The Fable of the Three Sinners, By Tom Cole
The Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine, circa 1978-79.

This magazine arrived just when I had moved into my new apartment on Central Avenue in New Haven.  Sometime I will type in the entire text of Tom Cole's great fable about the three sinners, but for now I will only present the last few paragraphs of his conclusion:

    "This is what happened to the three:  the friar, set free to wander the forests minus his hands, was attacked by a large bear and killed.  He put up no resistance, for he saw it was God's judgement upon him.  
    "The Huntsman vowed vengeance for every stroke of the cruel whip that laid open his back.  He apprenticed himself to an assassin and grew very skilled in the art of murder, until one day he sought the King in his bedchamber to requite the old grievance.  The huntsman, however, was surprised and killed by one of the Royal Guard.
    "The minstrel whiled away the time needed for his eyes to heal by playing.  He became quite accomplished, and spent the greater part of every day thereafter in practice, for other worldly pleasures were denied him.  He serenaded the greatest peers of several realms, and when he died ballads were written of him.

    "MORAL:  Do not go backwards, that is resentment;  do not stand still, that is passive;  go forward, and love your fate."



Thank you, Tom Cole, for your saving words.