On Buying & Selling
And a merchant said, "Speak to us of Buying and
Selling."
And he answered and said:
To you the earth yields her fruit, and you shall not
want if you but know how to fill your hands.
It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you
shall find abundance and be satisfied.
Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice,
it will but lead some to greed and others to hunger.
When in the market place you toilers of the sea and
fields and vineyards meet the weavers and the potters and the gatherers
of spices, -
Invoke then the master spirit of the earth, to come into
your midst and sanctify the scales and the reckoning that weighs value
against value.
And suffer not the barren-handed to take part in your
transactions, who would sell their words for your labour.
To such men you should say,
"Come with us to the field, or go with our brothers to
the sea and cast your net;
For the land and the sea shall be bountiful to you even
as to us."
And if there come the singers and the dancers and the
flute players, - buy of their gifts also.
For they too are gatherers of fruit and frankincense,
and that which they bring, though fashioned of dreams, is raiment and
food for your soul.
And before you leave the marketplace, see that no one
has gone his way with empty hands.
For the master spirit of the earth shall not sleep
peacefully upon the wind till the needs of the least of you are
satisfied.