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8. Dabble not. Select thy wares and become conversant with them.
Who can know both shoes and jewels at the same time?
Deal in the very best thou canst afford. Who will buy from one
who hath no faith in his own goods?
10. Be patient in thy dealings. Courtesy and wit are gold. Anger and
spite are brass.
11. Cheat not. Thy customer will remember thee and shall never
return.
12. Revenge thyself not on him who hath dealt falsely with thee. No
profit is to be found in revenge.
13. Be ever watchful of the servant with ambition. If he is stupid, he
will steal from thee. If he is clever, he will supplant thee.
14. Traffic only in tangible things. Who can weigh the wind or
measure a promise?
15. Store up gold. Time cannot tarnish it, nor fashion cheapen. Trade
thy gold only in the certainty of bringing in more.*
The merchant class has been greatly neglected in fantasy, but wrongly. This
Tolnedran
greed' added an interesting side-light to the character of our heroine. Ce'Nedra
loves
money.
THE SERMON OF ALDUR
Unto his Disciples
* As mentioned in the Introduction this was a false start. We were still groping
around the
edges of 'the Will and the Word' when it was written, and this was an attempt to
define it
and to set some limits, the most important being that you have to believe that
it is going to
work. This 'power' is essentially Godlike. (And God said, 'Let there BE light!
And there
WAS light.') The King james version is poetic, but some of its translations are
highly
questionable. The West Saxon translation (eighth century) uses the word
'Geworcht' ('Make' or
'construct') instead of that oversimplification 'BE'. This suggests that there's
a certain
amount of effort involved in the process.
I say unto thee that the world was
truely made with a word,. For the
Seven joined together and spake the one word - Be
And the world was.
I say again, in the speaking of the word was the world made, and
all that is in the world was made thus. And Truly, I say unto thee
also, thus may the world be unmade.
* This is that 'unmaking' business that we finally prohibited.