proper time. For there is nothing that may not render service to a king. As the saying goes:
To clean a tooth or scratch an ear
A straw may serve a king:
A man, with speech and action, is
A higher kind of thing.
"Besides, we who are ancestral servants of our royal master, follow him even in disasters. For us there is no other course. Now the proverb says:
Set in fit position each
Gem or serving-man;
No tiaras on the toes,
Just because you can.
Servants leave the kings who their
Qualities ignore,
Even kings of lofty line,
Wealthy, served of yore.
Lacking honor from their equals
Jobless, déclassé,
Servants give their master notice
That they will not stay.
And again:
If set in tin, a gem that would
Adorn a golden frame,
Will never scream nor fail to gleam
Yet tells its wearer's shame.
The king who reads a servant's mind—
Dull, faithless, faithful, wise—
May servants find of every kind
For every enterprise.
