After Amun's departure, Aesop continued to live a comfortable life in Midori, befriending the famous sage Thales and chatting with people in the temple squares. He's old and doesn't have much else to do, so he likes to tell stories. He has been to various parts of the Tianshu Continent and has experienced too many things, and it is quite wonderful to briefly tell a few paragraphs about what he has seen and heard in his life.

Many young people and children especially enjoyed listening to Aesop's stories, and gradually Aesop's storytelling in the temple square became a part of Miduri's landscape. Aesop tells people about his experiences and legends, and the protagonist of the story is not himself, and Amun is often mentioned when looking back on his experiences. From Eju to the Duk Plain, including the countries of the original Tianshu Continent, Amun has left many legends.

A teenager who walked out of the mountains eventually became a legend in the world, and this experience is very fascinating to other young people in the world. One can't help but think that Aesop's former chauffeur was also called Amun, perhaps the name given by the old man, symbolizing nostalgia for the past years, when no one realized that the god Amun had lived in Miduri.

Aesop's story unwittingly influenced many people, and even some young people began to worship Amun, which caused the resentment of others, especially the priests of Miduri. Communicating in the temple squares inevitably involves asking questions about the gods and beliefs, and the atmosphere of conversation in the city-states of Heaton is quite open.

It has been noted that although Aesop was wealthy, he never went to the temple to offer sacrifices to the gods, nor did he participate in the ceremonies of the city-state. He was asked, "Aesop, do you believe in gods?" and Aesop replied, "I have my God in my heart." Then someone asked, "Then why don't you come to the temple to offer sacrifices?" and Aesop asked, "After listening to my story, don't you understand where my god is?"

Of course, the wise man understood, and Aesop did not directly say anything disrespectful to the gods, but the god in his heart was not in the temple in the square. So some people deliberately distanced themselves from him, but there were still people who were willing to listen to his stories. Aesop is an excellent speaker, his stories are both interesting and true, and his knowledge seems endless.

Finally, one day, a young man came out of the temple and came to Aesop. Aesop actually knew him, and had seen him in his own shop, a passer-by who had pointed to the statue and asked for a price. Amon had reminded Aesop that this man was Hermes who had come to earth.

Hermes said to Aesop, "Can I make a request to you, old man?"

Aesop smiled and nodded and replied, "Young man, please speak." ”

Hermes: "This is the temple square of Miduri, and the patron saint of this city-state is Hermes, should you give Hermes enough respect when people ask you if you believe in the gods?"

Aesop replied with a smile: "I did not answer that I did not believe in the existence of Hermes or the gods of Olympus, young man, when I saw you, I believed that they existed. But the 'faith' that people ask is not to believe, but to truly believe and follow in their hearts. Precisely because in the temple square, under the gaze of the gods, I could not deceive myself. I did not deny the people's belief in Hermes, nor did I directly answer my belief, it was already a reverence for the gods. ”

Hermes stared at Aesop and said, "Can't you agree to a request, and when people ask you again, you answer that you believe in the gods." Though you have your god in your heart, can't you go to the temple and sacrifice to Hermes like everyone else, even if you don't contribute your possessions, but only participate in the rituals. That way, you'll be more popular. ”

Instead of answering Hermes's question directly, Aesop told him a story about "the wolf came".

There was a child herding sheep on the mountain, idle and bored and shouted that there were wolves, and the adults down the mountain caught up with the mountain to fight the wolves but found that they had been deceived. A few days later, the child shouted that there were wolves, and the people rushed up the hill to find out that they had been deceived. After a few more days, the wolf really came, and the child shouted that there was a wolf, but no one came up to the mountain to save him.

The story was short, and it was finished in a few sentences, and then Aesop looked at Hermes with a smile and asked, "Is the wolf coming?"

Hermes didn't say a word, and walked back to the temple with a straight face, and there was nothing he could do with Aesop. He actually asked Aesop to pretend to believe in him, but Aesop asked him what was the point of such disguised belief and sacrifice? If this were the case for the world, sooner or later the true belief would be lost, and the gods on the altar would cease to exist. Aesop made it clear that Hermes, as a god, could no longer dwell on this issue with him.

Some time later, one day Aesop was in the square telling a group of young people about the founding of the city of Salem on the plain of Duk, when the high priest of the Temple of Miduri approached. Everyone saluted, and Aesop also stood up and saluted, "Venerable lord, is there anything wrong with you?"

The high priest said, "I have heard the voice of the messenger of the gods, saying that you are the most eloquent man in the city of Miduri, why not use this talent to praise the gods? The patron saint of our city-state symbolizes the glory of the city-state, so why don't you tell more about his legend?"

