Volume 2

The Unjust Steward
147
same stamp, and spent their time in carousing. All on a
sudden, I saw the lord coming. Far over a high mountain
range, I saw a magnificent city and palace from which a
most beautiful road led straight to the plantation. Then I
saw the king and his whole court coming down with a
great caravan of camels and little, low chariots drawn by
asses. I sawall this very much as I see paths coming down
from the heavenly Jerusalem. The king was a heavenly
king who owned a wheat and olive field on this earth. But
he came in the manner of the patriarchal kings, attended
by a great retinue. I saw him coming down from on high,
for that little fellow, the steward, had been accused to him
of dissipating his revenues.
The lord's debtors were two persons in long coats buttoned
all the way down. The steward wore a little cap.
The castle of the latter was nearer the desert than the
wheat and olive plantation, on either side of which the
peasants lived. That was nlore toward the land of Canaan,
and formed a triangle with the castle. And now came the
lord down over the cornfield. The two debtors had squandered
the fruits of the field with the steward, although
toward their dependents they were hard and exacting.
They were two bad parish priests, and the steward a
bishop far from good; or again, it was like a worldling
putting his affairs in order. The steward, having espied
the coming of his lord while yet he was a long way off,
fell into the greatest anxiety. He prepared a grand feast,
and became very active and servile. When the lord arrived,
he thus addressed the steward: "Why, what is this
that I hear of thee, that thou dost squander my property!
Render an account, for thou shalt no longer be my
steward!" Then I saw the steward hurriedly summoning
the two peasants. They presented themselves carrying
rolls, which they opened. He questioned them as to the
amount of their indebtedness, for of that he was utterly ignorant,
and they showed it to him. With the crooked reed