An old lady who lived near us had gone too far in her charity. She had, as she thought, taken in a poor Turk, who at the outset was grateful that he no longer had to live in a hovel scheduled to be torn down but was now—through the charity of the old lady—allowed to live in her town house surrounded by a large garden. He had made himself useful to the old lady as a gardener and, as time went by, was not only completely re-outfitted with clothes by her but was actually pampered by her. One day the Turk appeared at the police station and reported that he had murdered the old lady who had, out of charity, taken him into her house. Strangled, as the officers of the court determined on the visit they immediately made to the scene of the crime. When the Turk was asked by the officers of the court why he had murdered the old lady by strangling her, he replied, out of charity.

Good Advice

GOOD ADVICE

An excursionist who had attached himself to us en route to the so-called Giant World of Ice near Werfen because he was probably of the opinion that we were more entertaining than the other people in our train, which was making its way along the valley, told us he was deeply unhappy over the fact that he had advised one of his colleagues, a bank employee like himself, who had asked him where he should spend his vacation so as to get some relaxation, to take a cruise on the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, something he himself on one occasion had much benefited from. The very ship on which his colleague was bound for Dubrovnik, Corfu, and Alexandria had sunk—for reasons that are still unknown to this day—in the vicinity of Crete, and along with all the others who had gone on this “disaster cruise,” as the excursionist called it, his colleague had drowned. He had probably gone down with the ship, which had sunk very rapidly. The loss of the ship and the death of his colleague by drowning had affected him so deeply that for years now he had been unable to find peace. He asked us what he should do to be freed from his guilty conscience, but we dared not give him any advice.

Prejudice

PREJUDICE