2023-08-03_The_Clay_Tablets_From_Babylon
00:00:00.000 | The holidays start here at Ralph's with a variety of options to celebrate traditions old and new.
00:00:05.800 | You could do a classic herb roasted turkey or spice it up and make turkey tacos.
00:00:10.400 | Serve up a go-to shrimp cocktail or use Simple Truth wild-caught shrimp for your first Cajun risotto.
00:00:17.100 | Make creamy mac and cheese or a spinach artichoke fondue from our selection of Murray's cheese.
00:00:22.400 | No matter how you shop, Ralph's has all the freshest ingredients to embrace all your holiday traditions.
00:00:27.800 | Ralph's, fresh for everyone.
00:00:30.100 | St. Swithin's College, Nottingham University, Newark-on-Trent, Nottingham.
00:00:34.500 | October 21, 1934.
00:00:37.300 | Professor Franklin Caldwell, care of British scientific expedition, Hilla, Mesopotamia.
00:00:43.400 | My dear professor, the five clay tablets from your recent excavation in the ruins of Babylon
00:00:48.600 | arrived on the same boat with your letter.
00:00:50.900 | I have been fascinated no end and have spent many pleasant hours translating their inscriptions.
00:00:56.100 | I should have answered your letter at once but delayed until I could complete the translations, which are attached.
00:01:01.200 | The tablets arrived without damage thanks to your careful use of preservatives and excellent packing.
00:01:06.800 | You will be as astonished as we in the laboratory at the story they relate.
00:01:11.800 | One expects the dim and distant past to speak of romance and adventure, Arabian Nights sort of things, you know.
00:01:18.900 | When instead it discloses the problem of a person named Dabasir to pay off his debts,
00:01:23.700 | one realizes that conditions upon this old world have not changed as much in 5,000 years as one might expect.
00:01:29.900 | It's odd, you know, but these old inscriptions rather "rag me" as the students say.
00:01:35.200 | Being a college professor, I'm supposed to be a thinking human being, possessing a working knowledge of most subjects.
00:01:42.600 | Yet here comes this old chap out of the dust-covered ruins of Babylon to offer a way I had never heard of,
00:01:48.500 | to pay off my debts and at the same time acquire gold to jingle in my wallet.
00:01:53.400 | Pleasant thought, I say, and interesting to prove whether it will work as well nowadays as it did in old Babylon.
00:01:59.300 | Mrs. Shrewsbury and myself are planning to try out his plan upon our own affairs, which could be much improved.
00:02:05.600 | Wishing you the best of luck in your worthy undertaking and waiting eagerly another opportunity to assist,
00:02:11.600 | I am yours sincerely, Alfred H. Shrewsbury, Department of Archaeology.
00:02:18.300 | Tablet number one.
00:02:21.400 | Now when the moon becometh full, I, Dabasir, who am but recently returned from slavery in Syria,
00:02:27.400 | with the determination to pay my many just debts and become a man of means worthy of respect in my native city of Babylon,
00:02:33.900 | do here engrave upon the clay a permanent record of my affairs to guide and assist me in carrying through my high desires.
00:02:42.300 | Under the wise advice of my good friend Mathon, the gold lender,
00:02:45.900 | I am determined to follow an exact plan that he doth say will lead any honorable man out of debt into means and self-respect.
00:02:54.300 | This plan include three purposes which are my hope and desire.
00:02:58.000 | First, the plan doth provide for my future prosperity.
00:03:02.000 | Therefore, one tenth of all I earn shall be set aside as my own to keep, for Mathon speaketh wisely when he sayeth,
00:03:09.200 | That man who keepeth in his purse both gold and silver that he need not spend is good to his family and loyal to his king.
00:03:17.500 | The man who hath but a few coppers in his purse is indifferent to his family and indifferent to his king.
00:03:25.000 | But the man who hath not in his purse is unkind to his family and is disloyal to his king, for his own heart is bitter.
