Death Speaks - Taken from “To cut a long story short” By Jeffrey Archer.
There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions . In a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said: “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw that it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samara and there death will not find me”. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. The merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said:”Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning”?
“That was one threatening gesture”, I said, “it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samara.”
Here we can see that Death, is the storyteller and that the man is running away from death to death itself. Ironic dont you think. And he think hes cheating death. All in all the moral of the story is YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE YOUR FATE!
Dont you just love the intricacy of poetry! :)
1) Supplies
2) To knock or bump against somebody
3) Riding a horse
