The Parable of the Chanticleer

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 181, 2 May 1925, Page 13

The Parable of the Chanticleer

~» . y HERE spake unto me a man who said: [] “Thon and all thy tribe of Philosophers are given to taking I thyselves Too Seriously. || “And 1 answered and said, There are woise crimes than that, . ana even of the one thou namest we have no monopoly. “And he said, Thou and thy kind art Obsessed with the Idea that if thou canst teach the world a Little More of what thou believest Truth, the Milennium will dome Chasing Across Lots. “And he said, It may be that/it would. “And he said, Thou art of the same sort as the Roostey who doth imagine that it is important that he Crow in order that he may wake the Dawn. . “And I said, I believe that Simile is Not Original with thee. I have seen a Play which is based on that same Big Idea. But I will not lay that against thee. Ideas are Few, and if we waited for Original Ones, ( most even of the Philosophers would have Long Intervals Between Thinks. “And I said, I will not quarrel with thee about the Obsession of Chanticleer. Rather will I commend him and all who are of his way of thinking. Perchance he is right. "And the man answered and said, Can Folly go further than this? i “And I answered, Yea, it can go much further. Hast thou ever known a Dawn when no Cock crew? Who knoweth what would happen to the Dawn if all the Cocks were silent? “And he said, Thy Philosophy is but another for Folly.

-A.a , .ya, ... wo .»ar. Dawn if there; weie no c o bee u'anv Dawn since Records began to be prove from H,istor> that there j wiu uot stop there . O f what made when theye is as no wo ke ’ Even if Chanticleer be not Quite use were the Dawn if no na - Co rrect in his Ethicks and Correct about the Astronomy of his theoij, lie SOC '“Xnd he said, Does thou suppose that .thy Crowing doth bring in the ! T No I have never supposed that it was any part of my Job he said, Thv sleep would have been of more worth to thee. "And I said I have sometimes thought so. Yet bath Providence been so good to me that now and then I have heard the protesting voice of a sleep wakened bv my tall, who at the first did grumble but did not go to sleep but woke mid dia Man’s Job for a day, and blest me when the day had endel Therefore shall I continue to Proclaim the Morning, even though I be well assured that the Sun can Get Up without my Assistance. "‘And this I said, not for myself alone, but for all Prophets and aU Huh osophers, and all who Cry Out in the Darkness to a Sleepy World. Ours is a share in the Dawn.”—Safed the Sage.