‘Why do you search by which path you desire to reach the tree? Search first who and who and what manner of men there are who can reach the tree. For it is not given to all, and only to those who have the gift of the tree. For the tree has three roots, out of which its gifts are formed. One is called “Faith,” the other root “Fidelity,” the third “Humility,” and “Truth” is the trunk of the tree, and only he who has all these things can come to the tree’ At this they accepted my words, and, though they did not possess all the virtues, they decided to wait until they were worthy. And those who lacked perfection strove and struggled to attain it. In the moment, though, that at last the gifts were equally allotted, they all knew how, suddenly, the way became illuminated, and they prepared themselves to depart, and left their homes. And I went with them. And we journey a long time before, from the distance, we saw and caught a glimpse of the tree. Then they gazed and saw. And see! there stood the tree in no place; it stood there, and still had no place, and no space was around it, and it was separated from all space. And the people were bewildered as how to attain it. But I spoke to them: ‘I am he who can bring you to the tree. For it stands above space; and because I carry all the burdens of the world, I carry in that way the small, that’ masters the great. I have bound up space in myself, and annihiliated the trace of its soul, and there-