Aesop spread her hands: "Your Excellency, you know, I left here at a very young age, and I only returned to my hometown in old age, and I am talking about what I have seen and heard in various places, but I have not heard too many legends of Hermes. ”

The high priest smiled pleasantly: "It doesn't matter, with your eloquence to tell so many wonderful legends, why not use the name of Hermes and the gods?" ”

Aesop also laughed, "Then I'll tell you a story about the gods." ”

Zeus, the father of the gods, had a whimsical idea to choose the most beautiful bird in the world as the king of birds. The crow knew that he looked ugly, so he secretly picked up the most beautiful feathers that had fallen on the water's edge while the birds were grooming at the water's edge and stuck them in his body. When Zeus came, the birds lined up to greet him, but found that the crow was the most beautiful. The birds got angry and took back their feathers, and the crows were still crows.

When Aesop's story was finished, the high priest shook his head, said nothing more, and turned around and walked into the temple. Soon after, the city-state of Miduri was conquered by Macedonia and placed under the rule of the Macedonian kingdom, but the original city-state temple and citizens' assembly were retained to deal with the internal affairs of the city-state.

Soon after the annual Delphi oracle on the Heaton Peninsula was approaching, the city-state of Miduri attached great importance to this ceremony, and the merchants paid a large tax as a gift to the temple of Delphi, with Aesop paying the most money. It wasn't that Aesop believed in the Olympian gods, but because it was a decree of the city-state, merchants had to pay this tax, and Aesop was now the richest merchant in Midori.

Now that the tax for the offerings had been collected, it was necessary to send messengers to Delphi to offer them to the temples. It was customary for the priests of the temple to gather the nobles and representatives of the citizens to elect the emissaries, and to offer sacrifices to the guardian deities in the temple of the city-state. This year's sacrificial ceremony has an additional content, according to the decree of the Macedonian kingdom, the father of the gods must be sacrificed first Zeus, and then the patron god of the city-state.

At this time, Hermes sent down an oracle to send Aesop, the most eloquent of the Midoli city-state, to Delphi, and the wise messenger decided which god and which temple the city-state of Midoli would dedicate its gold to.

Delphi is the sacred place of the Olympian god on earth, with many temples large and small, in addition to the twelve main gods today, those ancient gods also have temples here. Once upon a time, the most important temple here was the Temple of Themis, and today it is the Temple of Apollo, which is also the most magnificent of the Delphi Gods.

In the near future, the Macedonian kingdom will also build a more magnificent main temple in Delphi, breaking the historical convention that it will no longer worship a single god, but will be dominated by Zeus, the father of the gods, and the Olympian gods will be sacrificed.

This year's Delphi oracle will still be promulgated by the Temple of Apollo, and the gold that Aesop brought should naturally be the most dedicated to the Temple of Apollo, and the rest of the temples, large and small, should be more or less wet with rain and dew, so as to show respect for the gods and no one should be offended. Because the priests of Delphi were in a sense a whole of interests, symbolizing the theocratic status on the Heaton Peninsula. One deity should not be valued at the expense of others, otherwise it would offend the entire Delphi priesthood.

But the status of the gods in the human world is different, each city-state will inevitably be a little snobbish, under normal circumstances will be sacrificed to each temple, but will decide how much to distribute according to the interests and needs of the city-state, a wise messenger, know how to make the most of the limited gifts. This time, an oracle appointed Aesop as an emissary and gave Aesop the power to make her own decisions.

Aesop led the mission of the city-state of Miduri to Delphi with a large sum of gold, and he stayed in Delphi for more than ten days, going to the gates of the temples every day to see the sacrifices and the behavior of the priests, but he never gave the gold. Just one day before the ceremony, on the way to an ancient shrine in the middle of the mountain, a falling rock blocked half of the mountain road, which had fallen into disrepair.

The stone was so large that people had to walk around it as they passed, and Aesop sat not far away and watched. When he finally stood up after dusk, a priestess came down the hill, and with great strength the woman took a long time to remove the stones, and found gravel to fill in the holes in the pavement, and by this time it was already dark, and Isolt watched her enter the temple of Themis.

The next day, Aesop arrived at the Temple of Themis with a plate full of gold, and found the priestess and said, "This is my gift to the Temple on behalf of the city-state of Miduri, and it is enough to rebuild the mountain road leading here." ”

The priestess frowned and said, "O good and generous man, you should first say that you should be offered to the gods. ”

Aesop laughed, "It was dedicated to the temple where the gods were located, but the people who used it were the priests of the temple. ”

The priestess said, "But the road does not lead only to this temple. ”

Aesop placed the gold on the altar and saluted to the priestess, "But I have only seen you. ”

The next day, the Delphi Oracle Ceremony was officially held, and as an emissary appointed by the city-state, Aesop also participated in the ceremony and offered sacrifices to the gods. The so-called sacrifice had a double meaning, one was to perform the ritual and the other was to offer a gift to the temple, and Aesop was only attending the ceremony and did not give the gold.

