The Denver Jewish news., 1920-01-21

Before me stands the picture Of a
vile person" d
And one after another the seven
wis. men began to rcvile and defame
The portrait:
He hns selfish ambitions. He Graves
for dominion
Ills mind is evil. His eye is
coveteous.''
He loves honor and hates Justice
| He loves bribe and fosters corrup-
ton"
He is arrogant and disdainful."
Thus one after anO,her the seven
wise men aspersed and vilified the
picture OF the great deliverer.
"Siience, you fools." thundered the
cnrnged king, have you all assembled
10 mock me? DO you know whose
likeness this etching represents? 1t
is the picture of the man of God,
Moses, whose name alone commands
the respect and veneration Of man
kind. And you, my, great and learned
men, discovered in him character OF
the basest man God had ever ere
nted only now fully understand how
worthless your learning is
Trembling with fear the chief of the
seven wise men fell upon his knees
Gnd spoke:
Our Lord and Master! Hearken
to ME your servant. Our studies are
perfect and our deductions are fault
less. 1t is the fault Of the artist. He
md probably mistaken some other per-
Son for Moses and thus he deluded
us. 1t is he who deserves punishment
The artist, however, was positive that
he had not mistaken the identity OF
| the man of God and rlat the picture
was tile real lifelike likeness Of Moses.
| Not being able to decide whether
the wise men or the artist were right
the king decided to visit the great
ruan and see and judge for himself.
| The Arabian King with his retinue
departed for the wilderness wherein
the man Of God camped.
| Upon reaching the camp the king
cspied from the distance man who
was the exact prototype of the etching
Of the artist.
who is the man yonder?" inquired
the king.
why, this is our great leader,
Moses :" was the astonished reply.
Amazed, the king asked to be pre-
sentt.h to Moses. His request was
quickly granted and very soon the
king faced the man whose likeness
the artist so well portrayed.
| The Arabian king related to Moses
the cause of his visit, the quarrel be-
+, id:
| Before having had the honor of
seeing your sunlike face was In
ciined to believe that the artist had
not done Justice to his mission. Now
that have met you face TO face am
fully convinced that my wise men are
IDIOTS, that their teaching is valueless,
nay, worse, it is deceitful."
Moses looked upon the king with
his radiant eyes and sOlemnly said:
My dear king? Your seven wise
men are indeed very learned, they are
honest, upright AMI Trustworthy. SO
is your artist. They all know their
work to perfection. Be proud, my king,
of your servants. Eve. .ything they
said about me, all their deductions
from the outlines Of my face are cor
rect. They did not exasgerate. Nay,
even worse characteristics cnn be trac-
ed to my person. i was not born, oh
king, as the world knows me today. If
l had possessed the virtues the world
/ attributes to me at the time of my
birth, what credit would then have
been due to me? Yes, my dear friend,
all these evil traits are inherent to
my person. They are my hidden III
tiinsic, native traits. Their traces are
indelibly written into the outlines OF
my face and the wise, penetrating eye
can discern them. However, l be-
came master of myself. 1 subdued my
.congenital wild instincts. 1 had
lad hard struggle, but eventually
emerged new person. BY strenuous
endeavors l came out of the struggle
cleansed and purified, and thus l find
favor in the eyes of God and men,"
And With radiant smile upon his
sunlike face. Moses sent off the Ara
Gian king to his land and to his people
wiser ruler than when he came
Tageblatt.