There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
A man from the country was about to make a journey to the city. He placed some coins in the pockets of his coat as a way of preparing himself for the city’s beggars whom he was certain to encounter there. As he left his home and started on the road to the city, the man saw it was raining. He went back and changed his coat, and set off again beneath heavy clouds. Upon arriving in the city, a sodden and wretched beggar saw how the man from the country was a stranger in that place and approached him. As a coat is to the elements so almsgiving is to shame. The man put his hand into his pocket as he desired to give money to the beggar but he found he had nothing to give, and his pockets were empty. He had put the coins in his other coat, which he had changed because it was raining. The man from the country was shamed by the emptiness of his pockets. He walked past the beggar as if he did not see her, though she was weeping. There was to be no blessing without alms.