00:03:33.400 | Therefore, the man who wisheth to achieve must have coin that he may keep to jingle in his purse,
00:03:40.100 | that he have in his heart love for his family and loyalty to his king.
00:03:46.800 | Second, the plan doth provide that I shall support and clothe my good wife who hath returned to me with loyalty from the house of her father.
00:03:54.900 | For Mathon doth say that to take good care of a faithful wife putteth self-respect into the heart of a man
00:04:01.300 | and addeth strength and determination to his purposes.
00:04:04.900 | Therefore, seven-tenths of all I earn shall be used to provide a home, clothes to wear, and food to eat,
00:04:11.400 | with a bit extra to spend, that our lives be not lacking in pleasure and enjoyment.
00:04:16.300 | But he doth further enjoin the greatest care that we spend not greater than seven-tenths of what I earn for these worthy purposes.
00:04:24.100 | Herein lieth the success of the plan.
00:04:26.600 | I must live upon this portion and never use more, nor buy what I may not pay for out of this portion.
00:04:35.700 | Tablet number two.
00:04:37.700 | Third, the plan doth provide that out of my earnings my debts shall be paid.
00:04:42.900 | Therefore, each time the moon is full, two-tenths of all I have earned shall be divided honorably and fairly among those who have trusted me and to whom I am indebted.
00:04:52.800 | Thus in due time will all my indebtedness be surely paid.
00:04:57.700 | Therefore do I here engrave the name of every man to whom I am indebted, and the honest amount of my debt.
00:05:05.600 | Faroo, the cloth weaver, two silver, six copper.
00:05:09.200 | Sinjar, the couchmaker, one silver.
00:05:12.200 | Amar, my friend, three silver, one copper.
00:05:15.400 | Zankar, my friend, four silver, seven copper.
00:05:18.800 | Askamir, my friend, one silver, three copper.
00:05:21.800 | Haransir, the jewel-maker, six silver, two copper.
00:05:25.200 | Diyarbekir, my father's friend, four silver, one copper.
00:05:29.300 | Al-Kahad, the house-owner, fourteen silver.
00:05:32.600 | Maithon, the gold-lender, nine silver.
00:05:35.800 | Birajik, the farmer, one silver, seven copper.
00:05:40.000 | From here on, disintegrated, cannot be deciphered.
00:05:44.000 | Tablet number three.
00:05:45.700 | To these creditors do I owe in total 119 pieces of silver and 141 pieces of copper.
00:05:52.900 | Because I did owe these sums and saw no way to repay, in my folly I did permit my wife to return to her father,
00:05:59.600 | and did leave my native city and seek easy wealth elsewhere,
00:06:03.200 | only to find disaster and to see myself sold into the degradation of slavery.
00:06:08.500 | Now that Maithon doth show me how I can repay my debts in small sums of my earnings,
00:06:13.200 | do I realize the great extent of my folly in running away from the results of my extravagances.
00:06:19.600 | Therefore have I visited my creditors and explained to them that I have no resources with which to pay except my ability to earn,
00:06:26.900 | and that I intend to apply two-tenths of all I earn upon my indebtedness evenly and honestly.
00:06:34.200 | This much can I pay, but no more.
00:06:36.300 | Therefore, if they be patient, in time my obligations will be paid in full.
00:06:41.400 | Achmar, whom I thought my best friend, reviled me bitterly, and I left him in humiliation.
00:06:47.800 | Birajik, the farmer, pleaded that I pay him first, as he didst badly need help.
00:06:52.500 | Al-Kahad, the house owner, was indeed disagreeable,
00:06:55.800 | and insisted that he would make me trouble unless I didst soon settle in full with him.
00:07:00.800 | All the rest willingly accepted my proposal.
00:07:03.900 | Therefore am I more determined than ever to carry through,
00:07:07.000 | being convinced that it is easier to pay one's just debts than to avoid them.
00:07:12.400 | Even though I cannot meet the needs and demands of a few of my creditors, I will deal impartially with all.
