Letter III.
A Letter of Severus to Holy Paul the Bishop.
I learned that all
thy cooks had given up thy kitchen (I believe
because they felt indignant at having to fulfill the duty towards
cheap dishes of pulse), I
sent a little boy to you out of our own workshop. He is quite skillful
enough to cook pale beans and to pickle homely beet-root, with vinegar
and sauce, as well as to prepare cheap porridge for the jaws of the hungry
monks. He knows nothing, however, of pepper or of laser, but he is quite at home with cumin,
and is
especially clever in plying the noisy mortar with sweetly smelling
plants. He has one fault, that he is no kindly foe to admit to any
garden; for if let in, he will mow down with a sword all things within
his reach, and he will never be satisfied with the slaughter simply of
mallows. However, in furnishing himself with fuel he will not swindle
you. He will burn whatever comes in his way; he will cut down and not
hesitate to lay hands upon buildings, and to carry off old beams from
the household. We present him, then, to you, with this character and
these virtues; and we wish you to regard him not as a servant, but as a
son, because you are not ashamed to be the father of very small
creatures. I myself would have wished to serve you instead of him; but
if good-will may be taken as in some measure standing for the deed do
you only, in return, take care to remember me amid your breakfasts and
delightful dinners because it is more proper to be your slave, than the
master of others. Pray for me.