deed!" cried Pheraulas, "men who live by their
hands, you mean. My father, I can tell you, had work enough to rear me
and get me a boy's schooling; he had to toil hard and live sparely, and
when I grew to be a lad he could not afford to keep me idle, he took me
to a farm in the country and set me there to work it. [38] Then it was
my turn, and I supported him while he lived, digging with my own hands
and sowing the seed in a ridiculous little plot of ground, and yet it
was not a bad bit of soil either, but as good and as honest earth as
ever you saw: whatever seed it got from me, it paid me back again, and
so prettily and carefully and duly, principal and interest both; not
that the interest was very much, I won't say it was, though once or
twice, out of pure generosity, that land gave me twice was much as I put
into it. That's how I used to live at home, in the old days: to-day it's
different, and all that you see here I owe to Cyrus."

[39] Then the Sakian cried:

"O lucky fellow! Lucky in everything, and most of all in coming to
wealth from beggary! I know your riches must taste the sweeter, because
you hungered for them first and now are full."

[40] But Pheraulas answered:

"Do you really think, my friend, that my joy in life has grown with the
growth of my wealth? Do you not know," he went on, "that I neither eat
nor drink nor sleep with any more zest than I did when I was poor? What
I get by all these goods is simply this: I have more to watch over, more
to distribute, and more trouble in looking after more. [41] I have a
host of servants now, one set asking me for food, another for drink,
another for clothing, and some must have the doctor, and then a herdsman
comes, carrying the carcase of some poor sheep mangled by the wolves, or
perhaps with an ox that has fallen down a precipice, or maybe he has to
tell me that a murrain has broken out among my flocks. It seems to me,"
Pheraulas ended, "that I suffer more to-day through having much than
ever I did before through having nothing."

[42] "But--Heaven help us!" cried the Sakian, "surely, when it is all
safe, to see so much of your own must make you much happier than me?"

"I assure you, my friend," said Pheraulas, "the possession of riches
is nothing like so sweet as the loss of them is painful. And here is a
proof for you: no rich man lies awake from pure joy at his wealth, but
did you ever know a man who could close his eyes when he was losing?"

[43] "