> Once, while he was walking on a street in London, a beggar asked for alms. Tagore pulled out > something from his pocket and gave it to him. The beggar looked at it and said: “Sorry, Sir. This is > a gold coin and what can I do with it? I need a small piece, please.” He returned the coin to the > poet. Such poets! And such beggars! Tagore himself was the recipient of charity in America -- ...an incident that occurred during Tagore's stay at Yama Farms, a retreat for American millionaires and their guests - intellectuals of world stature. It turns out that late one day, while two emigre Russian artists were busy sketching him, Tagore pulled out a handkerchief from inside his robe, and a dime fell out. Tagore apparently said to his visitors, "Isn't it odd, an old gentleman gave me this as he was waiting for his car. Do I look like a tramp?" The infamous dime, it seems, was given to him as alms earlier that day by a stranger! Upon further inquiry, it was determined that the benevolent donor was none other than John D. Rockefeller (oil baron...first American billionaire!...richest man in history!), who had mentioned giving the dime to "an old Negro!". http://homepages.udayton.edu/~chattemr/tagore_in_usa.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller