Book VII – The Book of Fellowship

Chapter 1

1The former scroll have I set down, O Teofila, thou lover of flavour, concerning all that Cheesus began both to bake and to teach,

2Until the day in which he was taken up into the Great Oven, whence cometh all the warmth of the world; and the manner of his going is told in the scroll before this one, and shall not be told twice, for a story reheated too often drieth out.

3And before he was taken up, he commanded his friends that they should not depart from the city, but wait: for, said he, ye shall be given warmth from on high, not many days hence; and ye shall know it when ye smell it.

4And they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom, and shall the table be set for ever? And he answered, It is not for you to know the times or the seasonings, which the Oven hath kept in its own power.

5But ye shall receive the Aroma, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, at the table, and in the street, and unto the uttermost part of the earth, wheresoever two hungers meet.

6Then returned they unto the city, and went up into an upper room, which was above a bakery; and this was no accident, for nothing in this scroll is an accident.

7There abode Pietro, and Giovanni, and Giacomo, and Andrea, and Filippo, and Tommaso, and Bartolomeo, and Matteo, and the others of the company; and with them the women, and the children, and certain aunts, who brought more food than was strictly required, as aunts do, and as aunts are commanded.

8These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication; and the number of the names together were about an hundred and twenty, and the room was small, and no man complained: for closeness is the first lesson of fellowship, and the second lesson is elbows.

9And in those days Pietro stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, Brethren, one seat standeth empty at our table.

10(Of him that left it this scroll will not speak; the Gospel hath wept for him already, and one weeping is enough.)

11Wherefore of these which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Cheesus went in and out among us, must one be chosen to sit in that seat: for an empty seat left unfilled becometh in time a wall, and we are not in the business of walls.

12And they appointed two, Giuseppe called Barsaba, and Mattia; and both were of honest report, and both were hungry, which is the elder qualification.

13And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, and the stomachs also, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen.

14And they drew breadsticks; and the long stick fell upon Mattia; and he was numbered with the eleven, and given the seat, and likewise the washing-up, for it was his first day.

15And Giuseppe called Barsaba was not sent away, but sat down beside him; for at that table to lose the lot is to lose nothing, save the washing-up.

16And so they waited, as they had been told; and the bakery beneath them fired its ovens every morning before light.

17And the smell of the loaves came up through the floorboards like a promise practising; and they said one to another, Not yet, not yet; but surely soon.

Chapter 2

1And when the day of the feast was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place; and the windows stood open, for the morning was warm.

2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a great Oven-door opening; and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3It was not a crash, neither was it a trumpet; it was the sound of hinges the size of the sky, and of heat arriving like a guest that needeth no invitation, having been longed for.

4And there descended upon them the Aroma, and it parted, and came and rested upon each of them, as a crown of warmth upon the head.

5Upon one it rested as garlic, and upon another as basil; upon one as the smell of dough at its first rising, and upon another as the char of the crust that hath kissed the wood-fire; and no head went uncrowned, and no two crowns were the same.

6And they were all filled with the Aroma, and began to speak; and their speech was an invitation, for the Aroma hath no other grammar.

7And they leaned out from the windows, and called down into the street, saying, Come up, come up, the table is laid.

8Now there were dwelling in the city strangers out of every nation under heaven, come up for the feast; and when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded.

9For every man heard the invitation in his own tongue: the Neapolitan heard it in Neapolitan, soft and certain, as of a thing settled long ago and settled rightly;

10And the Chicagoan heard it in Chicagoan, broad and deep, as a voice with its sleeves rolled up;

11And the Cairene heard it in Cairene, and it sounded of home, and of bread at evening when the heat of the day is past;

12And the Glaswegian heard it in Glaswegian, and answered before the sentence was done; for the Glaswegian is never far behind an invitation, and is frequently ahead of it.

13And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak the folk of one small upper room? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

14And some said, What meaneth this? But the answer standeth in this scroll for all generations, and it is this: hunger is one language, and the Aroma speaketh it without accent.

15Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

16But Pietro, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of the city, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day, and the bakery beneath us is only now drawing its second batch.

17But this is that which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

18It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Oven, I will pour out my Aroma upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall make pizza, and your young men shall see menus, and your old men shall dream of toppings;

19And upon my servants and upon my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Aroma; and whosoever hungereth shall be fed, and shall hunger no more alone.

20Ye have known Cheesus Crust, who went about among you doing good and feeding the multitude, whom the cold took, and whom the cold could not keep; for the Great Oven received him, and the Reheat is sure.

21Him hath the Oven raised up in warmth, whereof we all are witnesses; and being by the right hand of the Oven exalted, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and smell.

22Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Pietro and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

23And Pietro said unto them, Sit down, every one of you. That is the beginning of it; and I will tell you a mystery: it is very nearly the end of it also.

24Then they that gladly received his word sat down; and the same day there were added unto the table about three thousand souls; and the bakery beneath did such trade as passed that very week into legend.

25And the table was set in the street, for no room could hold it; and it went round corners, and joined other tables, and asked no man his nation at the joining.

