The Temple Read Online Free PDF

happily.
    Thinner and lighter wallets were
put back into their owners’ pockets quite easily. Bursting full
black bags were carried away and when everyone looked to Jeremiah
again Fraudula had vanished.
    “My dear fellow Dryvellers,”
Jeremiah said after a while. “Truly, it warms the heart to think
that Fraudula can go back to living a life again. But I must ask
you now to focus your attention on another task for there is more
work to be done.”
    Once again he held out his arm
to the door where Fraudula had appeared. “Let the supplicant
enter!”
    There was absolute silence in
the hall. Then a quiet tap, tap, tap sound heralded the arrival of
the next supplicant. A man wearing a black suit and tie appeared.
His eyes were concealed by very dark sunglasses and in his left
hand he held a long white stick that made the tapping sound as he
carefully made his way forward. A woman stood up and helped him
walk over to Jeremiah.
    “Thanks,” he said and turned to
Jeremiah.
    Jeremiah took his hand. “Welcome
to our temple. We have just been witness to the most incredible
thing and I have a great feeling. I really have a feeling that
we’ll be able to help you. Can you tell us your name.”
    “Mendax, my name’s Mendax and
I’m thirty-four years old.”
    “I see you are blind, is that
right?”
    “Yes, I’ve been blind since I
was a little baby.”
    “That’s terrible. Were you born
blind?”
    “No, I was quite healthy at my
birth, but I had the misfortune to be born in Syldavia. As you may
know the life we Dryvellers face in Syldavia is not an easy
one.”
    “Can you tell us something about
it?”
    “It can be dangerous to profess
our faith openly. Simple things such as going to a restaurant can
be life threatening. We can’t even drivel at the table before a
meal without the risk of an anti-Dryveller riot.”
    “I see,” Jeremiah said. “That’s
shocking, dreadful, terrible. And what happened to you? Surely an
innocent baby would not be the target of even a rabid mob?”
    “Ah, if only it had been an
angry mob!” Mendax shook his head and then buried his face in his
hands.
    Jeremiah put his arm around
Mendax’s shoulders to comfort him. The congregation was quiet. Many
Dryvellers covered their mouths with their hands horrified at the
suffering of other Dryvellers and poor Mendax in particular.
    “I’m sorry,” Mendax said. “I’m
just so overcome with emotion to be standing here in a free country
at last where I may drivel without risking my life.”
    There was an outburst of
cheering and applause.
    “We understand,” Jeremiah said.
“Can you tell us now what happened to you, why you are blind?”
    “As a six month old baby I got a
serious eye infection. Conditions in Syldavia are not always
hygienic and it is a common enough ailment that is easily treated.
But when the doctors at the hospital discovered that my family were
Dryvellers, they turned us out and refused to help.”
    Raucous shouting interrupted
Mendax and Jeremiah had to raise his arms and repeatedly call for
calm.
    “By the time my parents found a
private doctor, who was willing to treat me in spite of our
beliefs, it was too late. The disease had damaged my eyes to such
an extent that I was blind for life.”
    “Did you ask for help when you
managed to come to this country?”
    “That I did, but the doctors at
the hospital told me there was nothing they could do.”
    “My brethren,” Jeremiah called
out. “I ask you, is not the case of poor Mendax here worthy of our
help? Shall we not help him and intercede with the Lord on his
behalf?”
    Loud cheers and calls for a
special prayer came from the crowd.
    “I am glad that you all feel
this way. Let us then kowtow once again on this most auspicious and
propitious Monday night, the night of a full moon, and speak the
prayer ‘Have mercy, oh merciful Lord’.
    After the prayer Jeremiah stood
up. He took the sunglasses off Mendax and placed his hand over his
eyes.
    “Affliction