Page:Jewish Fairy Book (Gerald Friedlander).djvu/46

30 Monobazus: "My purpose is to feed the starving poor in my kingdom."

This answer led them to say: "Thy fathers gathered treasures, but thou hast squandered them."

Monobazus: "My fathers laid up treasures upon earth, but I lay up treasures in Heaven. My fathers gathered them into treasuries over which the hand of man hath power; I have stored mine in a treasury over which the hand of man hath no power. My fathers gathered that which bears no fruit, whilst I have gathered that which yields fruit. My fathers gathered wealth: whilst I have gathered souls. My fathers gathered for this world; I have gathered for the world to come, even as it is said in Holy Writ.—'Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but charity delivereth from death'" (Prov. x. 2). Palestinian Talmud, Peah i, 1, 15b.