The Master (Wilde)
The Master
Summary of the Short Story
Microsummary: A man encountered a young man who claimed to have performed the same miracles as a crucified man, yet he was not crucified, causing him to weep for himself.
In the darkness, Joseph of Arimathea lit a torch of pinewood and went down from the hill into the valley, as he had some work to do in his own home. While kneeling on the flint stones of the Valley of Desolation, he came across a young man who was naked and weeping. The young man had honey-colored hair and a body as white as a flower, but he had wounded himself with thorns and placed ashes on his hair as a crown.
Joseph, a man of great possessions, told the young man that he understood why his sorrow was so great, as the man who had just died was only human. However, the young man replied that he was not weeping for the deceased, but for himself. He explained that he had performed all the same miracles as the man who had just died: changing water into wine, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, walking on water, casting out demons, feeding the hungry in the desert, raising the dead, and causing a barren fig tree to wither away in front of a large crowd.
For he had business in his own home.
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Joseph of Arimathea — wealthy man; compassionate, curious.
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The Young Man — naked and weeping; honey-colored hair, white skin; performed miracles; sorrowful, self-pitying.
Despite having done all these things, the young man lamented that he had not been crucified like the other man.I too have changed water into wine, and I have healed the leper and given sight to the blind.
And yet they have not crucified me.