00:07:19.800 | Tablet number four.
00:07:22.000 | Again the moon shines full.
00:07:23.900 | I have worked hard with a free mind.
00:07:26.000 | My good wife hath supported my intentions to pay my creditors.
00:07:29.500 | Because of our wise determination, I have earned, during the past moon,
00:07:32.900 | buying camels of sound wind and good legs, for Neybatur the sum of nineteen pieces of silver.
00:07:39.100 | This I have divided according to the plan.
00:07:41.200 | One-tenth have I set aside to keep as my own.
00:07:43.600 | Seven-tenths have I divided with my good wife to pay for our living.
00:07:47.200 | Two-tenths have I divided among my creditors as evenly as could be done in coppers.
00:07:52.100 | I did not see Achmar, but left it with his wife.
00:07:55.400 | Birajik was so pleased he would kiss my hand.
00:07:58.100 | Old Al-Kahad alone was grouchy and said I must pay faster,
00:08:02.000 | to which I replied that if I were permitted to be well-fed and not worried,
00:08:05.500 | that alone would enable me to pay faster.
00:08:08.100 | All the others thanked me and spoke well of my efforts.
00:08:11.200 | Therefore, at the end of one moon, my indebtedness is reduced by almost four pieces of silver,
00:08:15.800 | and I possess almost two pieces of silver besides, upon which no man hath claim.
00:08:20.500 | My heart is lighter than it hath been for a long time.
00:08:25.200 | Again the moon shines full.
00:08:27.300 | I have worked hard, but with poor success.
00:08:29.800 | Few camels have I been able to buy.
00:08:32.100 | Only eleven pieces of silver have I earned.
00:08:34.800 | Nevertheless, my good wife and I have stood by the plan,
00:08:37.400 | even though we have bought no new raiment and eaten little but herbs.
00:08:42.300 | Again I paid ourselves one-tenth of the eleven pieces, while we lived upon seven-tenths.
00:08:47.500 | I was surprised when Achmar commended my payment, even though small.
00:08:51.500 | So did Birajik.
00:08:53.000 | Al-Kahad flew into a rage,
00:08:54.900 | but when told to give back his portion if he did not wish it, he became reconciled.
00:08:59.900 | The others, as before, were content.
00:09:04.900 | Again the moon shines full, and I am greatly rejoiced.
00:09:08.000 | I intercepted a fine herd of camels and bought many sound ones.
00:09:11.800 | Therefore, my earnings were forty-two pieces of silver.
00:09:14.800 | This moon my wife and myself have bought much-needed sandals and raiment.
00:09:19.200 | Also, we have dined well on meat and fowl.
00:09:22.600 | More than eight pieces of silver we have paid to our creditors.
00:09:25.600 | Even Al-Kahad did not protest.
00:09:27.900 | Great is the plan, for it leadeth us out of debt and giveth us wealth, which is ours to keep.
00:09:33.400 | Three times the moon had been full since I last carved upon this clay.
00:09:37.600 | Each time I paid to myself one-tenth of all I earned.
00:09:41.100 | Each time my good wife and I have lived upon seven-tenths, even though at times it was difficult.
00:09:46.200 | Each time have I paid to my creditors two-tenths.
00:09:49.500 | In my purse I now have twenty-one pieces of silver that are mine.
00:09:52.900 | It maketh my head to stand straight upon my shoulders and maketh me proud to walk among my friends.
00:09:58.100 | My wife keepeth well our home, and it is becomingly gowned.
00:10:01.300 | We are happy to live together.
00:10:03.200 | The plan is of untold value.
00:10:05.400 | Hath it not made an honorable man of an ex-slave?
00:10:10.600 | Tablet number five.
00:10:13.100 | Again the moon shines full, and I remember that it is long since I carved upon the clay.
00:10:18.800 | Twelve moons in truth have come and gone.
00:10:21.400 | But this day I will not neglect my record, because upon this day I have paid the last of my debts.