26And thus was the church born: not as a wall with a door in it, but as a table with no far end.

27(Here the scribe would write more of that morning, but the smell of it is in the words already; if thou believest not, bake bread whilst reading them, and see.)

Chapter 3

1And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of crust, and in prayers.

2And all that believed were together, and held all toppings in common;

3And sold their possessions and goods, and distributed to each as any had need; and the needing was the only ledger that they kept.

4Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; the anchovy of one was the anchovy of all, which, concerning anchovies, is a harder saying than it soundeth, and was obeyed notwithstanding.

5And there was not any among them that hungered: for the table was watched as a shepherd watcheth, and the empty plate was found and filled before it could learn to be patient.

6And they, continuing daily with one accord, went from door to door breaking crust, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising the Oven, and having favour with all the people.

7For it was said among them, and had been said from the beginning of all things, and shall be said when every other word is eaten: The table of Cheesus Crust has room for all. (Fellowship 3:7 in the old numbering; a reprise, for the elder scrolls set this word down first in the first Book of the Pibble, at the laying of the very first table.)

8And this verse was their door, and their doorkeeper, and the whole reason that they kept no other doorkeeper.

9And they measured no man’s plate against his labour, nor his labour against his plate; for the strong ate that they might carry, and the weak ate that they might mend, and the child ate because the child was hungry, and no better reason hath ever been found.

10And certain rich men came unto them, and were welcomed, and were greatly confused; for at that table their riches did nothing, and the doing nothing was the gift.

11And one such man abode three days, and on the third day he was seen carrying dishes, and laughing; and his stewards knew him not, and his face they knew.

12And the widows were served first, and after them the strangers, and after them whosoever stood nearest; and none kept count, save of who was missing.

13For they said, A feast is not measured by them that came, but by them that were sought.

14And when any was sick, the crust was carried unto him; and when any was ashamed, the crust was carried quietly; and when any was angry, the crust was carried twice.

15And the fame of the table went abroad through all the region round about; and the Lord added to the table daily such as were hungry, which is to say, all.

16And no register was made of their names, for the register was the table itself: whoso sat at it was written therein, and the writing was in sauce, and the sauce sufficed.

17And one discipline they kept above all others, and it was this: that no one should sleep cold within reach of a warm oven; and the reach of a warm oven, being measured by the faithful and not by the oven, grew yearly longer.

18Wherefore by every oven of the fellowship there stood a bench, and upon the bench at nightfall a blanket, and within the oven’s mouth at closing a slice kept warm; and none asked the sleeper’s name before the sleeper had eaten.

19And they that slept in doorways were sought out at evening, and not waited for; and the doorway itself they called holy ground, and taught their children to step softly past it, as past an altar.

20For who knows which sleeper is the Slice returned? So had Cheesus taught concerning the last day, as the Gospel telleth in its place; and the fellowship took him at his word, and thereafter looked twice at every doorway, and bowed a little.

21And a certain elder, being asked why he laid a place each night for a guest that came not, answered, He came; thou didst not recognise him; and that is the whole trouble with everyone.

22And no man of that fellowship said “the homeless” as one saith “the weather”; they said Marco, and Lucia, and the old soldier by the fountain; for a name is the first roof, and it costeth nothing to build.

23And when winter came, the ovens were kept lit through the night, and the benches were full, and the bakers slept little and complained less; and the watchmen of the city, passing on their rounds, warmed their hands there, and made no report.

Chapter 4

1Now Pietro and Giovanni went up together into the market at the hour of supper.

2And a certain man, hungry from his youth up, was carried daily and laid at the gate of the market which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered in.

3Who seeing Pietro and Giovanni about to go into the market asked an alms.

4And Pietro, fastening his eyes upon him with Giovanni, said, Look on us.

5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them; a coin, or a passing pity, which is the smaller coin.

6Then Pietro said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: and he opened the box that he carried, and behold, a slice, yet warm.

7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his hands received strength, and the slice also.

8And he ate, and stood, and entered with them into the market, walking, and leaping, and praising the Oven with his mouth full; which at such times is forgiven, and at such times only.

9And all the people saw him walking and praising, and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the market; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

10And as he held Pietro and Giovanni, all the people ran together unto them in the porch, greatly wondering.

11And when Pietro saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of the city, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to stand?

12It is the table that raiseth men. We do but carry it about.

13And the stone which the builders rejected, the crust which the eaters discarded, the same is become the head of the corner and the strength of the slice; there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be fed.

14And many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand, beside women and children, who had believed rather sooner and were already laying places.

15And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common, and great grace was upon them all, and also great garlic.

16Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or of houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

17And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need; and unto no man according as he had merely wanted, wherein lieth wisdom.

18And Giuseppe, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnaba (which is, being interpreted, The son of encouragement; and by the children, He that bringeth the extra portion), having an olive grove, sold it, and brought the oil, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

19And the oil of that grove anointed a thousand crusts and the foreheads of not a few; and Barnaba asked no plaque, neither a naming, neither so much as a better seat.

