October 1
Within our power are judgement, impulse, desire and aversion — in a word, everything that is our own doing. Not within our power are body, possessions, reputation and offices.
Enchiridion, 1
A Label on the Shell
Within our power are judgement, impulse, desire and aversion — in a word, everything that is our own doing. Not within our power are body, possessions, reputation and offices.
Two fish admired the sturdy shell of the sea snail Sazaye. Once she closed it from the inside, they said, nobody could harm her. Sazaye stroked her beard. It wasn't really all that much, she replied, but she had to admit that with her lid shut she didn't worry.
There was a splash. Sazaye drew back and slammed her lid shut. A net? A fishhook? She wondered whether the fish had been caught. She herself, at any rate, was safe.
When she peeped out cautiously later, she recognised nothing. She was lying at a fishmonger's. A label hung on her shell: sixteen coins.