00:10:27.600 | This is the day upon which my good wife and my thankful self celebrate with great feasting
00:10:33.000 | that our determination hath been achieved.
00:10:36.000 | Many things occurred upon my final visit to my creditors that I shall long remember.
00:10:41.100 | Ahmar begged my forgiveness for his unkind words,
00:10:44.100 | and said that I was one of all others he most desired for a friend.
00:10:48.300 | Old Al-Qahad is not so bad after all, for he said,
00:10:51.600 | "Thou wert once a piece of soft clay to be pressed and molded by any hand that touched thee.
00:10:57.100 | But now thou art a piece of bronze capable of holding an edge.
00:11:00.800 | If thou needest silver or gold at any time, come to me."
00:11:05.400 | Nor is he the only one who holdeth me in high regard.
00:11:08.500 | Many others speak deferentially to me.
00:11:11.300 | My good wife looketh upon me with a light in her eyes that doth make a man have confidence in himself.
00:11:16.900 | Yet it is the plan that hath made my success.
00:11:19.800 | It hath enabled me to pay all my debts and to jingle both gold and silver in my purse.
00:11:24.400 | I do commend it to all who wish to get ahead.
00:11:27.200 | For truly, if it will enable an ex-slave to pay his debts and have gold in his purse,
00:11:33.200 | will it not aid any man to find independence?
00:11:36.900 | Nor am I myself finished with it, for I am convinced that if I follow it further,
00:11:41.100 | it will make me rich among men.
00:11:45.300 | St. Swithin's College, Nottingham University, Newark-on-Trent, Nottingham, November 7th, 1936.
00:11:51.400 | Professor Franklin Caldwell, carer of British scientific expedition, Hilla, Mesopotamia.
00:11:56.900 | "My dear professor, if in your further digging into those ruins of Babylon you encounter the ghost of a former resident,
00:12:03.100 | an old camel trader named Dabaseer, do me a favor.
00:12:06.100 | Tell him that his scribbling upon those clay tablets so long ago
00:12:09.700 | has earned for him the lifelong gratitude of a couple of college folks back here in England.
00:12:14.700 | You will possibly remember my writing a year ago that Mrs. Shrewsbury and myself
00:12:18.500 | intended to try his plan for getting out of debt and at the same time having gold to jingle.
00:12:23.700 | You may have guessed, even though we tried to keep it from our friends, our desperate straits.
00:12:28.800 | We were frightfully humiliated for years by a lot of old debts and worried sick for fear
00:12:33.500 | some of the tradespeople might start a scandal that would force me out of the college.
00:12:37.400 | We paid and paid every shilling we could squeeze out of income, but it was hardly enough to hold things even.
00:12:43.100 | Besides, we were forced to do all our buying where we could get further credit regardless of higher costs.
00:12:48.900 | It developed into one of those vicious circles that grow worse instead of better.
00:12:53.400 | Our struggles were getting hopeless. We could not move to less costly rooms because we owed the landlord.
00:12:58.500 | There did not appear to be anything we could do to improve our situation.
00:13:02.300 | Then, here comes your acquaintance, the old camel trader from Babylon,
00:13:06.500 | with a plan to do just what we wished to accomplish.
00:13:09.600 | He jolly well stirred us up to follow his system. We made a list of all our debts and I took it around and showed it to everyone we owed.
00:13:16.300 | I explained how it was simply impossible for me to ever pay them the way things were going along.
00:13:21.000 | They could readily see this themselves from the figures.
00:13:24.000 | Then I explained that the only way I saw to pay in full was to set aside 20% of my income each month to be divided pro rata,
00:13:31.000 | which would pay them in full in a little over two years.
00:13:34.000 | That, in the meantime, we would go on a cash basis and give them the further benefit of our cash purchases.
00:13:40.000 | They were really quite decent. Our green grocer, a wise old chap, put it in a way that helped to bring around the rest.
