Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story WriterFansler, Harriott Ely
General
Types of Prose Narratives: A Text-Book for the Story Writer
Fansler, Harriott Ely
English prose literature; Storytelling
14. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.
15. Love ever so well, there is also hate; hate ever so much, there is
also love.
16. To rise early is not everything; happy are they who have the help
of God.
17. By asking, one finds the way to Jerusalem.
18. When God gives, he gives with both hands.
19. Until you see trouble you will never know joy.
20. We are intelligence, that we may be will.
21. Act only on that maxim which thou couldst will to become a
universal law.
=The Three Questions=
It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right
time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to
listen to, and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what
was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he
might undertake.
And this thought having occurred to him, he had it proclaimed
throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to any one
who would teach him what was the right time for every action, and who
were the most necessary people, and how he might know what was the most
important thing to do.
And learned men came to the King, but they all answered his questions
differently.
In reply to the first question, some said that to know the right time
for every action, one must draw up in advance, a table of days, months
and years, and must live strictly according to it. Only thus, said
they, could everything be done at its proper time. Others declared
that it was impossible to decide beforehand the right time for every
action; but that, not letting oneself be absorbed in idle pastimes,
one should always attend to all that was going on, and then do what
was most needful. Others, again, said that however attentive the King
might be to what was going on, it was impossible for one man to decide
correctly what is the right time for every action, but that he should
have a Council of wise men, who would help him to fix the proper time
for everything.
But then again others said there were some things which could not wait
to be laid before a Council, but about which one had at once to decide
whether to undertake them or not. But in order to decide that, one must
know beforehand what was going to happen. It is only magicians who know
that; and, therefore, in order to know the right time for every action,
one must consult magicians.
Equally various were the answers to the second question. Some said,
the people the King most needed were his councillors; others, the
priests; others, the doctors; while some said the warriors were the
most necessary.
To the third question, as to what was the most important occupation:
some replied that the most important thing in the world was science.
Others said it was skill in warfare; and others, again, that it was
religious worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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