It was the Oracle of Delphi that year that Apollo sent down an oracle declaring that among the messengers of the city-states, anyone who blasphemed and offended the gods would be punished by the gods. The Delphi priests were to send messengers to find out the man and make formal accusations against him. When the priests announced this, there was an uproar at the ceremony, and people were talking about who was the messenger who was going to be punished for blasphemy.

When the ceremony was over, Aesop set out for Miduri, where the full plate of gold he had given to the priestess was only a small part of the offer, and most of the rest was brought back intact, an act that naturally angered the priests of Delphi. The entourage in the mission was also very uneasy, but the oracle gave Aesop the power to decide, and they were not easy to interfere.

The gold offered to the gods was brought back to the city-state, something that had never happened in the history of Miduri, and the people were worried when they heard the news, and Aesop had offended both the gods and the priests of the holy land of Delphi, which would bring disaster to the city-state. In the temple of the city-state, Isolt was questioned by the council of nobles and the representatives of the citizens to explain his actions.

Aesop explained, "I did not disobey the oracle, but it was in this temple that the oracle gave me the power to make a choice and to offer gold to the gods and temples that I thought were worth offering. I have long answered that I have my deity, and here I do not want to say his name. I was also faithful to my duty, and as an emissary of Miduri arrived at Delphi, and in ten days found only one priest who really needed this sacrifice, and as for the rest of the gold, I brought it back to the city-state. It was raised by the merchants of Miduri, and since it was not offered, it should be returned to the merchants. ”

The mood boiled over, and even the merchants who took out the gold were terrified and angry when they found out that the gold they had given had been returned by Aesop. In their view, this is tantamount to losing the opportunity to pray to the gods, or the gods have rejected their prayers. All of this was caused by Aesop, who cursed Aesop and filed a joint complaint with the city-state court, demanding that Aesop be punished severely!

There are also bystanders who think that Aesop brought back the gold because of greed and selfishness, and that the return of the gold to the merchants was to buy people's hearts, because Aesop himself was the one who paid the most of these merchants.

Aesop defended, "You will accuse me in the name of your faith, but you do not know the price to be paid for defending your faith. The oracle here gives me the power to make choices, and the choices I make are in line with my beliefs, and your accusations are the price I pay. The oracle has made this arrangement, and it is you who accuse me. ”

At this time, a messenger sent by the Holy Land of Delphi came to Miduri, who saw the scene and decided that the blasphemous person named in the oracle of Delphi was Aesop, and made a public complaint against him. In this case, Isolt was useless to defend himself, and he was brought to trial in the city-state court.

The trial had its own procedure, and the emissary from Delphi was named Antonio. The Oracle of Delphi did not name Aesop, and Antonio wanted to accuse him of proving to the world that Aesop was that man.

So Antonio investigates Aesop's past in Miduri and makes formal accusations against him - preaching new gods and poisoning and corrupting the younger generation.

If this is convicted, combined with the performance of Aesop Delphi in the canon, then it is certain that Aesop will be the one who blasphemes and offends the gods in the oracle. The judge presiding over the trial, who was a friend of Thales' friends, allowed Aesop to defend herself before the verdict was rendered.

Instead of explaining what she had done, Aesop told another story in court about a wolf and a sheep. The wolf is upstream and the sheep are downstream, and they drink in the same river, but the wolf accuses the sheep of soiling the water it drinks. No matter what the sheep explained, the wolf still ate the sheep. Because its purpose is not to discuss with the sheep who has soiled whose water, it is to eat the sheep.

Some were puzzled, others were enraged by Aesop's attitude, and cursed him for contempt of court. The judge understood what Aesop meant, frowned and asked, "Are you no longer defending yourself?"

Aesop nodded, "I have defended myself and have not violated the oracle. ”

The judge said with some regret: "You did not violate the oracle of the Patronus, the Patronus gave you the power to choose, and you made your choice." But your choice has angered people and there is a price to pay, and not breaking that oracle does not mean that you are not guilty, and I will condemn you guilty. ”

Thales suggested in public: "According to the decree of the city-state, Aesop can choose to apologize to the gods and pay a sum of money to the city-state to atone for her sins. His actions did not offend the real interests of the people here, and if there is, please come forward, otherwise, the court should give Aesop a chance to choose this way. ”

The judge asked, "Merchant of Miduri, Aesop has brought back the gold you have paid, but she has not been greedy for herself, nor has she deprived you of the right to sacrifice to the gods, and the messenger of Delphi is here, and you may give your gold again to the messenger and bring it back to the Holy Land." If someone thinks what I'm saying is wrong, stand up. ”

No one came forward, and the judge said to Aesop, "I'll give you a choice, you can pay a sum of money to the temple to atone for your sins." ”

Aesop smiled: "Okay then, I'll give you thirty silver coins." ”

Everyone was stunned, Aesop, the richest merchant in Midori City, only gave out thirty silver coins in order to atone for his sins! The judge frowned and asked, "Why only so much money?"

Aesop laughed, "Because it's only worth so much!"

**

(To be continued)