Take this from anybody

Question

Hello everybody!I can't make out what does the writer mean by "take this from anybody" at the following sentences. Can anybody help me? Thank you for your reply. They are parts of Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow.“Yes, I know how you feel over it,” he said, and spoke with a weird softness or longing. I could never have believed that I could take this from anybody, or would ever have to, and least of all from this person in the royal hammock

Vorpar · Accepted Answer

I'd need a bit more context from the previous paragraph to give you an exact meaning.

Usually, it means to let someone know that you're being insulted/abused.

Arashjan · Answer

Thank you for your reply Vorpar. The narrator takes a trip to Africa and there meets Dahfo, the King of an African tribe. They are chatting about the meaning of good or goodness. I can't make out to "what" the "this" is referring and what does the writer mean by "I could never have believed that I could take this from anybody, or would ever have to."
Here is the complete paragraph:

Good impresses you, eh, Mr. Henderson?”
I said, “Yes, Your Highness. No bunk. The true good. The honest-to-*** good.”
“Yes, I know how you feel over it,” he said, and spoke with a weird softness or longing. I could never have believed that I could take this from anybody, or would ever have to, and least of all from this person in the royal hammock.“
They say,” he went on, “that bad can easily be spectacular, has dash or bravado and impresses the mind quicker than good. Oh, that is a mistake in my opinion. Perhaps of common good it is true. Many, many nice people. Oh yes. Their will tells them to perform good, and they do. How ordinary! Mere arithmetic. ‘I have left undone the etceteras I should have done, and done the etceteras I ought not to have.’ This does not even amount to a life. Oh, how sordid it is to book-keep.

Take this from anybody

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