00:13:46.500 | If you pay for all you buy and then pay some on what you owe, that is better than you have done,
00:13:50.500 | for you ain't paid down the account none in three years.
00:13:53.900 | Finally, I secured all their names to an agreement binding them not to molest us as long as the 20% of income was paid regularly.
00:14:02.000 | Then we began scheming on how to live upon 70%.
00:14:05.500 | We were determined to keep that extra 10% to jingle.
00:14:08.500 | The thought of silver and possibly gold was most alluring.
00:14:13.000 | It was like having an adventure to make the change.
00:14:15.000 | We enjoyed figuring this way and that to live comfortably upon that remaining 70%.
00:14:20.000 | We started with rent and managed to secure a fair reduction.
00:14:23.000 | Next, we put our favorite brands of tea and such under suspicion,
00:14:26.500 | and were agreeably surprised how often we could purchase superior qualities at less cost.
00:14:31.500 | It is too long a story for a letter, but anyhow it did not prove difficult.
00:14:35.500 | We managed and write cheerfully at that.
00:14:38.500 | What a relief it proved to have our affairs in such a shape we were no longer persecuted by past due accounts.
00:14:45.000 | I must not neglect, however, to tell you about that extra 10% we were supposed to jingle.
00:14:49.500 | Well, we did jingle it for some time. Now don't laugh too soon.
00:14:53.000 | You see, that is the sporty part.
00:14:56.000 | It is the real fun to start accumulating money that you do not want to spend.
00:15:00.000 | There is more pleasure in running up such a surplus than there could be in spending it.
00:15:04.000 | After we had jingled to our heart's content, we found a more profitable use for it.
00:15:08.000 | We took up an investment upon which we could pay that 10% each month.
00:15:12.500 | This is proving to be the most satisfying part of our regeneration.
00:15:17.000 | It is the first thing we pay out of my check.
00:15:19.500 | There is a most gratifying sense of security to know our investment is growing steadily.
00:15:25.000 | By the time my teaching days are over, it should be a snug sum,
00:15:28.500 | large enough so the income will take care of us from then on.
00:15:31.500 | All this out of my same old check.
00:15:34.000 | Difficult to believe, yet absolutely true.
00:15:36.500 | All our debts being gradually paid and at the same time our investment increasing.
00:15:41.000 | Besides, we get along financially even better than before.
00:15:44.000 | Who would believe there could be such a difference in results between following a financial plan and just drifting along.
00:15:50.000 | At the end of the next year, when all our old bills shall have been paid,
00:15:53.500 | we will have more to pay upon our investment besides some extra for travel.
00:15:58.000 | We are determined never again to permit our living expenses to exceed 70% of our income.
00:16:03.000 | Now you can understand why we would like to extend our personal thanks to that old chap whose plan saved us from our hell on earth.
00:16:10.000 | He knew. He had been through it all.
00:16:12.500 | He wanted others to benefit from his own bitter experiences.
00:16:16.500 | That is why he spent tedious hours carving his message upon the clay.
00:16:21.500 | He had a real message for fellow sufferers.
00:16:24.000 | A message so important that after 5,000 years it has risen out of the ruins of Babylon,
00:16:29.000 | just as true and just as vital as the day it was buried.
00:16:33.000 | Yours sincerely, Alfred H. Shrewsbury, Department of Archaeology.
00:16:38.000 | The holidays start here at Ralph's with a variety of options to celebrate traditions old and new.
00:16:43.500 | You could do a classic herb roasted turkey or spice it up and make turkey tacos.
00:16:48.000 | Serve up a go-to shrimp cocktail or use simple truth wild-caught shrimp for your first Cajun risotto.
00:16:55.000 | Make creamy mac and cheese or a spinach artichoke fondue from our selection of Murray's cheese.
00:17:00.000 | No matter how you shop, Ralph's has all the freshest ingredients to embrace all your holiday traditions.
00:17:05.500 | Ralph's. Fresh for everyone.