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the people's praises. They act like the cock which
scratched in the straw to find food.
He scratched so much that he found a rich
and precious gem of great clarity. He picked it
up to look at it but then he looked away
and ignored it. Because he had no use for
gems and would much rather have had some
food. Similarly there are unwise, greedy clerics
who have richly adorned books, but all they
do is look at their covers - as long as they seemed new and beautiful -
and they look at them for a while very happily, and spend some time with them.
But then they quickly turn
their gaze elsewhere and think about filling
their empty stomachs and fulfilling their
foolish desires. Any yet they could learn quite a lot
if they were willing to. Because they certainly have the
ability to do what the wise men did in the past,
who by their work, study, and diligence first founded the
clerical profession. But their understanding
is foolish and misguided, and