A man destitute of resources, who dwelt in a ditch dug for a canal, borrowed a donkey from a neighbour; then he fell fast asleep upon the millstone of a mill, and the donkey escaped. Thereupon a wolf tore the donkey to pieces and devoured it. The next day, he from whom the donkey had been borrowed demanded its price from the former. The two men came running along the road to the engineer of the ditch; they related the matter to him, and asked him who was to repay the price of the donkey that had been lent. “It is every hungry wolf,” replied the engineer, “that appears in the desolate plain, who is justly bound to pay the price of this donkey, and you must both demand it of him.”
O God! how well the wolf will make this reparation, for is not everything he does a reparation?
What did not befall the women of Egypt because a beautiful creature passed by them? What is there, then, astonishing in a madman experiencing an extraordinary sensation at the sight of a palace? So long as he is in this exceptional state, he will look neither before nor behind. He will speak of everything through himself and for himself; he will seek everything through himself and for himself.
O God! how well the wolf will make this reparation, for is not everything he does a reparation?
What did not befall the women of Egypt because a beautiful creature passed by them? What is there, then, astonishing in a madman experiencing an extraordinary sensation at the sight of a palace? So long as he is in this exceptional state, he will look neither before nor behind. He will speak of everything through himself and for himself; he will seek everything through himself and for himself.