so. Why had I refused to stand my ground like a man? Why had I permitted my wife to go back to her father?
“Then a strange thing happened. All the world seemed to be of a different color as though I had been looking at it through a colored stone which had suddenly been removed. At last I saw the true values in life.
“Die in the desert! Not I! With a new vision, I saw the things that I must do. First I would go back to Babylon and face every man to whom I owed an unpaid debt. I should tell them that after years of wandering and misfortune, I had come back to pay my debts as fast as the gods would permit. Next I should make a home for my wife and become a citizen of whom my parents should be proud.
“My debts were my enemies, but the men I owed were my friends for they had trusted me and believed in me.
“I staggered weakly to my feet. What mattered hunger? What mattered thirst? They were but incidents on the road to Babylon. Within me surged the soul of a free man going back to conquer his enemies and reward his friends. I thrilled with the great resolve.
“The glazed eyes of my camels brightened at the new note in my husky voice. With great effort, after many attempts, they gained their feet. With pitiful perseverance, they pushed on toward the north where something within me said we would find Babylon.
“We found water. We passed into a more fertile country where were grass and fruit. We found the trail to Babylon because the soul of a free man looks at life as a series of problems to be solved and solves them, while the soul of a slave whines, ‘What can I do who am but a slave?’
“How about thee, Tarkad? Dost thy empty stomach make thy head exceedingly clear? Art ready to take the road that leads back to self-respect? Canst thou see the world in its true color? Hast thou the desire to pay thy honest debts, however many they may be, and once again be a man respected in Babylon?”
Moisture came to the eyes of the youth. He rose eagerly to his knees. “Thou has shown me a vision; already I feel the soul of a free man surge within me.”
“But how fared you upon your return?” questioned an interested listener.
“Where the determination is, the way can be found,” Dabasir replied. “I now had the determination so I set out to find a way. First I visited every man to whom I was indebted and begged his indulgence until I could earn that with which to repay. Most of them met me gladly. Several reviled me but others offered to help me; one indeed did give me the very help I needed. It was Mathon, the gold lender. Learning that I had been a camel tender in Syria; he sent me to old Nebatur, the camel trader, just commissioned by our good king to purchase many herds of sound camels for the great expedition. With him, my knowledge of camels I put to good use. Gradually I was able to repay every copper and every piece of silver. Then at last I could hold up my head and feel that I was an honorable man among men.”
Again Dabasir turned to his food. “Kauskor, thou snail,” he called loudly to be heard in the kitchen, “the food is cold. Bring me more meat fresh from the roasting. Bring thou also a very large portion for Tarkad, the son of my old friend, who is hungry and shall eat with me.”
So ended the tale of Dabasir the camel trader of old Babylon. He found his own soul when he realized a great truth, a truth that had been known and used by wise men long before his time.
It has led men of all ages out of difficulties and into success and it will continue to do so for those who have the wisdom to understand its magic power. It is for any man to use who reads these lines.
Where the determination is, the way can be found
The Clay Tablets from Babylon
St. Swithin’s College
Nottingham University
Newark-on-Trent
Nottingham
Professor Franklin Caldwell,
Care of British Scientific Expedition,
Hillah, Mesopotamia.
October 21, 1934.
My dear Professor:
The five clay tablets from your recent excavation in the ruins of Babylon arrived on the same boat with your letter. I have been fascinated no end, and have spent many pleasant hours translating their inscriptions. I should have answered your letter at once but delayed until I could complete the translations which are attached.
The tablets arrived without damage, thanks to your careful use of preservatives and excellent packing.
You will be as astonished as we in the laboratory at the story they relate. One expects the dim and distant past to speak of romance and adventure. “Arabian Nights” sort of things, you know. When instead it discloses the problem of a person named Dabasir to pay off his debts, one realizes that conditions upon this old world have not changed as much in five thousand years as one might expect.
It’s odd, you know, but these old inscriptions rather “rage” me, as the students say. Being a college professor, I am supposed to be a thinking human being possessing a working knowledge of most subjects. Yet, here comes this old chap out of the dust-covered ruins of Babylon to offer a way I had never heard of to pay off my debts and at the same time acquire gold to jingle in my wallet.
Pleasant thought, I say, and interesting to prove whether it will work as well nowadays as it did in old Babylon. Mrs. Shrewsbury and myself are planning to try out his plan upon our own affairs which could be much improved.
Wishing you the best of luck in your worthy undertaking and waiting eagerly another opportunity to assist, I am
Yours sincerely,
Alfred H. Shewsbury,
Department of Archaeology.
Tablet No. 1
Now, when the moon becometh full, I, Dabasir, who am but recently returned from slavery in Syria, with the determination to pay my many just debts and become a man of means worthy of respect in my native city of Babylon, do here engrave upon the clay a permanent record of my affairs to guide and assist me in carrying through my high desires.
Under the wise advice of my good friend Mathon, the gold lender, I am determined to follow an exact plan that he doth say will lead any honorable man out of debt into means and self-respect.
This plan includeth three purposes which are my hope and desire.
First, the plan doth provide for my future prosperity.
Therefore one-tenth of all I earn shall be set aside as my own to keep. For Mathon speaketh wisely when he saith:
“That man who keepeth in his purse both gold and silver that he need not spend is good to his family and loyal to his king.
“The man who hath but a few coppers in his purse is indifferent to his family and indifferent to his king.
“But the man who hath naught in his purse is unkind to his family and is disloyal to his king, for his own heart is bitter.
“Therefore,
