A wise man on his deathbed asked for his son so as to give him a few healing lessons. “Before all else,” he told his son, “take care to acquire good friends.”
“I have a lot of good friends,” replied the son.
“If that is true,” said the father, “then happiness has shared its gifts unequally between us. During my long life I have only found half of a friend, but you already have many good friends. How large is the number?”
“Thirty,” answered the son.
“We should put them to the test,” said the father. “Slaughter a calf, put it in a sack and take it at night to the first of your friends. Tell him that you have killed someone and ask him to bury the person secretly in his house. Then come back to me and tell me what you have done.”
The son took the sack to the first friend, knocked lightly on the door and asked that he bury the dead one so that no one learns of it. But the friend answered that he would not let himself fall into bad circumstances for the son’s sake, and slammed the door in his face.
He received much the same answer from the remaining friends, who within one night showed themselves to be unreliable. The son then returned to the father and told him how poorly things had gone. “I knew that nowadays true friendship is rare. Now go to the man who I call my half friend and see how he behaves.”
The next night the son sought out the man, told him of his plight and asked him to bury the dead one. In front of his servants, the man gave the appearance as though he would drive the guest away, but as soon as they both were alone he said that for the sake of the father’s name he would help the son, even if it meant risking his own life. — Then the son told him the true situation and thanked him for his proven readiness.
The son then returned to his father and told him how faithfully the man had proven himself to be. “I do not know, Father,” he added, “why you call him a half friend. I think that you could with good reason call him a whole friend.”
“I call him that,” replied the master, “because I never have tested him more than halfway, and always trusted myself more than him. But to make it clear to you how one gains a whole friend, I will tell you the following tale…”