GERMANY: Of Greed & Guilt

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To foreigners in Berlin the tale had a familiar sound. They remembered, dimly, having heard other versions, all pointing toward the moral that "the guilty flee when no man pursueth." But the Germans, as they passed the story around last week, knew it might be true.

On a dusty country road near Kempen in the British zone (the story went), a wasted woman struggled under a heavy rucksack toward the Ruhr. Pastor X stopped her, guessed what she was carrying, said: "You have been lucky to find so many potatoes, my good woman. Many visitors come to our district from the Ruhr and return empty-handed."

The woman shifted her burden, answered: "I have five children. I gave my wedding ring for these potatoes."

Indignant, the pastor took the name and address of the greedy farmer. Next Sunday he told his congregation that a farmer in his parish had taken a gold wedding ring from the mother of five hungry children for 60 lbs. of potatoes, denounced the action as a disgrace. If the guilty man did not bring him the ring, said the pastor, he would announce his name from the pulpit the following Sunday.

Before Sunday came, the pastor had received eight gold wedding rings.