第12章 The Good Son 孝顺的儿子

There was once a jeweler, noted for many virtues. One day, the Jewish elders came to him to buy some diamonds,to put upon that part of the dress of their high priest,which the Bible calls an ephod.

They told him what they wanted, and offered him a fair price for the diamonds. He replied that he could not let them see the jewels at that moment, and requested them to call again.

As they wanted them without delay, and thought that the object of the jeweler was only to increase the price of the diamonds, the elders offered him twice, then three times, as much as they were worth. But he still refused, and they went away in very bad humor.

Some hours after, he went to them, and placed before them the diamonds, for which they again offered him the last price they had named; but he said, "I will only accept the first one you offered to me this morning."

"Why, then, did you not close with us at once?" asked they in surprise. "When you came," replied he, "my father had the key of the chest, in which the diamonds were kept, and as he was asleep, I should have been obliged to wake him to obtain them.

"At his age, a short hour of sleep does him a great deal of good; and for all the gold in the world, I would not be wanting in respect to my father, or take from him a single comfort."

The elders, affected by these feeling words, spread their hands upon the jeweler's head, and said, "Thou shalt be blessed of Him who has said, 'Honor thy father and thy mother';and thy children shall one day pay thee the same respect and love thou hast shown to thy father."

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曾经有一个珠宝商，他因品行端正而受人爱戴。一天，几个年纪较大的犹太人到他的珠宝店买珠宝，他们想把珠宝镶在代表他们最高权力的长袍上，《圣经》把这些长袍称作法衣。

他们向珠宝商描述了他们想要的珠宝的样子，并给出了合适的价位。但珠宝商说，他们不能立刻看到想要的珠宝，他们还得再来一趟。

但是那几位犹太老人急需珠宝，不想耽搁。他们以为珠宝商是想要更高的价钱，就出了两倍、三倍，甚至更高的价钱，但珠宝商依然拒绝了。几位老者情绪低落地离开了。

过了几个小时，珠宝商去拜访了起初那几位老者。到了之后，他将他们想要的珠宝放在了他们面前。老人们要支付最后答应的价格，可珠宝商却说：“我只要早上你们第一次出的价格。”

“为什么？最初你为什么不和我们做这笔生意呢？”老人们惊奇地问。“你们来的时候，存放珠宝的柜子是锁着的，我的父亲拿着钥匙，但那时候他正在睡觉，我不能打扰他休息。

“到父亲这个年龄，睡一小时的觉对他是有很大好处的。就算给我世界上所有的金钱，我也不会去打扰他休息。”

几位老者被他的话深深地打动了，他们伸出手轻拍着珠宝商的头说：“孝敬你的父亲和母亲，以后你的儿女也会像你孝敬父母一样孝敬你，愿上帝保佑你。”