THE GOOD WORD ACCORDING TO · THE ULTRA-HARRIER
WILLIE
The story of the prodigal sonsThe Banquet in Philadelphia
Chapter 69
And then, as the followers looked one to another in bewilderment, Harry told them a astory, in these words:
2bThere was once a father who had two children, and he loved them equally, and divided up all his belongings, and said to them, “Here are all my belongings, which will belong to you one day.
3“For now, I wish to show you which of you shall get which belongings, so that you will know that I love you equally, and have not given more to the one than the other.”
4But when they had seen the belongings that would come to them, the two sons were surprised at how many belongings their father had amassed, and grew cdesirous of enjoying them right away.
5dSo they soon approached their father and said, “Father, you are old and we are young, and we would like to enjoy our belongings now, while we still have our health.”
6And because the father loved his two sons, he did as they asked, and gave them all his belongings, divided in the way he had promised, keeping out only the smallest part of them so that he could still buy food and have a eroof over his head.
7When they saw that their father had held back some of his belongings, the two sons were vexed and fangry, and reproached their father, saying, g“This is not what you promised, and truly we believe that you never loved us and never cared about us, but are a selfish old man, and we hate you.”
8Then they took their new belongings and departed from their father, uttering many more harsh words as they went,
9And went to a great city, and spent everything they had on hfast cars, and iloose women, and jintoxicants of every variety, until they ran out of kmoney, and had no choice but to return home.
10When they approached their father’s miserable one-room apartment, they were afraid of his wrath, and all the lterrible things he would say to them, but they had nowhere else to go.
11But when he saw them on the doorstep, their father knew immediately what had happened and said, “I am happy you are home, boys. I have missed you terribly, and if I had any money we would celebrate your return, but if we are all thrifty, then the three of us can just get by on what we have left. But that is all right, because this is our home, and I am your family, and this is where you belong.”a
12Then the sons realized that their father had spoken the truth before, and really didn’t have any more belongings to give them, and so they denounced their father, and told him he was a worthless bbold fool, and departed from home forever.
13And when Harry had completed this story, the followers said, “How does the story answer our questions? There is no moral at all that we can see, and besides, it doesn’t make any sense. We can’t believe that the father would just welcome them home like that.”
14Whereupon Harry said, Then I will give you a different ending. When the two sons returned home, their father cursed and reviled them for their cingratitude, and sent them out of their home forever.
15Is that ending more to your liking?
16For a moment, the followers acted as if they would think about the story Harry had told,
17But then thought better of it,
18And told Harry the story was fine.
19Then Harry smiled at them and said, Now let us go for a walk in the park and pick up some women,
20For it is a nice day, and I am tired of stories.
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Chapter 69 / 78