The Spinster and the Beggar
The beggar enjoyed watching the woman as she made her way to and from work, and he noted that she was always alone and never accompanied. “It’s such a shame,” he thought, “that she should be so lonely. Why doesn’t anyone ever keep company with her? Don’t they see what a fine woman she is?”
Two Beggars: Would one of these suit you?
Two Beggars by Giacomo Ceruti
One day the beggar worked up his courage to speak to the spinster. “Excuse me,” he said, “but I couldn’t help noticing how you are always alone, and sometimes you look so sad, and I was thinking, since I have nothing better to do with my time, why don’t you and I go out sometime?”
The spinster was much affronted by this speech. “Do you think,” she asked in a shaky voice, “that I am so desperate for companionship that I would stoop that low?!”
And from that day forward, she changed her route to work and never saw that beggar man again.
The beggar said to himself: “Well, no wonder she is all alone. She’s a snob!”
The Spinster and the Beggar:The Errors of Our Assumptions
It’s possible that the spinster and the beggar could never have gotten along. One was fastidious, and the other was not. One was a hard worker, and the other did no work. But it’s also possible — and we may never know for sure — that they could have come to some sort of understanding, had they not both been in the habit of thinking in terms of a market price for love.
The beggar was wrong to word his invitation in terms of the spinster’s lack of better prospects. The spinster was wrong to assume that because the man was a beggar, he had no value.
If the beggar had wanted his invitation to be considered, he would have done better to say how he planned to spend the outing with the spinster, and what beautiful things he had to show and what a marvelous time they might have together. He should not have mentioned how obviously lonely the spinster was, because that is insulting.
If the spinster had wanted to understand the true value of the beggar as an individual, she might have asked him about his dreams and aspirations. Perhaps he had turned down many jobs, because none was good enough, just as she had turned down many men, because none was her equal. You never know.
The Spinster and the Beggar: Conclusion
This is only a fable. Such an encounter could never happen today. There are no more beggars in today’s world — there are only the homeless. There are no more spinsters, but only empowered women who are single by choice. And it is surely the case that the marketplace and the laws of supply and demand have nothing to do with love and marriage.
Think of all the single people in the world today of both sexes. If it were just a question of supply and demand, wouldn’t everybody be married by now?
