Unit 1 (A Letter to God)
The Trader and the Tailor
Summarise 'The Trader and the Tailor' and use 'light' compound words.
The story and its writer. 'The Trader and the Tailor' is by the poet Rumi (shortened). A tailor is famous for stealing: he is light-fingered (likely to steal). A proud trader says the tailor could never take even a coil of thread from him. He bets an Arab horse on it.
The visit. The trader cannot sleep that night. In the morning he takes a piece of satin to the tailor's shop. The tailor greets him with great warmth (cordiality) and asks about his health. The trader is pleased and orders a coat.
Talk while cutting. The tailor chats about rich nobles (amirs) and the gifts (bounties) they gave him, and about misers. The trader laughs and laughs, eyes shut. All the while the tailor's scissors are snipping, and he hides extra pieces under his thighs. He even stitches a small piece (swatch) to the hem of the underpants. The trader forgets the bet completely.
The ending and the lesson. The trader keeps begging for more jokes. At last the tailor warns him: one more story and the coat will be too tight, and you will 'weep tears of blood'. Rumi's lesson: we laugh at the world's jokes and lies, while time (the 'Universal Tailor') quietly cuts away our life, as the tailor cut the satin. So think before you become a 'slave of the jest'.
'Light' words.
- light year: a unit of distance in space;
- light-duty truck: made for light loads, so it uses less fuel;
- light-hearted: cheerful, not serious;
- light-headed: dizzy;
- light sleeper: someone woken by the smallest noise.
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