Free Ten Tales Tall and True by Alasdair Gray

says ‘Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.’ Peter says the same: ‘Above all things have fervent love among yourselves.’ John goes further: ‘God is love.’ And Jesus gave us a commandment which makes all laws needless for those who obey it: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and your neighbour as yourself.’ Remembering this, let us return to Paul
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    Love suffereth long, and is kind; Love envieth not, and isnotpuffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked
…
    â€œExcuse me for butting in again but I’ve been giving some thought to your problem.”
    is not easily provoked
…
    â€œI think I see where the solution lies.”
    is not easily provoked
…
    â€œI know as well as you do that sex is not the reason for everything but…”
    â€œYAAAAEEEE HELP BARMAN HELP!!!!”
    â€œFor Christ’s sake …”
    â€œRight, what’s happening here?”
    â€œBarman, this man nipped me.”
    â€œShe’s a liar, I never touched her!”
    â€œYes you touched me. I asked you again and again not to, but for twenty minutes you’ve sat here nip nip nipping my head like, like a bloody husband. Please get him off me, barman.”
    â€œRight you – outside. This is not the first time I’ve seen you at this game. Out you go.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I’m leaving. But let me tell you something: that woman is a nut case – a religious nut case.”
    â€œShut your mouth and clear out.”
    is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away
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    â€œThe old man who was pestering you has gone, Missus. You won’t even see him in the street outside – he’s slipped into the pub next door.”
    â€œThank you. I’m sorry I troubled you but he insisted on pestering me.”
    â€œI understand that Missus, and I’m very sorry that now I must ask you to leave also.”
    â€œWhy?
Why
?”
    â€œSolitary women are liable to stir up trouble as you have just noticed. This is not your sort of pub. Try one nearer the top of the road.”
    â€œWill you allow me to finish my drink?”
    â€œCertainly. Of course. Don’t rush it, take your time. It’s the last you’ll be served here.”
    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, Love, these three; but the greatest of these is Love
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    â€œI’m sorry Missus but you have to leave now, at once, whether you’ve finished your pint or not. We cannot have a woman weeping in the corner of the bar. It spoils people’s pleasure.”

The Marriage Feast
    I met Jesus Christ only once, in Cana, at some sort of marriage feast. I say “feast” because that word was distinctly printed on the invitation card, though it aroused expectations which were not fulfilled, for the parents of the bride had either pretentions beyond their incomes or were downright stingy. The waiters’ tardiness in refilling our glasses suggested the booze was in short supply, and long before we finished the unappetizing main course there was none to be had. The person most obviously upset about this was a little old Jewish lady who had