Just finished this book from Paulo Coelho (The Devil and Ms Prym). In it, one of the main characters (Ms Prym) recalled a story about the encounter between a saint (Savin) and a villian (Ahab) and how the encounter brought about a change in Ahab. One conversation they had was as follows:
The villian challenged the saint:
"If, tonight, the most beautiful prostitute in the village came in here, would you be able to see her as neither beautiful nor seductive?"
"No, but I would be able to control myself," the saint replied.
"And if I offered you a pile of gold coins to leave your cave in the mountain and come and join us, would you be able to look on that gold and see only pebbles?"
"No, but I would be able to control myself."
"And if you were sought by two brothers, one of whom hated you, and the other who saw you as a saint, would you be able to feel the same towards them both?"
"It would be very hard, but I would be able to control myself sufficiently to treat them both the same."
Savin and Ahab had the same instincts - Good and Evil struggled in both of them, just as they did in every soul on the face of the earth. When Ahab realised that Savin was the same as him, he realised too that he was the same as Savin. It was all a matter of control. And choice. Nothing more and nothing less.
I read half of this book several years back on my plane ride back from New Zealand, but never got around to finishing the story until today. An interesting read.
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