Free Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha by Gui de Cambrai, Peggy McCracken Page B

fell and the dragon ate him.
    â€œI have recounted this parable to you, but I have not yet explained it,” Barlaam continued. “The unicorn represents death, which constantly pursues the body. Do you know what the deep pit is? Good friend, it is the world, where we would live in fear if we recognized the danger of the dragon that lay below and wanted to grasp the man in the tree. The dragon represents hell, which takes sinners. The tree is our life. It is continuously gnawed by the two animals in the pit—one is the day, the other is the night. The fruit hanging from the tree represents the delights of the world, and the sweetness that comes from the fruit represents the devil, who entices men with sweetness and makes them sin. Learn this well: there is nothing in the world as sweet as sin to those who grow accustomed to it. Once desire is ignited, it is difficult to refrain from sin, and it takes great effort to resist gathering and eating the fruit when it appears so sweet and desirable. While man forgets himself eating the sweet fruit, the beasts gnaw away at his life, and he is dead before he even notices the threat. When his soul leaves his body and the dragon’s maw takes him, he understands that his gluttony for the sweetness of the fruit has led to great suffering. I tell you that this fruit is filled with poison. The sweetness represents the sin that poisons the fruit. Whoever takes such fruit eats his own death.”
    Josaphat was pleased to learn the meaning of the story. He asked Barlaam to tell him other parables, for he was eager to hear stories that would teach him how to shun the world and its pleasures. “Master,” he said, “tell me more!”
    Barlaam said, “I will tell you a story about a king and his steward. The king loved the steward and gave him authority over a large part of his country. The steward accepted the land and managed it for his lord. He had three friends, two of whom he loved and cherished. He shared his wealth with them and made them great lords in his land. He did whatever he could for them. He was less generous with the third friend, who was an intimate of the king. The steward feared him more than he loved him. However, if he had known that one day this friend would intercede with the king on his behalf, he would have loved him better.
    â€œThe steward did not wish to lose the affection of the first two friends, and he compromised himself to show his love for them. He broke many vows for their sakes and lied for them frequently. He did not keep faith with his neighbors or his lord, and he wronged many people and had many put to death. He loved and cherished the two men so much that they should have returned his love—they should have been his friends.
    â€œOne day the king summoned the steward for a reckoning. The steward had managed the king’s land for a long time, and the king wished him to account for how and where he had used the country’s wealth. The steward was surprised and troubled, for he feared he had been betrayed. Then he thought of a way he could defend himself. He would ask his three friends for help.
    â€œHe went to the first friend and humbly asked for his aid. He needed his friend’s support urgently, he explained, for he had to render an accounting before the king. ‘Good friend, tell me how I can explain my actions so that I do not incur blame. I have wronged my lord greatly, for I do not know what I have done with his land and its wealth, and now he wants them back. I will lose my lord’s love because I sold his land for you. I have given you everything I owned, to make you wealthy. I have put all my silver and all my gold into your treasury, and everything I own is under your control. Now I need your help—do not withhold your support from me, for you know that one should respond to a friend in need. Help me now, I beg you!’
    â€œâ€˜I do not know why I should help you,” his