Dábishlim reverentially blessed the sage Bídpáí, and said, ‘I have heard the story of Farísah and Kámjúí, and it is a tale for the intelligent as to what happens between kings and their servants in the matter of disagreement and treason, and forgiveness and punishment, and a return to the renewal of favor and an augmentation of confidence in trustworthy and able men, with a view to the ordering of the state and the furtherance of salutary measures. It also refers to the not transgressing in the direction of falsehood and the being open to conviction through true and wholesome words; and the advantages of these directions are such as to be beyond the limits of computation. Now be pleased to relate the story of one, who for the preservation of his own condition and the defence of his own person, does not desist from injuring others and inflicting harm on animals; and does not give heed to the admonitions of the sagacious, until, in consequence, he is overtaken with a retribution similar to his own acts.’ The sage responded, ‘None but a fatuous person proceeds in acting injuriously to dumb animals, except one who is ignorant, and cannot discern between the light of good and the darkness of evil, and the advantage of gain and disadvantage of loss: and who, swayed by his fatuity, wanders in the wilderness of error, careless of the consequences of his actions; and the visual faculty of whose eyes falls short of the termination of his deeds, wherefore he is not indued with sight to behold the nature of retribution. He, however, the eye of whose thought* is illuminated by the jeweled collyrium of the eternal guidance, and the flower-garden of whose heart is perfumed with the odors of the herbs of the everlasting favor, will never suffer himself to act towards a fellow-creature, in a way he should not himself approve if done to him.

And thou must know that every action has its appointed recompense, which will assuredly reach the doers; and they must not be elated by any delay that may intervene, for in accordance with the saying, ‘Assuredly God grants delay, but does not overlook,’ there may be a respite but not an entire overlooking: there is time allotted for two or three days’ delay, but the idea of escaping punishment and retribution is a vain one. Every seed which they sow in the field of action, will, before much time elapses, yield fruit. Wherefore every one that desires good must sow nothing but the seed of good.

And if anyone wishes by deceit and misrepresentation to veil his own misconduct, and to trick out his hypocrisy and artifice in the apparel of righteous actions, to such an extent that men may praise him, and that the mention of his virtues, pervading all districts and regions, should extend far and near, by these means the result of his blameable actions will never be averted from him, but the fruits of his internal baseness and the impurity of his mind will reach him. Just so, if a husbandman should sow—for example—the seed of colocynth in the ground, and having covered it with earth, should give out that he had sown sugar-cane there, and all persons should believe that sugar-cane would grow up in that land, still indubitably his crop would not be changed by that artifice, and that same seed of colocynth which he sowed, would produce to view its fruit.

And it may be, that when anyone finds the reality of the retributive system; and when the mystery of the verse, ‘And whoever shall have wrought good of the weight of an ant, shall behold the same. And whoever shall have wrought evil of the weight of an ant, shall behold the same,* has penetrated his heart, that he will turn from his evil acts, and expressing his repentance of his cruel and injurious conduct, will adopt as his path, the way of clemency and kindness.

And among such discourses and similar narratives, is the story of the rank-breaking Lion and the Archer.’ The king asked, ‘How was that?’