The Madman: His Parables and Poems. Kahlil Gibran

dark, and he cried, “O thou cursed coward, thou wouldst not fight.”

      On Giving and Taking

      Once there lived a man who had a valley-full of needles. And one day the mother of Jesus came to him and said: “Friend, my son's garment is torn and I must needs mend it before he goeth to the temple. Wouldst thou not give me a needle?”

      And he gave her not a needle, but he gave her a learned discourse on Giving and Taking to carry to her son before he should go to the temple.

      The Seven Selves

      In the stillest hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whisper:

      First Self: Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and now I rebel.

      Second Self: Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given to me to be this madman's joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts. It is I that would rebel against my weary existence.

      Third Self: And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would rebel against this madman.

      Fourth Self: I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was given me but odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would protest against serving this madman.