D. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
Part IV, Chapter XIII = LXXXVIII: On the Wonders of Destiny: Luck and Reverses. | |||
f55b- f55a |
f328a | 1921 | A short introduction on the inevitability of Destiny. The predictions of a mysterious person about the wicked course of life and the inevitable doom of a new-born female child. (Story related in connection with the Verse: “Wheresoever ye be, death will overtake you” (Qur’án, IV, 80). |
f55u | ” | 1922 | The doomed hoopoe, that falls a victim in spite of having noticed the net. (Cf. Sindbád-náma [Or. 255 Br. Mus.] f129a—f130a). |
f55b | f328b | 1923 | A sparrow, that taught three lessons and pointed out a hidden treasure to its owner, but could not avoid a net. |
” | ” | 1924 | The convictions of the four companions in travel about the workings of the universe and the sources of happiness: one of them, the son of a goldsmith, believes in manual labour, and provides rest for one day with his humble earnings; another, the son of a trader, believes in commerce, and entertains his friends the next day with the proceeds of his business; the third, the son of a Wazír, believes in birth, meets an old family acquaintance, and through his bounty entertains his friends in his turn; while the fourth, the son of a king, believes in Fate, and without any effort of his own is made the crown-prince of that country, and rewards his three companious. |
f56a | f329a | 1925 | The curious pleasure which Ibnu’l-Jaṣṣáṣ al-Jawharí, the Jeweller of the Caliph al-Muqtadir, obtained from laying out his jewels; and the sudden raid on his house, in consequence of which he conceals them in a garden until he recovers and repairs his fortune. (Cf. above, IV, vii, 1850; also, Eclipse, vol. I, p. 35, footnotes). |
D. | G. | Serial. | TITLES OF THE ANECDOTES. |
f56b | f329a | 1926 | A person, afraid of ‘Azrá’íl (the angel of death), requests the Prophet Sulaymán to transport him by air to India, a very distant land; but the pre-ordained doom falls on him there only. |
” | ” | 1927 | The Prophet asks ‘Azrá’íl whether he pitied the lot of any of his victims. ‘Azrá’íl mentions two occasions, which happened to be the birth and the death of Shaddád. |
f57a | f329b | 1928 | A pious man of an Arab tribe, when asked about the wholesale death of the dogs and cocks of the tribe, attributes it to the wisdom of Providence, which ultimately proves to be a blessing in disguise, since his tribe remained unmolested and unnoticed, though a strong foe had raided the surrounding district (The Kitáb-i-Samaru’l-A‘ráb (?) as the source). |
” | ” | 1929 | Luqmán, the philosopher, and his son, detained by accident while travelling, are informed of the calamity which had fallen upon the place previous to their arrival. |
f57b | ” | 1930 | The mystery of the missing head, and how al-Masrúr, the agent of the Caliph Hárún, supplied it to make up the number of forty heads which he was carrying to Baghdád, after killing the band of robbers in Ahwáz; the supplied head also proved to be that of a disguised villain. |
” | f330a | 1931 | Núshírwán highly surprised at the striking contrasts in the life of an old man; whilst in poverty, the man did not grieve at a severe wound on the sole of his foot, but in prosperity felt indisposed when flowers were showered on his head. |
f58a | ” | 1932 | Moses shown the mysterious working of Providence: The equitable treatment of the horseman, the lad, and the blind man. (The Laṭá’if-i-Qiṣaṣ-i-Anbiyá (?) as the source). |
” | f330b | 1933 | Núshírwán’s earnest desire to know the wonderful workings of Destiny, and Buzurjmihr’s practical demonstration in the court by making Núshírwán overthrow the Múbad and instal him in the latter’s place. |
f59a | f331a | 1934 | Abú Muḥammad al-Muhallabí, the Wazír, relates the curious incident of a person on whom a party of sailors put fetters in joke, which proved to be a portent of his just doom. (The Kitáb-i-Khalqu’l-Insán as the source). |
The chapter ends as usual with a panegyric. |