One day when the master was going from home, he called his servants all together, and spoke to them as follows:  “I will not repeat to you the directions I have so often given you; they are all written down in the book of laws, of which every one of you has a copy.  Remember, it is a very short time that you are to remain in this castle; you will soon remove to my more settled habitation, to a more durable house, not made with hands.  As that house is never exposed to any attack, so it never stands in need of any repair; for that country is never infested by any sons of violence.  Here, you are servants; there, you will be princes.

“But mark my words, and you will find the same truth in the book of my laws:  Whether you will ever attain to that house, will depend on the manner in which you defend yourselves in this.  A stout vigilance for a short time will secure your certain happiness for ever.  But every thing depends on your present exertions.  Don’t complain and take advantage of my absence, and call me a hard master, and grumble that you are placed in the midst of a howling wilderness, without peace or security.  Say not, that you are exposed to temptations without any power to resist them.  You have some difficulties, it is true; but you have many helps and many comforts to make this house tolerable, even before you get to the other.  Yours is not a hard service; and if it were, ‘the time is short.’  You have arms if you will use them, and doors if you will bar them, and strength if you will use it.  I would defy all the attacks of the robbers without, if I could depend on the fidelity of the people within.  If the thieves ever get in and destroy the house, it must be by the connivance of one of the family. For it is a standing law of this castle, that mere outward attack can never destroy it, if there be no traitor within. You will stand or fall as you observe this rule.  If you are finally happy, it will be by my grace and favor; if you are ruined, it will be your own fault.”

“When the gentleman had done speaking, every servant repeated his assurance of attachment and firm allegiance to his master.  But among them all, not one was so vehement and loud in his professions as old Parley the porter.  Parley, indeed, it was well known, was always talking, which exposed him to no small danger; for as he was the foremost to promise, so he was the slackest to perform.  And, to speak the truth, though he was a civil-spoken fellow, his master was more afraid of him, with all his professions, than he was of the rest, who protested less.  He knew that Parley was vain, credulous, and self-sufficient; and he always apprehended more danger from Parley’s impertinence, curiosity, and love of novelty, than even from the stronger vices of some of the other servants.  The rest, indeed, seldom got into any scrape of which Parley was not the cause, in some shape or other.”

I am sorry to be obliged to confess, that though Parley was allowed every refreshment, and all the needful rest which the nature of his place permitted, yet he thought it very hard to be forced to be so constantly on duty.