One day the Bab asked that some honey be purchased
for Him. The price at which it had been bought seemed to Him exorbitant. He
refused it and said: "Honey of a superior quality could no doubt have been
purchased at a lower price. I who am your example have been a merchant by
profession. It behoves you in all your transactions to follow in My way. You
must neither defraud your neighbour nor allow him to defraud you. Such was the
way of your Master. The shrewdest and ablest of men were unable to deceive Him,
nor did He on His part choose to act ungenerously towards the meanest and most
helpless of creatures." He insisted that the attendant who had made that
purchase should return and bring back to Him a honey superior in quality and
cheaper in price.
- (Cited in "The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the
Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation", trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi; The
Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, Trustworthiness)
