#kenneth bailey

"The opening stanza sets the stage for all that will follow.  The prodigal is shown as wishing for his father's death in his request for his portion.  The father demonstrates almost unbelievable love by granting the request.  The older son's silence indicates a rejection of his responsibility to reconcile his brother to his father.  After affirming the presence of a father with two sons, the parable begins with the request of the younger, "Father, give me the share of property that falls to me."  For over fifteen years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implication of a son's request for his inheritance while the father is still living.  The answer has almost always been emphatically the same.  As I have noted elsewhere, the conversation runs as follows:

"Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?"

"Never!"

"Could anyone ever make such a request?"

"Impossible!"

"If anyone ever did, what would happen?"

"His Father would beat him, of course!"

"Why?"

"This request means--he wants his father to die!"

-- Kenneth Bailey, Poet and Peasant, pg. 161-162