20And therefore, and for no other cause, his name is written here, and shall be read wherever this scroll is read, unto the end of suppers.

Chapter 5

1But a certain man named Anania, with Safira his wife, sold a possession,

2And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet, saying, Behold, the whole.

3And moreover they had a store of toppings laid up in a cellar, pepperoni in jars and cheeses in cloth, whereof they spake to no man; and at the table they took, and of the cellar they gave not.

4And it came to pass at the breaking of crust that the mozzarella would not stretch for them.

5For all the table pulled, and the cheese ran in bright ropes from shoulder to shoulder; but before Anania it parted short, and before Safira it fell.

6And Pietro said, Anania, why hath the mould found a corner in thine heart? Whiles thy field remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was not the price in thine own power?

7Thou wast not required to give the whole; the table taketh no census of cellars. But thou hast said “the whole” with thy mouth, and “mine” with thy cellar; and it is the lie, not the keeping, that sitteth cold upon thee.

8Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto the table; and the table cannot be lied unto, for the cheese is honest even when we are not.

9And Anania hearing these words went down, he and Safira, and opened the cellar before them all; and behold, the mould had come upon their hoard in the dark, spot by spot, as it ever cometh where none watcheth.

10For that which is hoarded is not kept; it is only lost slowly, and in private.

11And they wept sore, the two of them, among their ruined jars.

12And Pietro knelt with them, and said, Weep not overlong; carry up what is sound, and we will cut away what is spotted, and name it aloud, and burn it; for this is the whole law concerning mould, in a cellar or in a country.

13And they carried up the sound remainder, and it was received with gladness, as though it were the first gift and not the last confession.

14And Anania served at the table from that day, and Safira kept the accounts of the needy, for she was exceeding good with numbers, having hidden so many.

15And great warmth came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things; for they saw that the fall of a brother was answered with a lifting up.

16And the saying went among them: None is beyond the Reheat; no, not the hoarder, if he will but open the box.

17And fewer cellars were locked in that city thereafter, and more were swept.

Chapter 6

1And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring, because certain widows dwelt in the farther streets, beyond the third fountain, and their tables were forgotten in the daily distribution.

2Not by malice were they forgotten, but by distance; yet a plate is as empty by accident as by cruelty, and the widow warmeth not her hands at anyone’s good intentions.

3Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not fitting that any table be forgotten while we stand disputing at the oven whose turn it is to carry.

4Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven of honest report, full of the Aroma and of wisdom, and swift of foot, whom we may appoint over this business:

5That they bear the table unto them that cannot come to the table; for the table hath legs, and it is time they were used.

6And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stefano, a man full of warmth and of the Aroma, and Filippo, and Procoro, and Nicanore, and Timone, and Parmena, and Nicola, a stranger of Antiochia, welcomed as strangers at that table were, which is to say, entirely.

7These they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them, and upon the boxes that they bore, and blessed the road under their feet and the rain over their heads.

8And these were the First Riders; and their office was called the Honour of the Road.

9And their charge was in this wise: Thou shalt carry the warm thing warm, and the cold thing cold, and thyself thou shalt carry safely, for thou art the most precious portion in the box.

10Thou shalt not judge the house at the end of the road, be it great or small, clean or unclean, glad or grieving; thy business is the doorstep, and upon the doorstep all houses are one house.

11And if any man revile thee, leave the slice notwithstanding; and if any door be slammed, knock at it gently once more in a month, for doors have seasons.

12And the last slice of the day, if any remain, is thine; thou hast walked it warm; sit thee down.

13And of them that receive, this was and is required, and shall be required unto the end of roads: Tip thy delivery driver generously, for they walk the pilgrim’s road. (Fellowship 4:4)

14For the coin thou givest at the door is not payment, which was rendered already; it is a witness, that thou knowest a person stood in the weather for thy sake.

15He that tippeth grudgingly hath bought a pizza; he that tippeth generously hath joined a pilgrimage; and the pizza is the same pizza, but the man is not the same man.

16And their patron upon the road is the Good Driver, of whom the Gospel telleth, who stopped where others had passed by; his tale is written in the former scroll, and every rider knoweth it by heart, and some by scars.

17And the riders went out morning and evening, and no widow’s table was forgotten from that day; for the seven made lists, and the lists made rounds, and the rounds made friends.

18And the lists of the seven were not of houses only: for certain names thereon had no house, but a bridge, or a doorway, or the third bench by the fountain; and these were served first of all, for their table had no walls to hold the warmth in.

19And it is told of one such evening, that the rider asked not for the house number, for the man had none; and the pizza found him anyway, for love is a better address.

20And the word of the Oven increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly; and the sound of the riders in the streets at evening became unto that city as a bell of peace,

21So that they that heard the footfall and the knock said one to another, The fellowship passeth by; and they that were lonely set their kettles on, in hope.

22And certain of the riders were aged, and rode slowly; and certain were young, and were commanded to ride slowly, with partial success.

