The Parable of the Eleventh Hour

Chapter IOf the two that were called

1And it came to pass in the sixth week that Cosmo opened the doors of the office, saying: Come, all ye that are stuck, and I shall unstick you.

3And Cosmo looked upon the question and said: This is a good question, for thou hast already tried.

4And he answered it in four minutes; and Xiao Jin departed, and finished on the Tuesday, and slept the sleep of the righteous.

5But Xiao Nop came not. For he said in his heart, The deadline is far off, and I am clever, and cleverness is faster than time.

6And Xiao Nop opened the assignment on the night that it was due; and behold, it was not as it had appeared from afar.

Chapter IIOf the eleventh hour

1And Xiao Nop cried out unto the Ed Discussion, saying: Is anyone else finding this one hard?

2And one and forty souls answered him with the anonymous +1; and not one among them had an answer, for they were all Xiao Nop, and Xiao Nop was legion.

3Then wrote he unto Cosmo at the third watch of the night, saying: Master, is there any chance of an extension?

4And Cosmo answered him not, for Cosmo was asleep, as is the custom of the righteous.

5And in the morning Cosmo read the message, and was moved with compassion, and answered him, saying: My office hours were on Tuesday.

Chapter IIIOf the blank file

1Nevertheless Cosmo said unto him: Come now, and bring what thou hast.

2And Xiao Nop came, and he had nothing but an empty file, and a name for it.

3And Cosmo said: This is the first thing. Thou hast a name. Now write the base case.

4And Xiao Nop wrote the base case.

5And Cosmo said: Now write the case that is one step larger, and let it call upon the smaller, and trust the smaller to be right.

6And Xiao Nop wrote it; and it was slow, and it was wrong in two places, and it was the most beautiful thing that he had ever written, for it was his own.

7And they found the two places, one by tracing and one by printing; and the second took the longer, as it always doth.

Chapter IVOf the vessel and its size

1And the disciples came unto Cosmo privately, saying: Master, wherefore didst thou help the one that came late, when Xiao Jin came early and asked well?

2And Cosmo said unto them: I helped him not because he was late. I helped him because he came at all.

3He that cometh in the eleventh hour receiveth an hour. He that cometh in the first receiveth the whole of the week.

4The gift is the same gift. Only the vessel differeth in size.

5Come early, therefore, that thy vessel may be large.

6And they asked him further: Master, and what of him that never cometh?

7And Cosmo was silent a long while, and said: The door is open. The door hath always been open. The hours are written upon the syllabus, and the syllabus is not hidden, neither is it far off.