On Buying and Selling

And a merchant said, Speak to us of

Buying and Selling.

     And he answered and said:

     To you the earth yields her fruit, and you

shall not want if you but know how to fill

your hands.

     It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth

that you shall find abundance and be satisfied.

     Yet unless the exchange be in love and

kindly justice, it will but lead some to greed

and others to hunger.

 

     When in the market place you toilers of

the sea and fields and vineyards meet the

weavers and the potters and the gatherers of

spices,—

     Invoke then the master spirit of the earth,

to come into your midst and sanctify the

scales and the reckoning that weighs value

against value.

 

     And suffer not the barren-handed to take

part in your transactions, who would sell

their words for your labour.

     To such men you should say,

      “Come with us to the field, or go with

our brothers to the sea and cast your net;

     For the land and the sea shall be bountiful

to you even as to us.”

 

     And if there come the singers and the

dancers and the flute players,—buy of their

gifts also.

     For they too are gatherers of fruit and

frankincense, and that which they bring,

though fashioned of dreams, is raiment

 and food for your soul.

 

     And before you leave the market place,

see that no one has gone his way with

empty hands.

     For the master spirit of the earth shall

not sleep peacefully upon the wind till the

needs of the least of you are satisfied.