Based on Something Far More Delicious

A retelling based on a humorous teaching story 'Abdu'l-Bahá told, as recorded in Fujita's 1919 pilgrim notes (entry of 20 November 1919). Pilgrim notes are a pilgrim's personal record of what was said; they do not carry the authority of the Bahá'í Writings. The narrative below is retold in our own words; the short line in quotation marks is verbatim from the notes. Read the original notes for the full account.

One day at lunch in Haifa, in the autumn of 1919, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was in good humor, and He told the friends a little story to make them smile — and to make them think.

There were once two men, He said, locked in a dispute over a piece of land, and they agreed to bring their quarrel before a judge. The first man, hoping to win the judge's favor, invited him to dinner and served him a modest meal of eggs. The judge ate, considered the case, and ruled in the first man's favor.

But the second man was not finished. He, too, invited the judge to dinner — and set before him a truly exquisite dish, something rich and delicious. The judge ate, and ate well, and promptly reversed his earlier judgment, awarding the second man twice the land he had just granted the first.

When someone asked the judge how he could possibly justify overturning his own decision, he answered with perfect, shameless candor:

The first decision was based upon eggs but this one was based upon something far more delicious.

One can imagine the friends around the table laughing. But 'Abdu'l-Bahá had slipped a sharp little mirror into the joke. How easily, He was reminding them, our judgments bend to our comforts — how readily we mistake the pleasures set before us for the truth, and let our "delicious dish," whatever it happens to be, quietly rewrite what we claim to believe is right.

It is a small, funny story, and a searching one. Real justice, it gently warns, is the verdict that does not change with the menu — the conviction that holds firm whether we are served eggs or a feast. To laugh at the foolish judge is easy; the harder and better thing is to make sure we are not, in our own quiet ways, deciding our lives on the basis of something far more delicious.

This account is retold for the Bahai Story Library; it is a paraphrase of a pilgrim's record, not an authoritative text. The quoted line is verbatim from Fujita's 1919 pilgrim notes. See the source for the original.

Fujita, S.. (1919). *Fujita's Pilgrim Notes (1919)*. Bahá'í Library Online. https://bahai-library.com/fujita_pilgrims_notes