her thou shalt
save thy sire, and in wondrous fashion be styled the spiritual father
of thy father?

"I have heard that, once upon a time, there was a king who governed his
kingdom right well, and dealt kindly and gently with his subjects, only
failing in this point, that he was not rich in the light of the
knowledge of God, but held fast to the errors of idolatry. Now he had
a counsellor, which was a good man and endued with righteousness toward
God and with all other virtuous wisdom. Grieved and vexed though he
was at the error of the king, and willing to convince him thereof, he
nevertheless drew back from the attempt, for fear that he might earn
trouble for himself and his friends, and cut short those services which
he rendered to others. Yet sought he a convenient season to draw his
sovereign toward that which was good. One night the king said unto
him, "Come now, let us go forth and walk about the city, if haply we
may see something to edify us." Now while they were walking about the
city, they saw a ray of light shining through an aperture. Fixing
their eyes thereon, they descried an underground cavernous chamber, in
the forefront of which there sat a man, plunged in poverty, and clad in
rags and tatters. Beside him stood his wife, mixing wine. When the man
took the cup in his hands, she sung a clear sweet melody, and delighted
him by dancing and cozening him with flatteries. The king's companions
observed this for a time, and marvelled that people, pinched by such
poverty as not to afford house and raiment, yet passed their lives in
such good cheer. The king said to his chief counsellor, 'Friend, how
marvellous a thing it is, that our life, though bright with such honour
and luxury, hath never pleased us so well as this poor and miserable
life doth delight and rejoice these fools: and that this life, which
appeareth to us so cruel and abominable, is to them sweet and
alluring!' The chief counsellor seized the happy moment and said, 'But
to thee, O king, how seemeth their life?' 'Of all that I have ever
seen,' quoth the king, 'the most hateful and wretched, the most
loathsome and abhorrent.' Then spake the chief counsellor unto him,
"Such, know thou well, O king, and even more unendurable is our life
reckoned by those who are initiated into the sight of the mysteries of
yonder everlasting glory, and the blessings that pass all
understanding. Your palaces glittering with gold, and these splendid
garm