On the Eighth day - chapter 6; verses 18 – 20

And so did Hollandé return from his summer palace, refresh’ed and once more ready to enter the fray. For daily had he there bathed in ass’s milk, his brow soothed by sea zephyrs and his body anointed in precious oils. Thus did his entourage travel with purpose back to the capitol, though the messiah did note’eth the lack of palm fronds strewn in his path, for the peasants, so recently enamored of his promises, had seen’eth aught for their support appear upon their meager tables.

Yet such impudence was of no import to the chosen one, for he had set upon his path and would waver not. And so did he call his priests to council. ‘As I decreed but four cycles of the moon past, we shall now garner from the rich their due’ said the messiah, his chest swelling and his mighty oratory echoing from the cloisters above ‘for they are but leaches and unworthy to hold their treasure; Henceforth, they shall keep but one quarter of that which they earn beyondeth a million talents, for do we not know far better the ends to which such gold should be used. And should they and their families be cast into the gutters, I shall pity them not’.

And as his master’s face suffused into the colour of the royal kilns did the chief counter of beans clear his throat. ‘Lord’ said he, his voice quavering ‘’tis known that your every bone detest’eth the high born merchants and money lenders’ (and they you, likewise, he thought’eth - but wisely left unsaid) ‘but thy other subjects are, how may I phrase it, a tad miffed that your promises have but vanishe’d like the morning mist. In short, Lord, other than your mother and your humble servants – who of course bask in your radiance – nary the rich nor poor, indeed not one soul in this wide land would purge themselves on your personage were it on fire’.

‘As ever, your advice is welcome’ said the messiah ‘yet like the vines that do flourish in the south, perhaps it would benefit from a little sun’. And as his (former) courtier was borne aloft by the guards (thence to be pegged to the battlements), did his master retire to his chambers, there to receive the riches he demanded. And ‘twas a good thing that he was a patient man, for the wait would be a long one.

There endeth the lesson.