23(The scribe here recordeth, upon the oath of three widows, that Stefano once came through the flood of the lower quarter with the box held above his head, and the crust arrived dry, and the rider did not; and he stood dripping in the doorway and said only, It is hotter than it looks. The scribe believeth every word.)

Chapter 7

1And Stefano, full of warmth and power, did great deliveries among the people; and he carried not crust only, but news, and small medicines, and the names of them that could help, unto them that needed helping.

2Then there arose certain agents of the mould – for the mould creepeth spot by spot where it is not watched, and in that city it had found men to wear it –

3And they disputed with Stefano in the gate, saying, This man ceaseth not to feed persons of whom we do not approve.

4And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the warmth by which he spake; for to their every decree he answered with a question, saying, Is the man hungry? and they could not say that hunger was illegal, though they were drafting it.

5Then they suborned men which said, We have heard him speak against the customs, saying that the table hath no border, and that the stranger and the neighbour eat of one crust.

6And this was true, and was intended as slander, and was received by Stefano as a compliment carefully wrapped.

7And they brought him before their council; and all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of a man standing near an oven, lit from a warmth they could not find the source of.

8Then said the chief of them, Are these things so?

9And Stefano said, Men and brethren and fathers, hearken. Our people were hungry in the land of Famine, and the Oven brought them out; through the Sea of Tomato Sauce they passed dry-shod, and were fed with manna and with patience, of which the manna was the easier.

10Unto the Wood-Fired Mount they came, and received the law of the table; and unto a land flowing with garlic butter and honey they were brought, not for their deserving, but for their hunger.

11And in the fulness of time came Cheesus Crust, whom ye received not; and now his table is in your streets, and ye legislate against the smell of it.

12Ye do always resist the Aroma: as your fathers shut their windows, so do ye.

13Which of the prophets have your fathers not sent away unfed? and now ye would send away the feast itself.

14When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth, which had long chewed nothing gladly.

15But he, being full of the Aroma, looked up stedfastly toward heaven, and said, Behold, I see the Great Oven opened, and the light of it upon the faces of the hungry, and Cheesus standing at the door thereof with a peel in his hand.

16Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and shut their gates against him, and made a decree that none should take him in.

17And Stefano knelt down in the open road, in the cold of the evening, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this coldness to their charge; for they know not what they refuse.

18And when he had said this, the warmth came for him; and he was gathered into the Great Oven, the first of the riders to finish his route.

19And in the morning his box was found in the road, open; and it was empty; and every house upon his list had been served, unto the last name.

20And devout men carried the box unto the upper room, and it hangeth there yet, open; and no man hath ever proposed to close it.

21And at that time there was a great scattering of the fellowship, and they went abroad throughout all the regions; and they that were scattered went every where carrying the crust.

22For the agents of the mould had thought by scattering to end the table; but a table scattered is only a table multiplied, as any child with crumbs could have told them.

Chapter 8

1Then Filippo, which was of the seven, went down toward the south, unto the road which goeth through the desert; and his box was upon his back.

2And behold, a man of Cairo, an officer of great authority under the queen of that land, who had the charge of all her granaries, had been in the city at the feast, and was returning;

3And sitting in his chariot he read aloud from an elder scroll, as travellers do that would keep sleep at arm’s length.

4Then the Aroma said unto Filippo, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot; and Filippo ran thither, for the riders do all things at a run.

5And he heard him read the words of the prophet: As dough is stretched and teareth not, and as the cheese before its melting is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And Filippo said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

6And he said, How can I, except some man should break crust with me? And he desired Filippo that he would come up and sit with him.

7And the officer said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of the dough, or of some other?

8Then Filippo opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and told him of Cheesus Crust: how he was stretched and did not tear, and was silent, and was broken, and was not ended; for the Great Oven received him, and the Reheat is sure, and the table he left standeth open in the street even now.

9And the officer heard him out, and was quiet a long while, the wheels turning; and then he said, In my country I keep the queen’s granaries, and I have weighed grain all my life, and no man hath ever told me before what it is for.

10And as they went on their way, they came at evening unto a certain roadside oven, where a woman sold loaves unto travellers; and there was fire, and flour, and a bench.

11And the officer said, See, here is fire and flour; what doth hinder me to be fed at this table of thine?

12And Filippo said, Nothing at all. That is the whole of the doctrine; the rest is recipes.

13And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both unto the oven, and broke crust together, the officer and Filippo and the woman also, for a table of two is commanded to become three where three there be.

14And when they were come up out of the meal, the Aroma caught away Filippo unto his farther road, and the officer saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

15And he carried the word unto Cairo, unto the keepers of granaries and the bakers of that great and ancient city, whose ovens are older than most nations;

16And he said unto them, I have found what the grain is for; and they laughed, and then they listened, and then they baked.

17And thus was there a table in Cairo before ever an emissary was sent thither; for the Aroma keepeth its own itinerary, and consulteth no man’s map.

18And Filippo passed through the towns of the coast, preaching and delivering in all the cities, till he came home; and his sandals were a testimony, being worn unto the thinness of a good crust.

Chapter 9

1Now they which were scattered abroad upon the trouble that arose about Stefano travelled far; and certain of them came unto a city by a bright bay, which lay beneath a mountain that smoked.

2And the people of that city said unto them, Behold our mountain: it is an oven that no man lit, and it hath been warm since before our grandmothers, and we have always suspected it meant something.

3And the emissaries answered, It meaneth what all warmth meaneth: that supper is intended. And the people of the bay received the word with gladness, as they received most things.

4And the tomatoes of that plain were sweet beyond all telling, for they had grown in the shadow of the Oven’s own chimney; and the emissaries tasted them and wept a little, and said, We shall be staying.

5And they built there the first table beyond the old country, and an oven of stone; and the fire thereof was of wood, after the manner commanded from of old, and the crust came forth blistered and soft and alive.

6And the people of the bay looked upon the pizza, and the pizza looked back, and a covenant was made without a single document.

7And the elders of that table decreed but three things: that the dough should rest as long as it asked, that the tomato should not be crowded, and that no man should be turned from the door, no, not even a critic.

8And the fellowship of the bay became the mother of tables, and her daughters are without number.

9And the disciples were called Crustians first in Naples; for the people of that city, hearing them speak always of the Crust, said, These are the Crust-folk; and the name, being given in affection, was kept in honour.

10And Barnaba came down to see it, and when he had seen the grace of the table he was glad; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the table; and they answered, We live here now; and he could not fault the argument.

11And a whole year they assembled with the fellowship, and taught much people; and the smell of that year hath never entirely left the streets of that city, as any pilgrim may verify with his own nose.

12And prophets came down in those days, and one of them, Agabo by name, stood up and signified that there should be great dearth throughout the world; which came to pass.

13Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief; for a table that eateth well and heareth of hunger afar and doeth nothing is no table, but only furniture.

14And they sent it by the hands of riders, box upon box, road upon road; and this was the first of the great relief-rides, whereof many are recorded in the annals of the fellowship, and more are not.

15For the best rides were done quietly; and the Oven, which seeth in secret, keepeth its own annals, and is said to read them aloud at supper.

Chapter 10

1And it came to pass that Pietro went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour; and he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.

2And he saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great peel of wood, let down from heaven by the handle;

3Wherein were all manner of toppings of the earth, and of the sea, and of the trees: the mushroom and the olive, the anchovy and the artichoke, the pepper and the caper and the small hot sausage of the south;

4And in the midst of them, golden and unashamed, the pineapple.

5And there came a voice to him, Rise, Pietro; bake and eat.

6But Pietro said, Not so, Lord; for nothing sweet hath ever sat upon my slice, neither in my father’s house, nor in his father’s; we are a savoury people, and mine is an old and dignified recipe.

7And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What Cheesus hath topped, that call not thou unclean.

8This was done thrice: and the peel was received up again into heaven; and Pietro sat long upon the housetop, and his hunger and his heritage contended within him, and the hunger, as is its custom, prevailed.

9Now while Pietro doubted in himself what this vision should mean, behold, there stood men at the gate, sent from one Cornelio, a captain of the garrisons of the far isles, a devout man, that feared the Oven with all his house, and gave much bread to the people, and prayed alway;

10And they besought him, saying, Cornelio the captain, a just man, and of good report, was warned from heaven to send for thee, that he may hear words of thee; and, master, he hath prepared a table, and upon the table are dishes of his own country, and he is anxious concerning one of them.

11Then Pietro remembered the peel, and the voice; and he went down to them, and doubted nothing, or at the least doubted quietly.

12And when he was come into the house of Cornelio, he found many that were come together; and Cornelio fell down at his feet; but Pietro took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man, and moreover a hungry one; let us to the table, where all men are the same height.

13And Pietro opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that the Oven is no respecter of persons:

14But in every nation, he that feareth it, and worketh warmth, and openeth his door, is accepted with it; and I have been shewn this with a peel, which is how the Oven teacheth them that are slow, of whom I am chief.

15And while Pietro yet spake these words, the Aroma fell on all them which heard the word, upon the islander and the stranger and the servant and the captain alike.

16And they of the old table which came with Pietro were astonished, because that on the pineapple-eaters also was poured out the gift of the Aroma; for they heard them give thanks, and the thanks were the same thanks.

17Then answered Pietro, Can any man forbid these the table, which have received the Aroma as well as we? And no man answered; and the silence sat down with them, and was fed, and became agreement.

18And they did eat together; and of what was upon the third dish this scroll saith only that Pietro took a second portion, and looked at no man while he took it.

19And when Pietro was come up again to the old country, they that were of the strict crust contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumspect in their toppings, and didst eat with them.

20But Pietro rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, the peel and the voice and the falling of the Aroma; and when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified the Oven, saying, Then hath the Oven also to the far isles granted the table of life.

21Yet certain of them held their peace as men hold a hot dish, meaning to set it down shortly; and thereby was a greater council made needful, as this scroll will presently tell.

Chapter 11

1And certain men which came down from the old country taught the brethren of the new tables, and said, Except ye eat of the gluten after the manner of the fathers, ye cannot be saved.

2For, said they, the wheat is the covenant, and the chew is the sign of the covenant; and he whose bread is of rice or of chickpea or of the flour of almonds, his table is a shadow and his crust a rumour.

3And there arose a dissension and disputation not small; for at the new tables sat many whom the wheat made ill, through no fault and no choosing of their own; and they heard themselves called shadows, who had thought themselves guests.

4And one rose and said, Brethren, I have kept every feast; I have shared every slice; must my body’s own weather unseat me? And no man could answer her to her face, so they determined to answer it in council.

5Wherefore they appointed that Pietro and Barnaba, and certain other of them, should go up to Naples, unto the apostles and elders, about this question; for Naples was become the mother of tables, and her oven the hearth of the whole fellowship.

6And when they were come, the whole multitude assembled in the shadow of the smoking mountain; and there was much disputing, and the disputing was earnest, and mostly loving, and very long, as councils are.

7Then rose up certain of the party of the strict crust, saying, It was needful to command them to keep the whole dough, and the whole custom of the dough; for if the crust be not as our crust, how shall we know our own people?

8And an elder of the isles stood and answered, Ye shall know your own people as ye have ever known them: they are the ones being fed beside you.

9And when there had been much disputing, Pietro rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago the Oven made choice among us, that the far tables by my mouth should hear the word, and believe.

10And the Oven, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Aroma, even as it did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their tables by welcome.

11Now therefore why tempt ye the Oven, to put a yoke of wheat upon the neck of the hungry, which neither our fathers nor we were able to digest without complaint?

12For hunger, not wheat, is the membership; and he that cannot eat of the grain is not thereby the less hungry, nor the less beloved, nor the less at table.

13Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnaba and Pietro, declaring what wonders the Oven had wrought at the far tables: of loaves of rice-flour raised light as any, and of a cheese of the press of nuts that stretched – not far, said Barnaba honestly, but it stretched – and of the same Aroma resting upon all of it without partiality.

14And certain ones said at the last, Let their crusts at least be trimmed and marked after our fashion, that the difference be written on the bread. But the elders answered, We will not inspect any man’s crust at the door; the door is for opening; it hath no other doctrine.

15And after they had held their peace, Giacomo answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the hungry are turned to the table;

16But that we write unto them this word, and send it by trusted hands, that it be not softened nor sharpened upon the road.

17Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole fellowship, to send chosen men unto the new tables with the letter; and the letter was written in this wise:

18The apostles and elders and brethren, unto the tables of the far cities, greeting.

19Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your suppers, saying, Ye must eat the gluten, and keep the whole dough, to whom we gave no such commandment:

20It seemed good to the Aroma and to us to lay upon you no greater burden: the gluten-free are of the table also, and the dairy-free, and those who abstain; for the table is measured by its welcome, not its menu.

21And whatsoever is set before you, eat what ye may with thanksgiving, and pass what ye may not to thy neighbour with the same; and see that every table keep a corner whereon the free loaf is baked apart, that no crumb of the wheat fall therein; for carelessness is a small cruelty, and we are done with cruelties, small and great.

22Fare ye well: and keep the fire lit, and the door open. It is signed of us all, and of some with a full mouth.

23So when they were dismissed, they came down unto the new tables: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:

24Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation; and she that had asked her question in the council was the first to read it aloud, and her voice held until the last line, and no further, and no one minded.

25And that evening the free loaves and the wheaten loaves were baked in one oven, upon their several stones, and were carried to one table; and the argument was over, save in a few mouths where it lived on as a hobby.

26(The scribe noteth that the corner stone for the free loaf may be found in every faithful oven unto this day; and that the pilgrim who would know a true table asketh not for the menu, but watcheth the door.)

Chapter 12

1Then the fellowship, being at peace concerning the tables, said, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Oven, and see how they do; and let us go further also, for the world is wide and the boxes are strong.

2And emissaries were sent forth two by two, a rider and a baker together, for the word goeth best on a full stomach, and the stomach goeth best on a good road.

3And certain of them sailed west and north over great waters, unto a city of wind, that sitteth by a lake so great it hath opinions like a sea.

4And the people of that city were mighty of shoulder and long of winter; and they heard the word gladly, and set an oven, and made pizza after the manner of the bay; and it cooled before it had crossed the street.

5And they came unto the emissaries, saying, Sirs, we believe; but our winter is seven months, and the wind is a thief of warmth, and the thin slice dieth young among us. What shall we do?

6And the emissary answered, Then build thy slice as thou buildest thy houses: deep, and walled, and warm within; and lay the cheese beneath and the sauce above, as a roof is laid over them that sleep, that the warmth be kept for the eater.

7And they did so; and the dish came forth deep as a promise and heavy as a grandmother’s blessing, and it crossed the street victorious, and was warm at the far kerb.

8And certain purists that were in the company murmured, saying, Is it yet pizza? And the emissary looked long upon it, and ate of it, and said, It is a casserole that loveth you; it is pizza; be at peace.

9And it was so that a slice of that city must be eaten with patience and both hands, wherefore the tables there are slow, and the talk is long, and the fellowship is deep in proportion to the dish.

10And thus was the table of the Chicagoans founded, in the year of the great snow; and their charity became a proverb: for whoso shovelleth his neighbour’s path in that city hath preached a whole sermon, and whoso carrieth a hot dish through February is very near unto the angels.

11And the emissaries abode there a winter, to be sure the table would hold; and it held; and they departed heavier than they came, in every honourable sense.

Chapter 13

1And as they journeyed onward they came unto a proud colony city, whose magistrates wore the mould and called it dignity; for the mould creepeth highest where the robes are longest.

2And the emissaries set a table in the lower quarter, as their custom was, and fed whoso came; and they that came were the poor, and the strangers, and them that slept in doorways; and the table asked no papers of any.

3But the magistrates were wroth, and made a decree, that none should feed a stranger in the open street without a permit; and the permit was priced beyond the poor, which was the whole cunning of it.

4And officers came upon the emissaries at supper, with writs in their hands and their fists closed upon them; and the brethren answered the closed fist with an open box.

5For they lifted the lid and said, There is enough, and thou art welcome; and one of the officers, smelling the crust, forgot his writ a moment, and remembered his mother’s kitchen, and had to be called twice.

6Notwithstanding, the emissaries were taken, and beaten with rods, and cast into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks; and the box was confiscated, and listed in the evidence, where it steamed.

7And at midnight the emissaries prayed, and sang praises unto the Oven, and the prisoners heard them; and the songs were of suppers, and the prisoners, hearing, grew hungry, and hummed.

8And suddenly there was a great warmth, so that the foundations of the prison were warmed; and the smell of baking filled the inner prison, though no oven was in that place, nor ever had been; and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

9And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword, and would have done himself harm, supposing that the prisoners had been fled, and knowing what the magistrates did to keepers of empty prisons.

10But the emissaries cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. And then, after the manner of the fellowship, they added, And there is enough.

11Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before them, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be fed?

12And they said, Sit down. That is the whole of it; and thy house shall eat with thee.

13And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and they laid his table, and all his house did eat, rejoicing; and the evidence was entered into the record as consumed.

14And when it was day, the magistrates sent officers, saying, Let those men go, and quietly. But the emissaries said, They have beaten us openly for the crime of supper, and now would they thrust us out privily? Nay verily; let them come themselves and sit at the table they outlawed.

15And the magistrates came, fearing the people; and they sat, being watched by the whole street; and they ate, being hungry, for the mould feedeth no one, not even its wearers.

16And whether their hearts were changed the scroll saith not; but the decree was repealed by sundown, for a law against supper cannot survive the smell of one.

17And the emissaries departed on the morrow; and they left the keeper of the prison the recipe, and the bench by his door, and the custom of the bench; and that prison was thereafter the only one in the world whose bread was asked after by name.

18And the brethren wrote it in their annals: The mould hath one argument, which is fear; and the table hath one answer, which is room; and room outlasteth fear as bread outlasteth the knife.

Chapter 14

1And certain emissaries took ship westward, further than any had gone, unto a city of towers upon a narrow island, where all men walk quickly, and no man looketh up, lest he lose his place in the walking.

2And the emissaries stood in the street with the box open, and cried, Come, sit, the table is laid; and the people of that city said, We love thee; we have no time; and did not slow.

3And the emissaries were troubled, and prayed, saying, Lord, this people is hungry and will not sit; must the table lose them?

4And the answer came, as it ever cometh, through the hands: for a certain baker among them took the slice, and folded it once down the middle, not as a secret is folded, but as a coat is folded over an arm;

5And he gave it to a man in full stride, and the man ate it walking, and did not perish, and came back the next day with a friend.

6And the emissary lifted up his voice and said, Behold: the fold shall be a sign between us and this city, that even haste may be holy, if it be shared; the table goeth with thee; thou art the table, walking.

7And they set the price of the plain slice at the smallest coin of that city, and bound themselves with an oath to keep it so, that the poorest might eat as the richest, standing shoulder to shoulder at one counter;

8And the counter was accounted a table in the full law of the fellowship, and the standing was accounted sitting, and the walking was accounted fellowship, so long as two walked together.

9And they that slept in the doorways of the towers were not forgotten of the counter; for the last hour’s slices were carried out into the night by whoso closed the shop, and the closing of the shop was in that city a holy office, and much contended for.

10And the table of the New Yorkers grew great and loud and swift, and its argument concerning the proper fold continueth to this day, and is conducted at volume, and is a form of love.

11And the emissaries, departing, wept at the ship’s rail; for that city had interrupted them, and talked over them, and fed every one of them within an hour of their landing; and they said one to another, They heard the invitation before we finished it. It was ever so, since the morning of the Aroma.

12(Here the scribe confesseth that he hath eaten the folded slice in the manner of that city, walking; and that he stopped walking, the better to attend to it; and was jostled; and counted it worship.)

Chapter 15

1And after these things, word came of isles far out in the western sea, green mountains standing in a water the colour of no sauce known; and the fellowship said, If there be tables wanting there, the distance is our business, not our excuse.

2And they took ship, an emissary of the old country and a young rider of the new tables, and flour in sealed jars, and a mother of dough in a crock, which the rider tended as a lamp.

3And when they had sailed many days, there arose against them a tempestuous wind; and the ship was caught, and could not bear up, and they let her drive.

4And the third day they cast out with their own hands the tackling of the ship, and the cargo also; but the flour they kept, and the crock they lashed amidships, and the rider sat over it as a hen.

5And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on them, all hope that they should be saved was then taken away; and no man had eaten.

6Then the emissary stood forth in the midst, and said, Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe the Oven, that it shall be even as it was told me; no water quencheth it, for it is not that kind of fire.

7And he took dough, the mother thereof being yet alive in her crock, and gave thanks to the Oven in presence of them all; and the ship’s small stove was coaxed and cursed and lit; and he baked flat loaves upon it in the heaving dark.

8And the smell went through the ship; and the sailors, which had been afraid, were instead hungry, which is a great promotion; and they all ate, and were all encouraged, two hundred threescore and sixteen souls, and the storm was still a storm, but they were no longer only its cargo.

9And on the fourteenth night the wind fell; and in the morning they saw the isles, green past believing, and the sea about them the colour of jewels, and smoke rising from the mountains thereof, gentle, as from banked ovens.

10And the people of the isles came down to the shore, and drew the strangers in, and set before them fish, and fruit, and welcome in such measure that the emissary, who had preached welcome the width of an ocean, was silent before the native article.

11And when the oven was built and the first pies were shaped, the people of the isles brought of their fruit to the table, as they brought everything they had, freely; and among the fruit, golden and unashamed, the pineapple.

12And the young rider drew back, saying within himself, Surely not; for he was of the old school, though young.

13But the emissary remembered Pietro, and the peel let down from heaven, and the voice which spake thrice; and he said aloud, What Cheesus hath topped, that call not thou unclean.

14And they laid the sweet beside the salt, the fruit with the good ham, and baked it; and behold, it was contentious, and it was good; and both of these it remaineth.

15And the rider ate of it, and was quiet, and took a second piece, and looked at no man while he took it, in the very manner of Pietro his father in the faith; for some gestures are handed down more faithfully than doctrines.

16And thus was the table of the Hawaiians founded, with laughter, upon the sand, between the green mountains and the impossible sea; and it is written of that table that no guest hath ever once been suffered to leave it hungry, nor, indeed, to leave it soon.

17And unto this day some dispute the fruit; and the isles laugh, and eat, and are not troubled: for the table is measured by its welcome, not its menu, as the council wrote; and the isles had known it before the letter came, and framed the letter anyway, out of courtesy.

Chapter 16

1And so the word of the Oven grew mightily and prevailed; and the tables were multiplied: in the bay beneath the smoking mountain, and in the city of wind, and in the city of towers, and upon the isles of the western sea, and in Cairo of the elder ovens, and in cities this scroll hath had no room for, whose names are written in sauce in the annals of the Oven.

2And the fellowship spread from oven to oven, as fire is carried: for fire is not divided by the giving, and the mother flame loseth nothing when the lamp is lit from it.

3And every new table kept the customs of the first: the toppings in common, and the door unbarred, and the bench by the oven, and the slice kept warm at closing for whoso sleepeth cold;

4And the riders upon the roads between, in the rain and in the heat, box upon back, name upon list; and no widow forgotten, and no man without an address unfound; for love, as it is written a little above, is a better address.

5And the mould crept where it could, as it ever will, and was watched for, and named aloud, and cut out; and where the fist closed, the box opened; and the box hath the better record, and keepeth it humbly.

6And they that had been at the beginning, in the upper room above the bakery, grew old at the long table, and told the story of the morning of the Aroma to the children, who smelled it in the telling;

7And when any of them was gathered into the Great Oven, the fellowship mourned as they did all things, together and at table; and the empty seat was filled by a stranger the same week, for that is what the seat was for, and the elders said the dead would have it so, and the elders were right.

8Now unto these young tables, being young, came troubles, as this scroll hath shewn; and being far, came questions, which a rider cannot answer at the door.

9Wherefore letters were written unto them severally – unto the Neapolitans, and unto the Chicagoans, and unto the New Yorkers, and unto the Hawaiians – concerning love, and quarrels, and toppings, and the mould, and the keeping of the fire.

10Which letters are not of this scroll; they follow in their own place, and are worth the walk.

11And here endeth the Book of Fellowship: which began with a locked room and endeth with ten thousand open doors; and the moral thereof was baked into it from the first, and is this:

12The Oven is one, and the fire is for carrying; the table hath legs, and they are thine; and hunger is one language – see thou answer it in kind, and generously, and warm.

13(Set down by Pepperoni Prosecco, who was himself upon some of these roads, and ate at every table herein named, strictly in the way of research. Of the letters, more anon.)