The Gold Lender
of Babylon
Fifty pieces of gold! Never before had Rodan the spearmaker of old Babylon carried so much gold in his leather wallet. Happily down the king’s highway from the palace of his most liberal Majesty he strode. Cheerfully the gold clinked as the wallet at his belt swayed with each step—the sweetest music he had ever heard.
Fifty pieces of gold! All his! He could hardly realize his good fortune. What power in those clinking discs! They could purchase anything be wanted, a grand house, land, cattle, camels, horses, chariots, whatever he might desire.
What use should he make of it? This evening as he turned into a side street towards the home of his sister, he could think of nothing he would rather possess than those same glittering heavy pieces of gold—his to keep.
It was upon another evening some days later that a perplexed Rodan entered the shop of Mathon, the lender of gold and dealer in jewels and rare fabrics. Glancing neither to the right nor the left at the colorful articles artfully displayed, he passed through to the living quarters at the rear. Here he found the genteel Mathon lounging upon a rug partaking of a meal served by an ebony slave.
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