• Author: Unknown
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 6
• Page Number:
• Date: 3 14 1917
• Tags:
• joke

Advice Never Before HeardA well-known traveler tells a story picked up while in the East, showing how a mean man's philosophy overshoots itself. Under the reign of the first Caliph there was a merchant of Bagdad equally rich and avari- cious . .One day he bargained with a porter to carry home for him a basket of porcelain vases for ten paras. As they went along, he said to the man, ''My friend; you are young and I am old; you can still earn plenty. Strike a para from your hire." "Willingly!" re- plied the porter. This request was repeated again and again, until, when they reached the house, the porter had only a. single para to receive. As they went upstairs, the merchant said: "If you will resign the last para I will give you three pieces of advice." "Be it so," said the porter. ''Well then,'' said the mer- chant, ''if any one tells you it is better to be fasting than feasting, do not believe him.If any one tells you it is better to be poor than rich, do not believe him. If any one tells you it is better to walk than to ride in a carriage, do not believe him." "My dear sir,'' replied the astonished porter, ''1 knew these things before; but if you will listen to me, I will give you such advice as you never heard before." The merchant turned around and the porter, throwing the basket down the staircase, said: "If any one tells you that one of your vases is unbroken, do not believe him.''