Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-06-12
A Capital Maxim.

LADY Mary Wortley Montague relates
the following story lone day, as an
ancient king of Tartary was riding with
his officers sf state they met a dervise
crying aloud, To him that will give me
a hundred dinars small pieces of money,
| will give piece of good advice The
king, attracted by this strange declara
ton, stopped, and said to the deIvlse,
What advice is this that you offer 1ui q.
hundred dinars:' Sire replied the der
wise, L shall be most thankful to tell you
as soon as you order the money to be
paid me- The king, expecting to hear
something extraordinary, ordered the di-
mars to be given to the dervise at once
on receiving which, he said, Sire, my
advice is, begin nothing without c0nsid-
ering what the end may be-
1.-The officers Of state smiling at what
they thought ridiculous advice, looked at
the king, who they expected would be SO
enraged at this insult as to order the der
wise to be severely punished. The king,
seeing their amusement and surprise
said, see nothing to laugh at in the ad-
vice Of this dervise; but, on the contrary
| am persuaded that if it were more fire..
quently practiced, men would escape
many calamities. Indeed so convinced
am L vi Llic W lSuOHI ol iHlS lldAlll, tlldt
shall have it engraved on my plate and
written on the walls Of my palace, so that
it may be ever before me- The king
! having thanked the dervise, proceeded
towards his palace; and on his arrival he
ordered the chief hey to see that the
maxim was engraved on his plate and on
the walls of his palace.
some time after this occurrence, one
of the mobiles of the court, a proud, ambi
tious man, resolved to destroy the king
and place himself on the throne In
| order to accomplish his bad purpose, he
secured the confidence Of one of the kings
surgeons, to whom he gave a poisoned
lancet saying, If you will bleed the king
with this lancet, | will give you ten thou
sand pieces of gold and when | ascend
the throne you shall be my vizier' This
base surgeon, daZzled by such brilliant
prospects, wickedly assented to the pro
| posal
AN opportunity Of cfiectlng his evil
design soon occurred. The king sent for
this man to bleed him. He put the poi
soned lancet into a side pocket, and has
| tened into the kings presence The arm
was tied, and the fatal lancet was about to
be plunged into the vein, when suddenly
the surgeons eye read this maxim at the
bottom of the basin, Begin nothing with,
out considering what the end may be-
He Immediately paused, as he thought
| within himself, If | bleed the king with
this lancet he will die, and I shall be
seized and put to cruel death Then OF
| what use VIII allEthe gold in the world be
to me" Then, returning the lancet to his
pocket, he drew forth another. The king
observing this, and perceiving that he was
much embarrassed, asked why he changed
his lancet SO suddenly. He statedfiIat
the point was broken; but the king,
doubling his statement, commanded him
to show it. This soagitated him, that the
king felt assured all was not right. He
said, There is treachery in this. Tell
me instantly what it means, OF your head
shall be severed from your body!' The
surgeon, trembling with fear, promised to
relate all to the king, if he would only
pardon his guilt The king consented
and the surgeon related the whole matter
acknowledging that had it not been for
the words in the basin, he should have
used the fatal lancet.
'Ihe king summoned his court, and
ordered the traitor to be executed Then
turning to his officers of state, he said
You now see that the advice of the der
wise, at which you laughed, is most valu-
able: it has saved my life. Search out
this dervise, that may amply reward him
tor his wise MAXIM"