Page:William-morris-and-the-early-days-of-the-socialist-movement.djvu/92

Rh on the Revolt of Ghent, and on John Ball and the Peasants' Revolt in England in Richard II's day, in which I hope to make this better understood in the movement.'

This theme seemed to call his thoughts back to olden times, and he told us many stories and sayings illustrative of the Socialist ideas and customs of bygone days. He repeated to us the verses 'Mine and Thine' translated by him from the Flemish of the fourteenth century, which were afterwards published in the Commonweal and in his 'Poems by the Way.' One of the stories which he told with great relish was of two monks in the early Church who were discussing the causes of enmity and war amongst mankind. 'It is all owing to private property,' said one of the two monks. 'But what is private property?' asked the other. His companion explained to him that private property was any kind of thing which one person alleged belonged to himself, and which no one else had any right to, but there was always someone else who would be claiming possession of it, and thus the two claimants would fall fighting each other for it. 'Dost thou now understand, brother?' asked the first monk. 'Nay, brother, I do not,' replied the other. 'Well, let me show thee. It is this way: Thou shalt say to me that the missal which is in thine hand is thine, and I shall say "Nay, brother, it is mine," and shall seek to take it from thee. Thereupon thou must refuse to let me take it: and forthwith thou and I shall strive against each other for it. Now, brother, let us begin. I now say to thee that the missal which is in thine hand is mine, and therefore thou must give it to me.' Whereupon the other monk, instead of refusing him the missal and withholding it, replied 'Why, brother, if the missal be thine, surely thou shalt have it,' and so saying he yielded up the missal ungrudgingly. And thus the good monk's object-lesson all came to naught.

Morris chuckled gleefully in telling this story. He then suggested that we should have some singing; he wanted, he said, to hear some of our old Scottish songs.