THE DOCTOR AND HIS DEAD PATIENT
There was once a doctor who knew nothing about medicine. So when everyone was
telling a certain sick man, 'Don't give up, you will get well; your illness
is the sort that lasts for a while, but then you will feel better,' this doctor
marched in and declared, 'I'm not going to play games with you or tell you lies:
you need to take care of all your affairs because you are going to die. You
cannot expect to live past tomorrow.' Having said this, the doctor did not even
bother to come back again. After a while the patient recovered from his illness
and ventured out of doors, although he was still quite pale and not yet steady
on his feet. When the doctor ran into the patient, he greeted him, and asked
him how all the people down in Hades were doing. The patient said, 'They are
taking it easy, drinking the waters of Lethe. But Persephone and the mighty
god Pluto were just now threatening terrible things against all the doctors,
since they keep the sick people from dying. Every single doctor was denounced,
and they were ready to put you at the top of the list. This scared me, so I
immediately stepped forward and grasped their royal sceptres as I solemnly swore
that since you are not really a doctor at all, the accusation was ridiculous!' |