The Slave That Ruled A City

You’ll never guess what I saw – it seemed so unfair. He seemed such a nice chap – he had a wife and a couple of kids. He wasn’t seeking to do better than all the others. Just get by. He wasn’t the type to take needless risks – he was a good steady sort. Looked after his family… took care of them. A bit shy maybe …. a bit cautious but a nice chap. But what happened was terrible. He didn’t deserve that treatment. I just can’t understand what happened – all because he hid his coin, all because he didn’t use his money. By the way I forgot to mention… Nicolas is my name. I’m a slave or servant as some of them call us. Most of us have a tough life. Need to do what the boss says, do this, do that. Most of us have little free time, labouring about the home, or the fields. It can be a hard life… Well it was. Now where shall I begin.

Well a while back – I heard news that my master was heading out of town. He’s a good man looked after us – I’ve been serving him for a few years now. Anyhow apparently something very important was going to happen, not just your normal trip to do business. This was something big. He was going to be appointed king. King can you believe it! And so he gathered us all around – all of us lot working for him. And he told us “I must go away” he said, “and I will return, but while I am gone I want to give you something.” So we thought, Oh yeh. Wonder what that is. Long list of tasks to do while he’s gone. Nice project he wants us to complete for him. Redecorate the old place perhaps.

Anyway he opened up his cloak and as we looked on he proceeded to pull out his purse and to our amazement he then proceeded to give each of us a mina – a mina – I couldn’t believe it that almost 3 months worth of wages. And as we all stood there amazed, he said “I am entrusting you with this. Put it to work, do business with it?” Who’d ever heard of a slave trading for their master. Can you imagine your master – doing that for you – giving from what he has – and entrusting you with it. Giving from his wealth, and asking you to use it for him.

Well we were overjoyed. This was a bit of a reversal - something a bit out of the ordinary. Normally I get the job of looking after the grounds. Others have to keep the home clean, cook the food, as I said before there’s a lot of work to be done, but this was something new, something different something exciting. We had been given something, told to go and invest in it, put it to work. Anyhow he went off – and we didn’t hear anything for a while. I was busying myself about his business – seeking to make sure I could make this money work for him, seeking to follow his command, and put to use this gift he had given me.

Anyhow one day as we were going about our business, the word on the street was that our master had returned – or rather should I say king as he had now been crowned. Our king had come back. We were all sitting around together – wondering what would happen now he was back, and then the order came. Bartimus you must go and see the master. Bartimus was one of my friends, a hard worker. Anyway he went off to meet the king. Then the order came, Nicolas you must go and see the king. So I set off. I was quite nervous. What did he want to say to me. He had been gone quite a long time. Would he have changed? The last thing he had said was “Put this money to work until I come back.” - Would he want to know what had happened to my mina? So I approached the door to his room. He welcomed me – said it was good to see me again – and then inquired about what had happened to the mina he had entrusted to me. Well, you see I thought it was such a special gift to have been given this money, entrusted with it, that I really wanted to serve him and use it for him. He had always looked after us and been good to us. And so I wanted to serve him. Anyhow I had been working hard for him and so I said to him “Sir, the money you gave me – with it I have earned 5 more minas.