Weird, globetrotting plagiarist Paulo Coelho ripped off some Indian fable (like he ripped off Borges to make his trite self-help tract "The Alchemist") and wants to stuff your stocking with it for the holidays. He deep-sixed all of the Hindu culture, and submitted it to the London Times as something called "The Music Coming From the House." They are promoting it as a free short story you can read to put you in the holiday spirit.



In this story, the king and his prime minister are celebrating Christmas, so they disguise themselves as the middle class and wander the streets. They encounter a house full of unemployed schizophrenics, and the king decides to elevate one of them to a scribe after hearing a story about how they squandered all their money on a silver goblet so that the king would have something nice to drink from if he ever magically showed up in their house.

The moral of the story is that if you don't have a job, you should buy something nice for rich people so that they will notice you.

"...as he did every year, the king remarked to the prime minister that he really must pay more attention to the poor in his kingdom."

Posted by miracle on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:47:13 -0500 -- permanent link