B972 <=> B974 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 973]

“Or again, a being whose love resembled that of a contemporary terrestrial suitor for a rich widow – of course before he has received a single penny from her – would turn just as spiteful as one of those malicious persons who, foaming at the mouth, will hate that poor author who is now writing about you and me, in his work entitled An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man.

“This poor upstart author, by the way, will be hated both by the ‘full-bodied-materialists’ and by the ‘ninety-six carat deists’ and even by those of the three-brained beings who have taken your fancy, who, when their stomachs are full and their ‘mistresses’ are for the moment making ‘no scenes,’ are ‘incorrigible optimists,’ but who, quite to the contrary, when their stomachs are empty are ‘hopeless pessimists.’

“Now, my boy, that we have mentioned this ‘queer upstart writer,’ there is nothing for it but to inform you here of a certain perplexity which already long ago arose in me in regard to him and which has progressively increased, and that is concerning a naivete of his.

“I must explain that from the very beginning of his responsible existence, he also became, whether by accident or by the will of Fate I do not know, a follower, and in fact a very devout follower, of our wise and esteemed Mullah Nassr Eddin, and furthermore in the ordinary process of his being-existence he has never lost the smallest opportunity to act entirely according to Mullah Nassr Eddin’s unprecedently wise and inimitable sayings. And now, according to the information which has reached me by etherogram, all of a sudden he appears to be constantly acting contrary to one of the very serious and exceptionally practical counsels – certainly not accessible to everybody – of this Teacher above all teachers, which is formulated in the following words: