Anvār-i Suhaylī - The Anvār-i Suhaili (The Lights of Canopus)

And when King Dábishlím had heard this story from the sage Bídpáí, he offered praise, from the signification of which the perfumes of friendship would reach the nostrils of the saintly, and whose import gave intelligence of the royal diplomas of the happy tidings of tho morn of felicity, and said,

I have heard the description of the advantage of mildness and endurance, and the detriment of impetuosity and rashness; and have comprehended the superiority of composure and mildness over the other virtues of princes and qualities of potentates. Now recount a story illustrative of kings retaining faithful and loyal servants, and point out what class of persons best appreciate the value of patronage, and return thanks most fully for the benefits conferred on them.’ The Bráhman, in reply to the praises of the king, having arranged the offering of benediction, said, ‘May the most perfect share and most universal portion of every rare gift of fortune which unveils its face from the fabric, ‘Assistance from God and a speedy victory,’⁵⁹⁶ and every felicitous boon which is displayed on the ornamented bride’s seat, ‘For victory is from God alone,’^596a be particularly bestowed on his highness the ruler of the kingdom!

The most powerful assistance in the matter, whereof the king has spoken, is to discern the proper field for employing [each individual]; and it behoves a king to test the coin of his servants with a variety of experiments on the touchstone of trial; and to make himself acquainted with the assay-value of the judgment, and knowledge, and sincerity, and prudence of each; and so to rely on their temperance, and integrity, and good faith, and honesty. For the capital stock for the service of kings is truthfulness, and truthfulness cannot exist without the fear of God and uprightness. And the beginning of all knowledge is fear^597a and awe [as it is said], ‘Such only of his servants fear God as are endued with understanding.’^597b Every servant of the king that fears God, the king, too, will have strong grounds for reliance on him; and the people will see in him a prop of hopefulness.

And assuredly it is not fit that a liar and an untruthful man should be raised to a position of confidence, and should obtain the power of access to the king’s secrets; for thence troubles will arise, and the injurious effects thereof will be evident for a long, long period.’ The king said, ‘This subject requires detailed explanation, for men without birth, or dignity, or real worth, may be adorned with some attractive qualities, yet in the end their affairs, commencing a retrograde movement, will become the cause of shame to their patrons.

The Bráhman said, ‘The distinct exposition of this matter is, that three qualities are required for the servant of a king. The first is uprightness in action, for a trustworthy man is approved both by the Creator and by creatures, and is fit and worthy to be entrusted with the secrets of kings and the management of state-affairs. The second is truthfulness in speech, for the blemish of falsehood is a huge crime, and it is an indispensable duty for a king to shun those who speak falsely. And if all good qualities were collected in a person, and he were celebrated for his gratitude and thankfulness, yet if he be false in speech he is not worthy of confidence. The third quality is a generous nature and high spirit; for a mean man, and one destitute of magnanimity does not rightly appreciate the value of what is bestowed on him, and of the bounty shewn to him. And from whatever direction the wind comes, thither his inclinations are evinced.

And they have said, with relation to the unfaithful,

And it behoves a king to fix his eyes on the virtuous qualities of his servants, not on their comeliness or strength,⁵⁹⁸ for the beauty of the servants of princes is reason and ability, and their strength is knowledge and sagacity. And when any one is adorned with the ornaments of excellent qualities, and is free from the practice of corrupt habits, and unites in himself hereditary virtue and acquired merit,^598a and who issues from the crucible of trial pure and unsullied in the manner that has been mentioned, it is right that the king should observe every beneficial measure in encouraging him, and deliberately and by regular degrees elevate him to the different ranks of favor and stages of authority. Thus his honor will be established in all eyes, and his awe in all hearts. And the sages have said, ‘It behoves a king, in encouraging his servants, [to proceed] like a skilful physician. For, as the latter, until, in the first place, he has fully ascertained and distinctly inquired into the state of the sick man, and the duration of his indisposition, and the nature and extent of his sickness, and its causes and symptoms; and until he has acquired perfect acquaintance and complete knowledge both on general and particular points, and the evidences of the pulse and urine, does not commence the remedies, nor ventures on prescriptions; so a king, too, ought to acquaint himself with the circumstances of each of his attendants minutely and generally, and inform himself of his method of action, and manner of speech, and mode of procedure. Then let him begin to promote him and raise him to power, and not place confidence in any with too great facility, lest it prove a source of regret and repentance. And the principal point is, that the attendants of princes should be trustworthy, and to be depended upon; as well that the secrets, financial and administrative, may continue safe, as also that the soldiers and people may be preserved from injury and harm. For if, which heaven forefend! one of the favorite courtiers be led into the evil quality of treason, and his words be honored with acceptance by the monarch, it is possible that he may plunge some innocent person into destruction, and thus cause disgrace to his prince, and bring upon him evil consequences in the end. And among the narratives which relate to this subject is the story of the Goldsmith and the Traveler.’ The king asked, ‘How was that?’

The Bráhman said, ‘They have related that in the royal city of Ḥalab,⁵⁹⁹ there was a famous king and prosperous potentate, and many princes of that age had drawn the ring of fealty to him through the ear of their minds, and most of the rulers of the time had taken upon the shoulder of their heart the cloth of obedience to his will.

And this king had a daughter sun-faced and moon-visaged, the light of whose cheek had imparted splendor to the countenance of the sun, and the scent of whose musky ringlets perfumed the nostrils of the age.

The king kept this gem unique from the eyes of all others, and continued to cherish her like a royal pearl, in the shell of concealment and virtuous privacy. One day they were preparing an ornament for this maid, and they had occasion for the services of a clever goldsmith, such a one as might be perfect in his craft. Now in that city was a Goldsmith, who deserved to have the glowing ball of the sun for his melting operations, and for whose silver-smelting the bright crucible of the moon seemed a fitting laboratory. In valuing precious stones his quickness was such, that the instant he saw a shell, he knew the worth of the pearl inside it; and in assaying metals, his skill was so great, that, without experimentalising with a touch-stone, he used to announce the quantity of alloy and pure metal.

The king had heard his fame, and had seen some of his beautiful works and excellent articles, wherefore he, on this occasion, sent for him to the seraglio, and held a consultation with him as to the preparation of the ornament. The Goldsmith was a young man of prepossessing countenance and sweet tongue. During the conversation, the king’s heart took pleasure in his words, and the royal mind felt an inclination to meet him constantly. And he, day by day, by the astonishing skill of his performances and his admirable discourse, was fascinating the king; and every hour the latter, too, shewed him more favor and honor, until he became the confidential visitor of the seraglio, and the princess, upon whom sun and moon had never cast their shadow, admitted him to interviews [seated] behind a curtain.

And this king had a vazír celebrated for the solidity of his judgment, and notorious and well-known for the rectitude of his counsels. The writing of his world-subduing pen was the victorious chronicle of triumph, and the effect of his universe-adorning thought was the fringe of the robe of majesty. The pious and the great used to place confidence in his clear judgment, and the landowners and leaders of the faith had the stock of life augmented by his pen, which was gifted with the miraculous powers of Khizr.

When the vazír saw that the king went beyond the bounds of moderation in his patronage of the Goldsmith, and carried his undue attentions to him, and consideration for him, to the limit of excess, he, out of pure attachment and loyalty, at a proper opportunity and a convenient time, on a pretext which was not beyond the circle of congruity, turned the reins of the courser of his discourse toward the affair of the Goldsmith, and said, ‘O king! former sovereigns introduced not artizans into the circle of men of authority, nor raised⁶⁰¹ them above their peers and fellows. But now the king has made this person the confidential visitor of his ḥaram, without previously ascertaining, as he ought and should have done, his qualifications. It strikes me, however, that this person has not a generous nature, nor is of a guileless temperament; for his discourse is always restricted to the injuring and annoying others, and his energies in the discharge of orders or prohibitions are not expended in the place or time they ought to be. From such a a person, therefore, faithful procedure and grateful habits are not to be expected.

And I have observed that whenever your majesty is disposed to reward or show favor to any one that mean base fellow is ready to wish himself dead from chagrin. And the wise have said, ‘It is a characteristic of low-minded people that they cannot bear to see another person liberal to another.’

And those persons are more worthy to be admitted to the king’s society who unite honorable descent with the nobility of merit. And it is right to shun the company of an ignorant low-bred man, for from associating with persons of this class various mischiefs arise, and those who are base by nature and inwardly impure have no regard for honesty nor care for uprightness; and when these qualities are absent, we may expect from such a sordid wretch every fault which enters the limits of possibility.

The king replied, ‘This young man has a comely form and beauty of form is a sure indication of mental grace, for, ‘the external is the index of the internal,’ and the wise have said, ‘the beauty of the preface announces the excellence of the body of the work.

And in that His Holiness of Prophetical dignity (on him be the best and choicest blessings!) pronounced, ‘Read the letter of your requirement to one the page of whose cheek is adorned with the verse of beauty and comeliness; and expect goodness from one of a bright countenance, for the cheek of his condition will be adorned with the mole of excellence, ‘Seek for good from fair-faced women,’—he intimated that beauty of outward appearance denotes mental grace.

The vazír answered, ‘In the school of wisdom they do not read the chapter of beauty of form, and they do not think the verse of perfection to be in reality aught else but amiable qualities of the mind. For there are many persons who ravish men’s hearts by their grace of form, but when they strike the coin of their spiritual nature on the touchstone of trial, they find them good for nothing. And it has been entered among the stories of sages that a philosopher saw a handsome youth, and his heart yearned towards him. He went forward and made trial of the coin of his real qualities, but he found no precious metal worth speaking of. So he turned away and said, ‘It is a goodly house if there were but some one in it!’

The king replied, ‘From grace of form we may infer symmetry of mind, and one of a well-proportioned mind is worthy of notice. Moreover since during this long period he had no patron, it is possible that some of his qualities may have deviated from the right path; but now we bestow on him the eye of patronage, that he may acquire praiseworthy feelings to a degree of perfection. For the effect of such fostering influence is to turn a flint into a beautiful ruby, and a lustrous heart-expanding gem. So too by the auspiciousness of aid black blood becomes fragrant civet-raining musk, and a drop of rain is changed into a peerless royal gem.

The vazír replied, ‘O king! to give encouragement to one that has no original purity of birth is unfitting, for it is not every stone that becomes a jewel, nor does all blood change to fragrant musk; and if a base person were educated for a thousand years, it is impossible to look for goodness from him.

And were they to endeavour to change and alter the sordid man a hundred times, his original nature would remain unaltered, and a man of eminence has pronounced on this head,

And since this truth is well-established, it behoves a person not to associate with such sordid wretches that he may not be overtaken in the whirlpool of disgrace, like that Prince, who from companying with a Shoemaker was plunged into the abasement of slavery, and through his friendship with a Jeweler arrived on the borders of the plain of destruction.’ The king asked, ‘How was that?’

The vazír said, ‘They have related that in the territory of Fárs, there was a king of good dispositions and an amiable nature, who had placed the foundation of his sway on the benevolent inclination to cherish his subjects, and who on the throne of royalty fully satisfied the requirements of a widely-diffused clemency.

A son was born to him on whose countenance the signs of rectitude and nobleness were found, and on whose face the marks of world-subjugating triumph were conspicuous.

And on the shoulder of this boy there was a black mole of the size of the palm of one’s hand. The king was disturbed at the sight of this, and inquired of the wise men of the time what that mark denoted. They replied, ‘We have seen in ancient books that whoever has such a mark, many dangers will befall him, but in the end he will be a great conqueror and subduer of the world.’ The king was pleased at these happy tidings, and kept the eyes of fostering care fixed on his condition. And in the neighborhood of the king lived a Shoemaker, devoid of any nice sense of honor and from birth a lewd fellow. The king observed towards him the rights of neighborly feelings, and had assigned to him a regular pension and a fixed stipend. And he always passed his time tranquilly and in easy circumstances under the shadow of the king’s favor. When the Prince reached the age of four⁶⁰⁴ years, being naturally of a frolicksome temper, he used constantly to come to the Shoemaker’s little room and spend the time in play. The vazír being informed of this state of things, exerted himself to prohibit and prevent this, and said, ‘The sapling of the temper of children is very susceptible, and turns in whatever direction people incline it, and remains fixed so.

My advice is that the king should restrain the Prince from associating with the Shoemaker, that his reprehensible qualities may not suddenly infect the royal youth, nor plunge the peerless spirit^604a of that luminary of the heaven of empire into the abyss of abasement; and that various perils which are to be thence expected may not occur.

The king responded, ‘He is a mere child, and has taken a fancy for the Shoemaker, and he is very dear to me. It is probable that if I keep him back from associating with the man, he will be vexed, and his chagrin would tend to distress my heart. I will wait a little till he grows older, and can discriminate between good and bad. We will then, by admonition, bring his conduct into the right way.’ The vazír was silent, and the king sent for the Shoemaker, and bestowed many favors upon him, and having given him hopes of his imperial bounty for the future, said, ‘Thou art my neighbor, and this darling of mine has become attached to thee, and his wish is that thou shouldest be his familiar friend and companion, and protect him from fire and water.’ The Shoemaker kissed the ground of service, and said,

I, your slave, do not find in myself capacity for this post, nor perceive in my own person merit enough for such a dignity, which is the ultimate object of ambition.⁶⁰⁵ But the imperial regard possesses the miraculous powers of the philosopher’s stone, and can make black earth pure gold, and change rude stones into perfect gems.

My hope is that under the imperial auspices, the duties of attendance will be in such manner fulfilled that they may attain the honor of approval.’ In short, he accepted the service of the Prince, and boldly taking him up brought him to his own hut, and then carried him back again to the king’s palace. And at times it happened that the Prince stopped all night in his little room, and the king showed his satisfaction at his familiarity with the Shoemaker; while the latter undertook the service of the Prince in such a way, that every day his favor with the king increased, until he became altogether the favorite, and, by reason of his devoted attendance, he carried off the ball of elevation from his compeers.

Day after day he used to take the Prince to wander over flower-gardens, and kept him till night employed in sight-seeing and amusement; and sometimes he spent the night too in gardens and places of entertainment. Once on a time, it became necessary for the king to take a journey; and, when he had formed a fixed intention of going, with a body of his particular attendants, he sent for the Shoemaker, and delivered the Prince anew to his charge, and uttered a number of injunctions that he would attend to his safety. The Shoemaker promised zealously to obey the king’s commands, and girt himself afresh to his duties. Now in the environs of the city, the king had a garden, which was a type of the garden of Paradise above, and a model of the delightful region on high in the highest heaven. The breeze shook from the tresses full of curls of its violets, a profusion of pure musk; and the perfumer of the northern gale bore away from the entangled ringlets of its wild roses^605a fresh ambergris. The odoriferous shrubs of Eden from the perfumes of its flowers moist with dew, sought to augment their freshness; and the blossoms of the trees Sidrah and Ṭúba borrowed the quality of gracefulness from the variety of its lofty branches.

The Prince very frequently used to betake himself to pleasant rambles in this garden, and at the very time when the king had chosen to travel, the royal youth had formed the wish of repairing thither according to his wonted custom, and had set off for the garden with a few of his slaves and attendants who always waited upon him. The Shoemaker observed that that day the prince wore on his head a golden crown, and a garment^606b ornamented with jewels, on his person. The low nature and sordid spirit of that wretch tempted him to deceit and treason, and he thought to himself, ‘This dress and crown are as valuable as the capital of a hundred merchants, nay, equal to the whole contents of a thousand seas and mines. Just now his father is a long way off from the capital, and his mother and all the people of the seraglio are secure of my fidelity. My best plan is to carry off the boy, and having conveyed him to some remote city, sell his ornaments and apparel for an astonishing sum, and pass the rest of my life in happiness and ease.

In the end, that wretch of evil end,^606c from the greedy desires of his perfidious spirit, kindled the fire of mischief; and, pouring the face-water^606d of integrity on the ground of injustice, formed a design against the son of his lord and master. He then imparted his intentions to a shrewd slave, who was his confidant, and found means to ply each of the other attendants with the wine of insensibility; and, having reduced the Prince, too, to the same state, he laid him in a large box. Then when night came, he fastened the box on the back of a quick-traveling she-camel, such that the swift-revolving moon applauded the rapidity of her progress, and the creation-traversing sky eulogised her fleet movements.

And he himself mounted a cream-colored steed, which sped like the life of the prosperous, and came on like sudden death. In going it tripped up⁶⁰⁷ arrows, and its bounds consumed the heart of lightning [with jealousy]. Were they to have given it the rein, it would have carried off the ball of speed from thought itself; and had they struck it with the lash, it would have leapt from the globe of earth to the dome of heaven.

And he set the slave also on another wind-rivaling, iron-champing, lightning-paced, thunder-snorting, world-crossing courser.

And he took two other, sumpter-horses, and so carrying them with a supply of food for the way, they set their faces to the journey, and by the time that day dawned, they had traveled a vast distance; and having rested in the early morning a short space, they mounted again, and beginning with fiery haste, like lightning, to traverse the road, they passed far beyond the frontiers of the king’s dominions, and arrived in another country. In the other direction the attendants and slaves of the Prince, stretched out insensible, did not recover ther consciousness till mid-day. At length the gardener being apprised of their condition poured oil of almonds and stale vinegar on the brains of each, so that they came back to their senses, and seeing no trace of the Prince and the Shoemaker, they set off for the city and acquainted the boy’s mother with the circumstances. The queen mounted and came to the garden, but from that delicate rose no perfume reached her nostrils.

However, when the mother found no tidings of the light of her eyes, she uttered shrieks, and raising shrill outcries to the height of Arcturus, commanded that they should traverse with the step of search every part and quarter of the garden, and seek diligently throughout the environs and neighborhood of the city and adjoining country. And when after extensive inquiry and infinite trouble the messengers could in nowise reach the station of their desired object, but came back in despair, and represented how matters stood, the queen’s tender nature⁶⁰⁸ began to melt in the fire of separation, and, like a taper, she was consuming in the flame of absence, and was made to understand, by the tenor of her condition, the purport of this couplet.

Thus she passed the night, the livelong night, in anguish of heart till morning came; and her sorrow then culminating, she heaved a cold sigh from her distracted breast and said,

At last the message, ‘Return unto thy Lord,’^608a having arrived, the taper of her life was extinguished by the violent wind of ‘Every creature which liveth on the earth is subject to decay.’^608b

The servants of the seraglio represented what had happened, to the king, and the latter, returning to his capital, reposed his greatness there, and gave full vent to all possible lamentation and grief for the loss of his wife and son. At length, having bowed his head on the line of endurance, he adopted the course of patience.

Meantime, however, the Shoemaker having conveyed the Prince to the country of Damascus, after he had expended the jewels, sold him to a merchant, with whom the Prince lived ten years, and grew up into such beauty that he made the market of Egyptian Joseph flat.

Whenever that delicately-educated cypress came forth from his house, a thousand despairing lovers were ready to devote their lives on the road of affection, and from every corner and direction were holding up their hands in prayer for the long life of that straight-statured youth.

The merchant was a discriminating and sagacious person, and possessed thorough shrewdness and penetration. He said to himself, ‘It is not for my gain or advantage that I should be attended any more by this slave, for if I keep him concealed in the house he might just as well not exist; and if he issues from the house the fire of mischief is kindled, and no one can look upon his face with composure.

My best course is to take this slave as a present to the King of Fárs, for he is a munificent monarch. It is certain that he will bestow on me a reward equal to twice the value of the slave.’ So the merchant took him to Fárs and presented him to the king by way of offering, and after ten years that he had been torn from his father’s bosom, having now, like the full moon, reached the station of the fourteenth,

he arrived once more in the capital of Fárs. The king, ignorant of his son’s condition, honored the merchant’s offering with acceptance, and sent the new comer to the circle of his favorite slaves, and every day bestowed more and more attention on him, until in a short time he obtained pre-eminence over all his fellows. And, meantime, he had formed a friendship with a Jeweler, who always waited in the treasury, and to whom was assigned the charge⁶¹⁰ of the precious stones and ornaments. To him the Prince was always doing acts of kindness; and every present that the king gave him, he sent a gem of it to the Jeweler as his share. When, however, the latter perceived the unlimited confidence which was reposed in the slave, his sordid nature formed a vain desire, and he said to himself, ‘I will beguile the slave to bring me the king’s own signet-ring, and by help of that seal I will plunder the treasury and will carry off an abundant store and immense treasure therefrom.’ Wherefore he said to the slave, ‘Sweetheart! every day thou dost lavish a variety of kindnesses on this mean individual, and I wish to requite some of those acts by an acceptable service. There is an inscription on the royal signet of the king of such a nature, that whosoever becomes possessed of this inscription on the seal, obtains absolute power and the whole territory of the world is secured to him.

If thou wilt undertake this task, and, at the time when the king is contentedly indulging in a sweet sleep,^610a wilt remove that ring from his finger and bring it to me in order that I may take off the impression for thee, the throne of royalty will soon be adorned with the glory of thy beauty, on condition that thou conferrest on me the post of vazír.

By this artifice the Jeweler beguiled the Prince, so that at night-time he entered the king’s bedchamber, and having extended the hand of audacity to the king’s signet, by degrees gently drew it off. The king awoke and said to the slave, ‘Why didst thou venture on this bold act? and what didst thou want with the ring?’ The Prince was unable to utter a word, and the flame of the king’s wrath being kindled, he called an executioner and commanded him to put the slave to death. The executioner first of all pulled off the Prince’s garment from his neck, and at once that black mole on his shoulder was exposed to view. At sight of the mole the king swooned, and the executioner withheld his hand from inflicting the blow. When the king recovered his senses, he kissed the head and eyes of his son, and said, ‘Light of my eyes! the society of the perfidious Shoemaker plunged us into the flames of separation.’ The youth too made excuses and said, ‘The friendship of the Jeweler incited me to this disrespectful action.’ Then the king commanded the Jeweler to be severely punished, and admonished the Prince that in future he should draw in his skirt from the society of base persons, that he might not be overtaken in calamities such as those.

And the advantage to be derived from this story is, that it may become evident to the noble mind of the king that the company of people of bad origin makes the king a slave, and the slave downcast. And the Goldsmith is of the number of those whose society ought to be shunned, but now the king has carried his patronage of him to the limits of excess. The advisable course is, that in favoring and exalting him, moderation should be observed; lest a downright mischief, the remedy of which will be beyond the bounds of possibility, should be the consequence.’ The king gave no heed to the words of the vazír, and said, ‘Sovereign princes do not commence an affair without the guidance of fortune, nor enter upon important matters without the aid of inspiration. What have lofty connections and old family to do with nobility of nature and perfection of qualities? It is the tokens of excellence and good manners, not the vanity of birth and connections, that cause respect and secure honor and advancement.

That person may be regarded as noble and great, whom the reigning monarch distinguishes by his favor: and a mighty potentate said, ‘We are fortune; whomsoever we have raised has been raised, and whomsoever we have put down has been put down.’ So in truth whomsoever we exalt, the head of his loftiness rises above tho top of the twin-stars, near the pole of the Lesser Bear; and whomsoever we degrade, the luminary of his fortune falls into the abyss of obscurity. Should the gale of our favor blow over a salt-marsh, it becomes the envy of the rose-garden of Iram; and when the lightning of our wrath scatters its fire, it consumes a thousand stacks of reputation.

And we have raised this young man, and elevated the head of his honor to the summit of exaltation. Our hope is that the opinion we have formed of him will not prove erroneous.’ The vazír saw that the king was firmly resolved to encourage him, and he therefore held his peace, and made no further opposition in the matter. However, when some days had passed, the Goldsmith, seeing the hand of choice open, placed his foot beyond the centre of moderation; and began, through hope and fear and promises and threats, to encroach on men’s property. One day there was occasion for certain precious stones for an ornament for the princess, and they could not find such as they wanted in the king’s treasury, nor were they procurable in the jewelers’ bázár. The Goldsmith, being engaged in inquiries for the gems, learnt that the daughter of a merchant possessed the valuable stones that were required. Hereupon he sent some persons to her to ask for the jewels, but the girl met them with a refusal, and however much they urged her, it was all in vain. In short they sent for her, and the Goldsmith said⁶¹² to the princess, ‘I have heard that this merchant’s daughter possesses some royal pearls, such that from the time when the jeweler of the sky gave to view the radiant jewels of the stars in the emerald-colored vault of heaven, none have beheld pearls of such purity and brilliance as those lustrous ones; and so long as the nurse of ocean has tended the pearl unique^612a in the cradle of its shell, the diver of the sight never saw the equals of those incomparable gems.

And she has also certain rubies of an excellent water, which, like a mother, the radiant sun has with a hundred difficulties nourished in the mine’s womb; and the stony mountain, notwithstanding all its hard-heartedness, has kept, with a thousand acts of tenderness, in its inmost bosom.

She is also the owner of some pieces of green emerald, such that the eye of the spectator is blinded by looking on them, while by viewing that delicious green color the pupil of the eye has its light augumented.

And in her jewel-casket are also some carbuncles, which, like the flowers of Persian pomegranates seem to sparkle with fire in the sight of those who survey them: as well as some turquoises of pleasing color, so clear that heaven appears to have acquired its beautiful enamel from their hue.

The princess should command the girl to bring hither her jewels and sell them to us at the current price; and if she does not agree readily and of her own good-will, they ought to be taken from her by severe and rigorous measures.’ Thereupon the princess sent to compel the merchant’s daughter to bring the jewels. The girl protested that she had no such gems and produced the small pieces she possessed. The Goldsmith did not approve of them, and incited the princess to put her to the torture. The king’s daughter was intoxicated and out of herself with the cup of fatuous termination, ‘They (women) are deficient in intellect,’ and the insinuations of the tempter of mankind combining therewith, and the pride of royalty, and of prosperity, and the temptations of violent passions lending their aid, she commanded the merchant’s daughter to be racked, and in a short time that weak helpless one, by the wound of the talons of the eagle of punishment, fell into the claw of destruction. Whereupon the relations of the merchant’s daughter raised their complaints and outcries to the summit of the ethereal sky, and the pure-minded vazír inscribed this state of things on the tablet of the king’s mind. From the smoke of such dishonor, which arose from the window of the seraglio, the cell of the king’s breast was darkened, and in a gracious manner he showered honors on the heirs of the merchant’s daughter, and giving them an abundance of money, made them satisfied, and removing his daughter from the eye of his favor, left off patronising the Goldsmith. And by the disastrous influence of the society of that accursed and cruel villain, the noble princess fell from her elevated position of respect; and the Goldsmith, fearing the vengeance of the king, absconded. The mother of the princess looked upon it as advisable that the latter should leave the city for a few days, and stay for a time in the royal garden residence;⁶¹³ and when the lightnings of the hurricanes of the imperial anger were appeased, and the flame of the world-consuming wrath of the king had been quenched, the princess should return to the seraglio. The latter accordingly proceeded to the garden, and the Goldsmith being apprised of this circumstance, came to wait upon her. When she beheld him, she was seized with emotion, and exclaimed, ‘O unlucky wretch of ill-omened appearance!

Art thou come back to stir up some new mischief? and employ some fresh artifice to gratify thy covetousness and selfish interests? away with thee! for to see thee again is painful to me, and that I should address thee any more is impossible.’ The Goldsmith came out in despair from the presence of the princess, and directing his steps towards the jungle, went on distracted and perplexed. Night came on, and dark clouds fixed their gloomy pavilion in the expanse of air, and set down the lamp of the stars. The hapless Goldsmith, at such a time, when they had sifted over earth’s surface the powder of darkness,⁶¹⁴ and had poured the lamp-black of ink on liquid pitch,

advanced like one distraught. It happened that, to capture wild beasts, they had dug a pit in that desert, and a tiger, and a monkey, and a serpent had fallen into it. The Goldsmith, who had cruelly dug pits in the path of mankind, having come round that way, fell into the pit on the top of the animals.

This group that were at the bottom of the pit were restrained by their own sufferings from molesting one another, and for several days remained at the bottom of the pit in the same fixed position. Till one day a pilgrim,^614a one of the inhabitants of the city, having set out on a journey, passed by them, and having observed their situation, was amazed, and thought to himself, ‘Well! to be sure, this man is one of the children of Adam, and being overtaken in this vortex of calamity, is nearer the wilderness of death than the encamping-ground of life. Humanity requires that by every attainable means I should release him, and store up the merit of this action for the ‘Day in which neither riches nor children avail.^614b He then let down a cord, and the monkey, clinging to it, reached the mouth of the pit. The second time the snake was the first to get up. The third time the tiger struck his claws into the rope; and when all these three had reached the level ground, they blessed the pilgrim and said,

Know that thou hast conferred a vast favor and thorough kindness upon each one of us, as we firmly feel and acknowledge, but at this time we have not the power of returning and requiting it.’ The monkey said, ‘I pass my time in the skirt of the mountain which lies near the city; if thou wilt be so courteous as to honor my dwelling with thy fortunate footstep, the debt I owe will be remembered.’ The tiger said, ‘I, too, have made my home in the vicinity of the city in such and such a jungle, and if thou wilt please to pass that way I shall, perhaps, as far as my power goes, discharge the dues of service.’ The serpent added, ‘I have chosen my abode in the wall round the city; if thou comest thither and good-fortune should befriend me, I will to the extent of my ability shew my thankfulness for this benevolent act. We would now, however, offer a piece of advice, to which it is thy bounden duty to listen. Do not get this man out of the pit, for he seems to be a false person, and deems it right to requite good with evil. Be not deceived with the outward beauty of his appearance, and be not off thy guard as to his inward foulness and the impurity of his disposition.

And most of the people of the age are engaged in adorning their outward appearance and neglecting their inward man: consequently,

especially this man who for several days has been our companion, and whose habits and qualities we thoroughly understand: in his face we have assuredly not seen the tokens of a generous spirit, nor inhaled the odor of fidelity from the flower-garden of his qualities.

And if thou wilt not act on our suggestions, there may be a day that thou wilt repent of what thou hast done.’ The pilgrim gave no heed to their words, and let down the rope, and did not listen to their disinterested advice with the hearing of acceptance, but raised the Goldsmith to the mouth of the pit. The latter thanked the pilgrim and told him some portion of the king’s harsh treatment and his own perplexity, and, moreover, he made request that he would pass one day with him, in which case he would perhaps be able to recompense him. The pilgrim replied, ‘At present I have placed the foot of reliance on God in the path of the prosecution of my journey, and I shall make a tour of two or three days in various parts of the world. But I pledge myself that, if fate spares me and destiny so decrees, I will secure the honor of thy society again.

With this promise they took leave of one another, and both returned to their own roads. The pilgrim set his face towards his journey, and the Goldsmith went back to the city, and concealed himself in a retired spot. Meanwhile the king, being ashamed of having patronised the Goldsmith, and blushing at not having listened to the advice of his vazír, shewed no regard towards his daughter. Nay, however much the nobles, employing the kind offices of mediation, besought him [to forgive her], their request did not reach the place of acceptance. In this state of things a year passed away, and the pilgrim—having visited some few districts and countries, and gathered three hundred pieces of sterling gold—at length, feeling the sensation of love of country, bethought himself, ‘Although in absence from home things are prosperous with me, and my worldly wealth and future happiness are hourly on the increase, still the air of my own country suits me best, and the water of the fountain of my native land is more gratifying to the palate of my heart.

He then turned his face homeward from exile, and arriving at night-time at the skirt of the mountain, which was the monkey’s abode, he halted there. When a little of the night had passed, two thieves, sanguinary and trouble-exciting, such that Mars the dagger-user was on his guard against their bosom-piercing shafts; and Arcturus, the javelin-holder, held before his face the shield of fear from dread of their life-chasing swords,

came to his pillow, and having possessed themselves of his money and goods, tied his legs together tightly with the noose of a lasso, and cast him so bound into a dreadful ravine, which was a long way from the public road. The hapless one said to himself, ‘While thou hast a gasp of life still left, and readest a line from the page of existence,

All night long the pilgrim lay there bound, and bowed his neck to the decree of fate and the mandate of destiny; at length, when it dawned, from the pain of his hands and feet losing control of himself, he exclaimed,

He was raining down the tears of anguish from his eyes, and was groaning with the agony of his afflicted breast, and exclaiming, ‘Alas! I perish in this woeful strait, and no one has any knowledge of my condition, and with all this life-consuming pain I have fallen into the whirlpool of extinction, and the scent of remedy does not reach the nostrils of hope.

At this time the monkey, having come forth in quest of food, passed by the ravine, and heard a lamentable cry, and discovered in the sound something familiar. Making for the ravine he arrived in the very nick of time⁶¹⁷ for the pilgrim. When he beheld his friend bound in the bonds of calamity, he gave loose to torrents of tears from the fountain of his eyes, and said, ‘O dear friend! how didst thou fall into this place? and what is thy story?’ The pilgrim replied, ‘Kind friend! in the toil-house of the world there is no blessing of enjoyment without the distress of suffering, and in the ruinous heap of perfidious fortune, there is no treasure of prosperity to be got without the dragon of trouble and woe.

And when a person has learned this secret, and the reality of this circumstance has been revealed to him, he ought not, like an autumnal cloud, to let fall the drops of regret at the pangful thorn of the world, nor, at the display of its fresh-cheeked flowers, ought he to indulge in mirth like the season of spring; for its grief has no continuance, nor its joy any stability.

He then told the whole story of the thieves, and of their carrying off his gold, and throwing him, bound down, there. The monkey said, ‘Be of good cheer! for,

And I will exert myself, as far as I am able, to remedy the mischief, but the most important affair at present is thy liberation.’ He then broke the pilgrim’s bonds, and conveyed him to a house that he had made of twigs and bushes. Then he presented fruits moist and dry, and made representation, saying, ‘To-day, come not forth from this lodging, and with a heart free from care place thy head on the pillow of repose, until I come back.’ With these words he left the pilgrim and took up the trace of the thieves,⁶¹⁸ and proceeded in pursuit of them. They, however, carrying away the goods and gold had traveled all night, and in the morning, spent and exhausted, arrived at a spring of water. Overpowered with drowsiness they undid the pilgrim’s things from their backs, laid themselves down^618a and went to sleep^618b with hearts free from solicitude and minds at ease. At breakfast-time, the monkey came up with them just in the nick of time, and finding them off their guard, took advantage of the fortunate opportunity, and having torn open the bundle of clothes, first of all took out the bag of gold, and carrying it to a retired place, hid it in the ground. He then came back, and as they were still slumbering he took another piece of the pilgrim’s dress, and concealed it in a spot. In short, having carried away all the pilgrim’s things,^618c together with some of the thieves’ traps,^618d of which he managed to get hold, he put them in different places, and took up his position on a tree at some distance, waiting to see what they would do. After some time had passed, the thieves awoke, and not finding a trace of the gold or the things, they began to run about in all directions in a state of consternation and dismay. One who surpassed the other in shrewdness said, ‘Brother! this fountain is not a place which men frequent; and besides, there is no vestige of men’s steps near the spring. It must therefore be the abode of demons and fairies, and we have come here securely, and stretching out our limbs, have gone to sleep. This mischief has been done by their people, and we may yet be thankful that they sought not to slay us. Our best course is to run away as fast as possible, and make our heels save the moiety of life that is left us.

The thieves, then, with terrified hearts took to flight, and the monkey, being free from anxiety as to their return, went back to his house and told the pilgrim what had happened, and for that night took charge of him. In the morning, when the thief of night began to fly with his robes of gloom from the sun’s fountain of light; the solar world-wandering pilgrim, being freed from the bounds of darkness, set his face towards his destined journey.

the monkey took the pilgrim to the spring of water and brought to him his gold and clothes, and what he had taken from the thieves. The pilgrim was satisfied with what belonged to him, and did not possess himself of their things, but bidding the monkey farewell, set out for the city. His way happened to lie through that jungle which was the haunt of the tiger, and that savage animal showed itself in the distance like a raging lion. The pilgrim, terrified at the sight of it, was about to take to flight, when the tiger called out, ‘Be not alarmed!

He then advanced, and, thanking him much, besought him that he would wait there a short time. The pilgrim, to oblige him, halted, and the tiger went roaming in every direction in search of a present worthy of his guest, till at last he came to the door of the king’s garden-palace. Entering there he saw a maiden, who was sitting on the margin of a marble basin, and wearing a precious ornament on her neck. The tiger killed her with a single stroke of his paw, and, bringing the ornament to the pilgrim, expressed his regret [for the insignificance of the offering]. The pilgrim, on his part, met his apologies courteously, and departed towards the city. Meanwhile, as he remembered the circumstance of his acquaintance with the Goldsmith, the thought passed through his mind, ‘I have witnessed the good-faith of brutes and wild animals, and their acquaintance bears such excellent fruit as this. If the Goldsmith should hear of my arrival, of course he will show the most exuberant joy at my coming, and will think it incumbent on him to take infinite pains to give me a kind reception. Moreover, by his aid and assist-ance, those pieces of pure gold may be sold at their full price, and this ornament, which is a treasure of gems, may be passed off at a good sum; for his skill in this matter, and his knowledge of the current price of these several articles, is greater than that of other men. It was morning when the pilgrim reached the city, and at that time the report of the murder of the king’s daughter had spread through the city, and the people poured aghast and amazed to the king’s palace. The Goldsmith, too, had come forth from his retirement to make inquiry into the circumstance, and was wanting to find one of his friends, and ascertain what had occurred. All of a sudden he saw the pilgrim, and, displaying the utmost joy, conducted him with respect and reverence to his own abode. After the usual inquiries, he again minutely detailed his adventures, and his exclusion from attendance on the king, and the degradation of rank which had befallen him, and the sums of money and property that he had lost. The pilgrim consoled him, and said, ‘O brother! if thy means of support have been impaired, and the pillars of thy opulence have been crushed by the hurricane of accidents, grieve not, for I have some pieces of sterling gold, and also an ornament containing many jewels; and thou art sagacious in discerning the worth of gold and gems. Sell them carefully and kindly, and take what thou wilt, for there will be no difficulty as to that.’ The Goldsmith sent for the ornament, and when he saw it, he beheld the ornament of the princess. Then putting on a cheerful countenance, he said to the pilgrim, ‘The value of these jewels exceeds the power of the calculator of the imagination to compute. Be of good cheer! for I will this very moment set thy mind at ease; and so, rest thou here in peace until I return.’ The Goldsmith then reflected, ‘I have got a fine opportunity, and secured a rare advantage. If I am remiss and let this slip, I shall prove myself quite devoid of all the advantages of caution and cleverness. Previous to this, the king’s mind has been changed towards me, and at this moment, when they have conveyed to him the news of his daughter’s murder, of course he is grieved and anxious, and on the look-out for the assassin of his daughter.⁶²⁰ I can have no better recommendation to him than to consign the pilgrim to the king’s hands, that he may bring him to justice. Perhaps, the king, being pleased with me, I shall again rise to my former station.’ He then resolved on treachery, and went to the palace and announced that he had caught the murderer of the princess, and secured the ornament. The king sent for him, and seeing the ornament, sent some persons to bring the pilgrim iuto his presence. When the hapless pilgrim saw who was the instrument of this deed, he said,

This is my punishment, and I deserve a thousand times as much.’ The king supposed that he was a criminal, and that he was uttering these words in acknowledgment of his misdeeds; and the ornament, too, was corroborative of that suspicion. He commanded, therefore, that they should parade him round the city, and having imprisoned him, should the next day, when they had finished putting him to the usual torture, inflict on him retaliation for his crime. While they were conducting him round the city, the snake on the top of the wall had opened the eye of survey. When it beheld its friend in that state, it set off after him; and after they had shut him up in prison, approached him, and having learnt how matters stood, cried out and said, ‘Did I not tell thee that a man of base nature has no gratitude, and in return for kindness and assistance will perform acts of perfidy and cruelty? Thou didst not listen to me, and I, that very day, when thou didst turn away thy face from the suggestions of thy friends, and refuse attention to advice devoid of any suspicion of self-interest, well knew that the issue of thy affairs would have no other result but repentance.

The pilgrim replied, ‘Kind friend! from the salt of these reproaches which thou scatterest on my wound, nothing, now, but heart-burning and distress of mind can be derived. And my sufferings from neglecting that advice are already sufficient.

Now excogitate some remedy, which may be a repellent of this misfortune, and a cure for this disaster.’ The snake rejoined, ‘Yesterday I wounded the king’s mother, and all the city-people are at a loss how to heal her. Keep this grass and early in the morning when they come to thee and ask of thee the means to cure her, go and wait on the king, and after thou shalt have recounted what has befallen thyself, give him this grass that his mother may eat it and recover. Perhaps in this way thy liberation and escape may be attainable.’ The pilgrim thanked the snake, and the latter returned to his own hole; and in the morning having ascended the terrace of the king’s palace⁶²¹ called out from a chink, ‘The remedy for the person bitten by the snake is with the innocent pilgrim whom the king yesterday imprisoned.’ At that time the king was seated at his mother’s pillow, and suffering through grief for the loss of his daughter, together with sorrow for his mother’s wound, was in consultation with the doctors as to the remedy for the poison of the serpent. And however many antidotes for poisons and repellents they used, it was all in vain. When the voice reached the king’s ear he said, ‘Go ye and see what person is on the terrace, and whence he utters those words?’ Notwithstanding the search made by the guards, they saw no man on the terrace, and they were led to the conjecture that an invisible monitor had pronounced the words. They went, therefore, and brought the pilgrim out of prison, and taking him to the king, busied themselves with inquiring after the matter of the remedy. The pilgrim said, ‘O king!

The cure for this poison is in my possession, and the queen of the world shall this very moment obtain perfect recovery. But I hope that first of all I may be allowed to convey to the august hearing a brief summary of my own affliction. And it befits the king’s justice that for an instant he should open the ear of attention to listen to the state of the oppressed.

The king’s heart felt the truth of the pilgrim’s appeal, and he said in a gracious manner, ‘Relate thy case from beginning to end, and fearlessly recount thy whole story.’ The pilgrim, with that boldness which belongs to the truthful, courageously recited his own history; and the writing of his innocence from that crime was clear to the luminous mind of the monarch. Then they mixed that grass with some milk and administered it to the queen, and the effect was her immediate recovery. Thereupon, the king clothed him in a robe of honor worthy the munificence of royalty. Meantime the Goldsmith was waiting for the pilgrim at the foot of the scaffold, in hopes that he would be put to death as quickly as possible, and so the pieces of gold would remain with him, while he himself would acquire his former credit and rank near the king. All of a sudden the royal mandate arrived that, instead of the pilgrim, they should impale the Goldsmith, and that this should be made the final result of his calumnious accusation, [and that thus it might be shown] that if a traducer should plunge anyone into calamity, on the falsehood of the charge being apparent, and the selfish motive which had been concealed in that accusation coming to light, the very same punishment which he desired should be inflicted on that innocently-suspected person, should be carried out with regard to that lying sycophant. In this very same manner they impaled that ungrateful faithless wretch who had never seen the face of generous feeling nor inhaled the perfume of honor, and thus they cleansed the expanse of creation from the blot of his unclean person, which was the confluence of perfidy and mischief, and the fountain-head of oppression and injurious acts, and he arrived at the reward of his actions and the just recompense of his deeds.

This is the story of kings, with regard to their choice of favorites, and the investigation of the affairs of those who are nearly connected with them. And if the king of Ḥalab had not favoured that man of low origin and bad manners, his daughter would not have assailed the life of the innocent, nor have been killed by the tiger’s paw in retribution. So if the king had not opened his ears to hear the words of the persecuted and oppressed, right would not have been discriminated from wrong, nor truth from falsehood. Moreover it behoves kings not to patronise any one incautiously, nor to issue, offhand, a mandate for the punishment of any; and to be quite certain that good actions will never be thrown away, nor the requital of bad deeds be in anywise delayed. Consequently, at this time when the chamberlain of fate has set up the court of their glory, and the controller of destiny has committed to them the opportunity of prosperous fortune and kingly sway, they ought to exert themselves that they may do things which will be the source of their good fame in this world, and of their advancement and salvation in that to come.

When the clime-adorning king had heard this story full of advantage, which may be regarded as a treasure fraught with the gems of wisdom, and a store-house filled with the coins of admonition, being bound heart and soul in obligation to the perfect and accomplish sage, he said,

I have already wearied your highness, possessed of wisdom, beyond all bounds, and have carried the excess of my importunities to the limits of disrespect, and the point has been almost reached for the chain⁶²⁴ of your sublime discourse to be severed. Since then, you have acquainted me with the signification of the thirteenth precept, and I have heard the tale of kings in reference to their patronage of counsellors and near dependants, and have been informed of the mischiefs which spring from associating with the mean and base: now be so condescendingly gracious as to set forth a detailed explanation of the last precept and discourse on this subject, viz.: Why the beneficent and intellectual sage is fettered by the bonds of calamity, and broken by the wounds of adverse fortune, while the vile ignorant person, fatuously careless, passes his life in ease and enjoyment? why neither the former is assisted by his good sense and sagacity, nor the latter overthrown by his ignorance and fatuity. Say, moreover, what kind of stratagem is to be employed to secure advantage and repel injury? and by what counsel one may enjoy the happy influences of felicity, and by what service our roads may lead to the halting-place wished-for?’ The Bráhman replied, ‘O king! there are first steps and sources of felicity, which when a person has secured, he will become more deserving of rank and authority, and more fit for an honorable and exalted position; but the results and fruits thereof are dependent on the Divine decree and God’s will; and the king’s command may be viewed as the first source of all, and means and appliances will, if destiny so requires it, prove abortive and ineffectual. For many wise persons who have been in the enjoyment of deserved good-fortune, have suddenly been excluded even from food sufficient for a single day; while many ignorant persons, without the aid of puissance and virtue, have been seated on the throne of sovereignty.

And assuredly this state of things cannot but be in connection with the Divine decree and the command of God Most Holy. And although one may possess perfect understanding, so that in that way he might procure a maintenance; or a very lucrative profession, whence he might provide the means of support; or fascinating beauty by which he might capture hearts, and so secure advantages: yet when the Divine will yields not assistance thereto, the party will reap no fruit, nor will he see such gainful results from the antecedents of beauty and wisdom and perfection. And a Prince wrote this proposition on the gate of the city of Nusṭúr, and there is a beautiful story and sweet tale connected with this.’ The King asked, ‘How was that?’

The Bráhman said, ‘They have related that in certain countries of Rúm there was a prosperous king and mighty sovereign.

He had two sons adorned with a variety of accomplishments, and graced with a multitude of eminent qualities.

When the king accepted, with the phrase ‘Here I am!’, the invitation of his Creator, the elder brother appropriated, with the hand of predominant power, the treasury of his father; and having secured the hearts of the Pillars of the State, and of the ministers of the late king with the lasso of courtesy and winning demeanour, and captured them with his perfect humanity and mildness, seated himself in his father’s place.

The younger brother, when he saw that the Humá of empire overshadowed the star-reaching head of his elder brother, and that the leader, Fortune, had given the reins of the courser of the age to the grasp of his authority and option; through fear that he might act perfidiously towards him, placed the equipage of travel on the back of the dromedary of flight; and voluntarily submitting to the affliction of exile and the perils of travel, and taking along with him supplies of grief and lamentation, set out on his journey.

The Prince set out alone on a long and distant expedition, and, as day closed, reached a halting-place; and there grieving and lamenting over his solitary and wretched state, he exclaimed,

In short he passed that night solitarily. Next day when the fair-faced beauty of the sun showed her comeliness from the curtain of the horizon, and the sweetheart of day’s luminary displayed from behind the veil of blue her bright cheeks and radiant countenance,

the Prince prepared to set off, and a youth of fair countenance and curling hair, of excessive sprightliness and infinite grace met him. The Prince looked and beheld a lovely stripling, such that thou wouldst say they had sewed the garment⁶²⁶ of perfection on his person, and had consumed the heart of the moon with the heat of envy at his beauty. His down was like a fresh violet budding close to a green rose-leaf, or a ring of moist ambergris on the surface of a tulip loaded with dew.

When the royal youth beheld that captivating down and glowing cheek,

he said to himself, ‘Perhaps I could bear the burthen of the woes of travel with the support of the society of this stripling, and obtain security under the shadow of this cypress with cheeks like the rose, from the heat of this fire-raining desert.

Then those two jasmins of youth’s garden, and those two tender trees by the rivulet of life, being pleased with each other’s society, regarded the distressful wilderness as the rose-garden of Iram, and fancied the thorny brakes of toil to be the joy-augmenting flower-parterres of Paradise.

At the next stage, a merchant’s son, (a youth intelligent and experienced, of just counsels, far-seeing, and of perfect understanding, such that by his perfect wisdom, when good sense was required, he could bind the cord of night on the neck of day, and at the time of dealing, could, by his sharpness and cleverness, obtain the sterling gold of the sun from the four-streeted market of the sky.

joined company with them; and thus was brought about the felicitous appearance of that trine.^627b On the third day a robust and lusty young peasant, (who possessed universal intelligence on agricultural matters and perfect skill in all the varieties of farming occupations, the felicity of whose operations was such in planting,^627c that every dry stick which he set in the earth, coming to perfection like a young shoot, produced fresh fruits in abundance; and the auspiciousness of whose proceedings in husbandry went to that point, that every clod upon which he set his foot, yielded corn without his requiring to sow seed;

became their comrade; and by those four pillars thus united, the edifice of companionship received its completion and the maxim, ‘The best company is four,’ was elucidated. So the attached friends having forgotten—through the pleasure of intercourse—their regrets for their kin and country, were traveling on divers stages and journeys, and continued cheerful and content with the sight of one another.

After traversing a vast distance, they arrived at the city of Nusṭúr, and selected a good lodging in a corner of the town to repose and rest in. Not one of them had any provisions or supplies left, nor had they a single diram or dínár. One of the party said, ‘Our advisable course at present is, that we should each display our skill and ability, and secure by our labor the good things we want, that we may pass some days in this city in comfort.’ The Prince said, ‘Affairs are dependent on the decrees of God, and no difference is effected in them by the exertions or toil of man. Wherefore, those who are the wisest among mankind will assuredly take no steps in pursuit of such a thing, nor devote their precious life for carrion, which in spite of its perishable nature, is surrounded by many enemies.

The daily subsistence, which has been apportioned in the fabric, ‘We distributed their necessary provision among them in this present life,⁶²⁹ is not to be augmented by the aid of greediness and avidity, and all that the covetous man obtains is disaster and disgrace.

The handsome youth said, ‘Beauty is a qualification which can be relied on for obtaining good things, and comeliness is a sure source of acquiring property and opulence. Whenever the J of Jamál (beauty) displays itself, it will be followed by Mál (wealth); and at all times that the Z of Zaráfat (gracefulness) appears, Ráfat (tenderness) and kindness will be sure to be joined to it.

The merchant’s son also read off an inscription from the page of his condition, and said, ‘The capital of beauty is a coin of short endurance in the bázár of affairs, and in a short time nothing is left either of principal or interest. Right judgment and the advantages of judicious counsel, and experience and skill in transacting business, have the precedence of all other goods; and whenever the foot of subsistence stumbles against the stone of want, the results of good sense alone can afford a remedy; and whoever has nought left to support himself, can alleviate his wants only by the assistance of expertness in his dealings.

The young peasant delivered himself as follows, ‘Good sense and prudence do not succeed everywhere, nor does advantage always result therefrom. For if wisdom had much to do with the acquisition of fortune, it must needs follow, that whoever surpassed all others in knowledge and was before the rest of mankind in judgment and prudence, would set up the flag of his success in the plain of empire, and that the young tree of his felicity would be planted beside the rivulet of sovereign power. Yet we have seen wise men enough incarcerated in the prison of want, and have watched many who had not the slightest scent from the rose-garden of ability and expertness, yet walking at free-will and enjoying themselves among the parterres of wealth and opulence. Hence they have said,

Wherefore the blessings of application, and the happy influences of toil, bring men to a position of success and enjoyment; and it is by the means of skill in their profession, and the advantage of knowledge of their craft, that they are decked with the ornaments of delight and felicity.

When it came to the Prince’s turn again to speak, they requested him, saying, ‘Do you, too, be pleased to address us once more in elucidation of this subject, and throw some light on this question which we are discussing.’ The Prince responded,

I adhere to the same opinion, of the particulars of which I have already given a notion. I do not, indeed, deny the justness of what you, comrades, say, that something may be gained by the ornament of beauty and the capital of good sense and toil. But what I assert is this, that if the comeliness of fate’s decree does not display itself from behind the curtain, the radiant star of beauty cannot ascend from the horizon of success; and that until the Curator, Providence, opens the door of the shop of the Divine will, the goods of knowledge and ability cannot obtain any currency in the market of acceptance. The advantage of the table of labor is a morsel which it is in the discretion of Providence to apportion or not to the skilful; and the gain of trade and agriculture is the ear of corn of a provision which accrues to the husbandmen of the field of craft only from the stock of the will of the Eternal One. And, without the Divine decree, every writing that versicolor Fancy draws on the tablet of thought, in the end receives the impression of decay, and every spell that the incantation-reader of the counsel employs, at last assumes the semblance of an idle dream.

Wherefore it is clearly established that if the Most High God wills it the wish of every person will be attained without toil or trouble. But if the Eternal Purpose is not linked with its accomplishment, labor and struggles are altogether unavailing. Consequently we ought to bow our necks to God’s commandment, and place the head of resignation on the line of destiny.

And just in this way that aged Farmer committed his affairs to God’s grace, and in a short time, having acquired his wish, was liberated from the prison of trouble.’ The Prince’s comrades inquired, ‘How was that?’

The Prince said, ‘They have related that in the city of Andalús⁶³¹ there was a Farmer with an open hand and heart, who was successful in his agricultural occupations. Once on a time his receipts exceeded his disbursements, and he got together three hundred gold dínárs, and was very much delighted with that amount of money, and took care not to lay out a particle of it in his expenses. Every day he took out his well-stuffed purse, and counted the pieces, and made the lip of enjoyment smile with that mirth-augmenting saffron-colored coin.

One day in his wonted manner, having counted his gold, he had put it back in the purse, and was about to deposit it in a secure place, when an intimate friend came to the door and called to him. The Farmer, through fear lest he should come in and become acquainted with that glittering-faced bride, (which, in accordance with the direction, ‘Hide thy gold!’ ought to be kept under the veil of concealment,) did not wait to secure it, but took it up and flung it into a pitcher, and set out with his friend to the village on account of a matter of importance, strictly charging his wife as he started to get ready a meal for them. As soon as the Farmer had gone, his wife wanted to cook some broth. Seeing the pitcher empty she took it up and went to the door and stood looking out for an acquaintance to pass by. It happened that the village butcher going to the city to buy a cow passed that spot. The Farmer’s wife recognised him, and asked him civilly if he would undertake the trouble of bringing a little water for her, by which he would, at the same time, oblige an old friend, and secure the merit of assisting one in a difficulty. The villager agreed, and the farmer’s wife gave him the pitcher in which was the purse of gold. The butcher put it on his back, and went to fetch the water. On the way he perceived something move in the pitcher, and on examining it, saw the purse. Forthwith, drawing it delightedly into the sleeve of possession, he exclaimed,

Thanks, grateful thanks to God (may His glory be magnified!) that without the annoyance of trouble, and the calamity of hardship and suffering, an abundant blessing and complete opulence have been bestowed on me. I must now think it right to show my sense of this unexpected good-fortune, and not abandon my profession, but store up this gold for a day of emergency.’ Then, through delight at getting the gold, he forgot all about the water and the pitcher, and having purchased a fat young heifer with the money that he had of his own, he set out home. As soon as he had got out of the city, he thought to himself, ‘If I keep this purse about me, I cannot be secure from the dread of thieves; and if I bury it anywhere in this city I shall never be able to breathe at ease, from anxiety of mind and troublous thoughts; and I have not sufficient confidence in any one to be able to confide this to him as a deposit.

My best course is to put the purse in the Cow’s throat and manage to make it swallow it, and after I have slaughtered it I will take out safely my purse of gold.’ He then put the unfortunate cow to that torture, and made it like Sámiríy’s⁶³² calf, full of golden treasure, and turned his face homeward. It befell that the son met him on the road, and told him some other things which had occurred in the village, and which the butcher was to settle. The latter, in order to make some arrangements, returned to the city, and handed over charge of the cow to his son. Meanwhile the Farmer had returned with his friend from the village. Now a long time back, he had made a vow to sacrifice a fat heifer. When he saw one in such good case he was inclined to purchase it, and giving a little more profit to the butcher’s son than he expected, he bought it; and bringing it home, made the necessary preparations for the sacrifice. Meanwhile the matter of the gold returned to his memory, and he went to remove the money from that place and to deposit it in a safe spot. The more he searched for the pitcher, the less he found it. He then asked his wife where it was? She in reply told him the circumstances. Hereupon sighs arose from the Farmer’s heart, and the eye of his covetousness was weeping with poignant regret, and far-sighted prudence was laughing at his forlorn and ignominious plight.

For some time the farmer was immersed in the whirlpool of care in a state of unconsciousness; and for an interval tormented himself in the vortex of dismay. At last he adopted feelings of resignation and submission, and said,

He then commanded them to sacrifice the cow, and when the knife was used to open the intestines his eyes lighted on the purse of gold. At this sight he lost his senses with joy, and when he recovered himself, he took up the purse, and having cleared it of filth, he took out the pieces and kept constantly lifting up one after another, kissing them, rubbing them upon his eyes, and restoring them to their places, while he said,

He then reflected, ‘This time by the fortunate and accidental occurrence of such a strange affair—an extraordinary and mysterious coincidence that no eye has ever seen nor ear heard—this gold has been recovered. Hereafter this purse of money shall go nowhere but round my waist, and to be without it for a moment is a thing never again to be thought of.

Thenceforward the Farmer always used to keep the purse about his own person, and his wife used to reproach him saying, ‘This conduct is alien from reliance on God, for to hoard implies distrust of the Giver of our daily subsistence. And since—in accordance with the saying, ‘Seek therefore your provision from God,’⁶³⁴ we ought to seek our daily bread from the treasury of His bounty,—the perfectly wise is he who does not display greediness in amassing money, but opens the eye of reliance to the overflowing beneficence of God, from a share of the table of whose benefits not a single creature is excluded; and feels sure that it is impossible to increase or diminish the allowance which has been predestined to him from eternity without beginning, and which the command of the Eternal One has fixed.

The Farmer replied, ‘Wife! there is no alternative in this world of causes but to attend to means. In our outward behaviour we must be governed by the rule of cause and effect, and spiritually we must quaff the wine of resignation from the goblet of reliance on God.

The wife held her tongue, and the Farmer tied the purse round his waist, and went about his avocations. One day, he was bathing in a spring of water, and undoing the purse from his girdle, put it down by the side of the pool. When he had finished, he put on his dress, and forgetting the money, left it there and went^634a his way. After him a shepherd came to the same spot to water his flock, and saw the purse of gold on the margin of the spring. He immediately snatched it up, and, in excessive rapture, retraced his steps, and going to his own abode, counted the money, and found it three hundred dínárs. He then said to himself, ‘This is a round sum; were I to take anything out of it, it would impair the excellence of the number, and perhaps I could never make it up again to the same amount. I must be patient in unavoidable hardships, and store up this amount for a day of want.’ Whereupon, the simple fellow, fixing his heart upon the gold; and fastening it under his armpit, and rubbing the clay of silence on his lips, went on, as before, with his duties as a shepherd. Meantime, however, when the Farmer remembered his money, he began, with his heart full of anguish,^634b to shower from his eyes the rain of regret, and, with a hundred pangs and pains, ran searching about on the right hand and on the left.

At length, baffled and sad, he returned home, and told his family what had occured. His wife’s heart was brimful of choler against her spouse. When she heard the state of the case, she loosed the tongue of reproach and said, ‘O good-for-nothing fellow! thou didst display all these excessive precautions in taking care of the gold, and choosing to be stingy in thy daily expenses, kept thy family on short allowance. Now cry away and lament for the loss of it!’ The Farmer replied, ‘Thou sayest the truth,

It was a downright blunder, a blunder downright, that I took such trouble to store up the cash, and withholding it from my wife and family, kept a watch over it with such prodigious care. No sensible man acts in this way, to tie a purse of gold round his waist, and suffer day and night, and undergo ready-money vexation for credit indulgences. And all of a sudden, a turn of fortune, which could never have been traced on the tablet of thought, makes its appearance from destiny’s workshop; and, like me, he tumbles into a whirlpool of dismay, and is left a long way off from the shore of escape.

Then the Farmer employed himself in protestations of repentance and contrition, and vowed that he would never hoard up wealth again, and would expend without delay all that came to hand. So, seeking the divine favor by reliance on God, he committed his affairs to the Creator; and, acquiescing in the decrees of Providence, he placed the head of submission on the line of resignation.

In the other direction, the shepherd, with the bag of gold under his arm, was feeding his flock. One day he was employed in the same business close by a well. Suddenly, a party of horsemen showed themselves in the distance. The shepherd, in dread lest they should take the gold from him, dropped the purse into the well, and as day was closing, he drove his sheep homewards. Just after he had gone away, the Farmer was going along, and a strong wind began to blow. It carried off his turban and threw it into that very well. The Farmer jumped down in a moment, and was looking for his turban, when all of a sudden he got hold of the purse of gold.

Having returned thanks to God, he went back, and told his family the story of finding the money, and when he counted it, there were the three hundred dínárs as before. At this the Farmer exclaimed, ‘Behold! God Most High has from an invisible quarter conveyed to me the same amount which had disappeared.’ He then fulfilled the vows he had made, and began to expend the money. Some he disbursed for his family, and a small portion he devoted to religious purposes, until two hundred dínárs were gone. However, after the Farmer had departed, the shepherd, having satisfied himself about his sheep, went in the night to the well, and found not his bright-faced Joseph therein. Jacob-like, he raised outcries, and called out, ‘Ah! Joseph!’ and said, ‘After this loss, of what use is life to me; and in my regret for that beloved mistress, what happiness or enjoyment can I derive from existence?

Thus the shepherd was wandering about night and day, grieving and distracted. After a considerable time, having gone back to the city, he chanced to pass by the Farmer’s hut. The latter, in accordance with his generous habits, gave the shepherd a meal. After they had finished eating, they began to discourse of various matters. The shepherd was telling a story, but the signs of the most complete grief were evident in his manner of talking; and from time to time he was involuntarily shedding tears of regret. The Farmer inquired the cause of his weeping, and of the pre-occupation of his mind. The shepherd replied, ‘How should I not be broken-hearted and distracted?

Know that I possesed three hundred gold dínárs, and my heart’s strength and soul’s happiness, and light of my eyes, and joy of my breast sprang from that. On a certain day, from dread of some cruel fellows, I threw this money into a certain well, and I never found any trace of it again.’ The Farmer, amazed at hearing this story, got up and went to his wife and said, ‘This money, which we thought was our lawful property, and to which we extended the hand of expenditure and disbursement, making unrestrained use of it, belonged to our guest. And we, owing to our incautiousness, have fallen into the labyrinth of crime and disastrous error. Now what little is left, we must hand over to him by way of present, and take care not to divulge this secret, otherwise he will come upon us for all the amount, and we shall be unable to pay.’ His wife agreed with him in this, and said, ‘The rightful owner must have his rights restored to him; and we must have recourse to contentment and reliance on God, until God Most High gives us something in return for it.

Hereupon the Farmer placed the hundred dínárs that were left, before the shepherd by way of offering. The latter, deeply obliged, took up the money and counted it. There were exactly a hundred dínárs. He said to himself, ‘This is the first instalment, and I am in hopes that the remainder, too, will come to hand. Now I must take good care of this, that I do not fall into the same trouble a second time.’ He then hollowed part of a thick stick which he had, and with which he used to drive his flock to pasture, and deposited in it the pieces of gold, so that no one should know it. One day he was standing on the shore of a large stream, and his stick fell out of his hand into the river. Though he tried to get hold of it again, he could not. Now the river flowed by the city’s gates, and as the Farmer was making his ablutions beside the stream, he saw a staff which the water was bringing towards him. He took it up and carried it home. His dame was cooking, and there were no sticks left. The Farmer began to break the staff that the cooking might be finished. All of a sudden his lap, like the platter of the firmament, was filled with gold sparkling like fire. He took up the pieces and counted them, and there were just a hundred dínárs. Down he fell and prostrated himself in thanksgiving, and opened the hand of liberality and expenditure once more. Two or three days passed and the shepherd came again to the Farmer’s house, and more disconsolate than before, recounted the story of the stick and the hundred dínárs. The Farmer asked, ‘Speak the truth! whence didst thou get those pieces that thou didst lose the first time, and how didst thou amass them?’ The shepherd told the truth, saying, ‘On a certain date I found a purse at such a spring of water, and in the purse were three hundred pieces of gold, and those were the very same that I threw into the well; and these hundred dínárs thou thyself gavest to me.’ The Farmer smiled and said, ‘Thanks and praise be to the Lord! who has kept the right fixed in its own circle. Know that it was I who forgot the purse and left it at the fountain’s side, and I too found it in the well, and the hundred dínárs that I gave to thee were the residue thereof, and the staff has come back into my hands, and these are the hundred dínárs which we are expending.’ The shepherd remained astonished and said, ‘From the marvelous incidents of this story we may learn that none can appropriate the predestined portion of another.’

And the object of adducing this tale is, that my companions too should not surrender the station of contentment, nor step beyond the circle of reliance on God, nor be blind to the wonders of fortune which result from destiny and Providence, but duly valuing the opportunity of life, cease to confide in wealth and beauty, since the reality of future events is concealed and hidden behind the curtain of fate.

In short they brought that day to an end in such discourse. The next day when the husbandman of Omnipotence displayed the rose of hundred leaves, the sun, in the parterre of the horizon with a hundred shining hues; and the fragrant hyacinth of dark night drew over its countenance the curtain of concealment in the violet bed of the sky,

the farmer’s son arose and said, ‘Take your ease here till I bring for your inspection a share of the fruits of my labors; and to-morrow, when you have rested, each of you work for his livelihood as he may advise with himself.’ The friends agreed to this, and the young peasant went to the gate of the city and asked, ‘What is the best thing to do in this city?’ They replied, ‘Wood for fuel is now very valuable, and they are buying it at an exorbitant price.’ The youth immediately went to the hills, and having tied up a heavy bundle, as much as he could carry on his back, carried it to the city, and sold it for ten dirams. He then bought some nice food, and turned his face towards his comrades, and when he had come out of the city he wrote on the door, ‘The fruit of one day’s labour is ten dirams.’ In short, that day the companions eat a refreshing morsel from the table of the young peasant; and on the morrow, when the beauty of the world-adorning, brightly-shining sun illuminated the universe with the glitter of its perfect loveliness,

they said to the handsome youth, ‘To-day contrive with thy beauty that there may be something to make thy friends comfortable and happy.’ The youth arose, and walked, deep in thought, towards the city, saying to himself, ‘I cannot do anything, and yet without succeeding in my object I cannot go back; and I am in a strangely-embarrassing position, such that I have no face to conceal it, nor courage to tell it.

In this cogitation he entered the city and sate down ill at ease and out of spirits, at the top of a street. Suddenly, a pretty woman with curling ringlets, who possessed much wealth and property, passed by him, and beholding that captivating face and the enchanting downy hair upon it; gave the goods of patience and endurance to the winds of love.

She said to her maid, ‘Look at this beautiful face, which is such that the rose-leaf, from shame at its freshness, droops like the yellow jasmine; and survey this graceful figure, from mortification at whose delicacy and elegance, the straight cypress has its hand on its head and its foot in the clay.

If I were to attempt the description of that lip, I should say it is a ruby blent with sugar, and should I read the writing of that soft down, I should call it a mischief-exciting calamity.

And we cannot but suppose, ‘This is not a mortal, he is no other than an angel deserving the highest respect.^639b

O damsel! bethink thee of a device, that this noble bird may fall into the snare, and employ some artifice that I may possess this beautiful Adonis.’ The slave-girl assenting, approached the youth, and said,

O my beauty! my lady has sent her devotion to thee and says, ‘Thou appearest to be a stranger in this city, and⁶⁴⁰ strangers are generally sad, and we possess a pleasant, agreeable residence and a delightful place. If thou wouldst eondescend to come there, and entertain us for a short time with thy beauty, we shall gain immortal life and thou wilt suffer no loss.’ He replied, ‘I obey thy commands, and I have no excuse for declining.’ He then went to the lady’s entertainment and stopped with her till close of day.

At a late hour he thought of joining his companions. The lady placed a hundred dirams before him and offered thanks. And the youth, having provided supplies for his companions, wrote upon the gate of the city, ‘The price of a day’s worth of beauty is a hundred dirams.’

The next day, when the merchant of divine wisdom opened the door of the office of the azure sky, and gave to view the gold-worked brocade of the sun from the shop of high heaven to the traffickers of the market of the world,

they said to the merchant’s son, ‘To-day we will be the guests of thy sagacity and quickness.’ The young merchant assented, and came to the city-gate. Just then a vessel laden with a variety of precious things, came by water to the gate, and the citizens delayed, that the goods might become cheaper. The merchant’s son bought them at a proper value, and selling them the same day for ready money, made a thousand dínárs profit. He then prepared things to entertain his friends, and wrote upon the gate of the city, ‘The gain of one day’s judgment and good sense is a thousand dínárs.’

The next day, when the sovereign of the stars mounted the throne of the fourth heaven,⁶⁴¹ and set up his banner in the metropolis of the sky,

they said to the Prince, ‘Thou always boastest of reliance upon God, and extollest acquiescence in the Divine Will, and resignation. Now if thou art to derive any fruit from these qualities, thou must provide for us.’ The Prince met their request with acceptance, and with a lofty spirit and a purpose void of the scruple of hesitation, turned his face towards the city. Fate had decreed that death should reach the king of that city that day, and the inhabitants were engaged in mourning for him. The Prince went as spectator to the deceased monarch’s palace, and seating himself on one side, kept quiet. The warder observed that while all others were occupied with mourning and lamentation, one person, seated silent in a corner, did not join them in their demonstrations of grief. He formed the idea that it was a spy, and treated him with indignity. The Prince having quenched the fire of wrath with the water of forbearance, was exclaiming,

When they carried out the bier, and the palace became empty, the Prince remained in the same spot, and was looking about on all sides of the palace. The warder again waxed more intemperate, and confined him in prison. Night came on, and no tidings or intelligence of the Prince reached the companions. They said to one another, ‘This hapless youth, basing his reliance on God, and finding no advantage therefrom, has turned his face from our society. Would that we had not imposed this task upon him, nor distressed his noble heart.’ Thus they in this quarter were reproaching themselves, and in the other the Prince, overtaken with bonds and imprisonment, was sending, with the hand of thought, messages to his companions.

The next day the nobles and ministers of the city, and Roots and Pillars of the State, having assembled; were desirous of committing to some one the business of the government—for their king had no heir. Having entered upon this deliberation, they were offering a great variety of opinions. The warder said to them, ‘Keep this matter close, for I have apprehended a spy, and it is probable, too, that he has a companion. Heaven forfend that they should obtain intelligence of your dissensions, and hence mischief arise!’ He then told them of the Prince and of his appearance there and of his own rigorous treatment of him. They thought it best to send for him and to inquire into his proceedings. Some one went and brought the Prince from the prison to the assembly. When their eyes fell upon his realm-adorning beauty, they perceived that that silver countenance had nothing of the spy in it, and that from such a gracious person and noble nature, such proceedings could not arise. Having treated him with all due respect, they asked, ‘What is the cause of thy coming? and what city is thy birth-place and native land?

The Prince answered them courteously, and informed them of his birth and lineage, and detailed to them the death of his sire and his brother’s taking possession of the throne. It happened that a number of the nobles had formerly waited on his father and had seen that pearl of a royal shell at a corner of the imperial throne. They immediately recognised him, and related to all the Pillars of the State, the condition of the dominions of his ancestors and the extent of their territories. So the whole body of the grandees of that country were pleased at seeing him and overjoyed at his fortunate arrival, and unanimously agreed that he was worthy to govern that realm, as possessing a generous nature and pure descent. They thought, too, that he would indubitably follow the steps of his noble progenitors, in setting wide the gates of justice and liberality to the people; and would imitate their amiable qualities and praiseworthy practices, and combine with hereditary excellencies acquired virtues, and preserve his people in tranquillity under the shade of his fostering care. Thus they regarded the flash of divine glory which shone forth from his countenance, as a convincing proof and lucid testimony to his capabilities for reigning and his qualifications for sovereignty, and felt persuaded that the tokens of his worthiness to reign, and the signs of his future renown could not but be apparent to every man of penetration.

Wherefore, they forthwith inaugurated him, and the kingdom, with this facility, passed into his possession; and through the blessed influences of reliance on God, he obtained this excellent fruit. And whoseover chooses to plant his foot firmly on the ground of trust in the Divine aid, and continues to tread there with sincerity of purpose and purity of disposition, will obtain the results thereof in faith and in worldly matters, and will be felicitous in both states of existence.

And it was an established custom in that city to seat the king on the first day, on a white elephant, and carry him round the city. This same rite they observed in the Prince’s case, and when the latter came to the city-gates, and saw the words which his companions had written, he commanded them to write underneath, ‘Labor and beauty, and good sense and perfect skill: these bear fruit when the Divine decree is consentaneous with them; and the adventures of a person, who, the first day was fettered in the prison of suffering, and the next day seated in the imperial palace on the throne adorned with gold, are sufficient to warn us of this.’ He then returned to the royal palace, and seated himself on the throne, and the kingdom was settled under his sway.

He then sent for his former companions, and made the possessor of good sense and ability share office with the minister of state, and the merchant’s son he appointed over the crown lands and possessions. But as for the beautiful youth he bestowed on him a magnificent robe of honor and unbounded wealth, and said, ‘Though it is painful to part with a dear friend, yet thy stay in this country is not advisable, that women be not tempted by thy fascinating beauty, and that become a source of immorality and mischief.’ He then turned to the grandees of the assembly and said, ‘There are many amongst you who are superior to me in understanding, and valor, and skill, and ability, but kingdoms are obtainable only by the Divine favor, and the aid of the Eternal One, as may be understood from the purport of the saying, ‘Thou givest the kingdom unto whom thou wilt.’⁶⁴³

My companions were laboriously exerting themselves to earn, and each secured a trifle. But I did not rely on my own wisdom and strength, nor did I seek aid from any one’s support or protection. But I based my proceedings on reliance on God, and I acquiesced in the Divine decree and the Supreme predestination, and said,

[After the Prince had thus spoken,] a man of eloquence among those present arose and said, ‘Everything that the King pronounces is a gem perforated by the diamond of wisdom, and gold tried on the touchstone of knowledge: and there is no qualification for governing like understanding and judgment, and the high merits and worthiness of the king are by this token as clear as the sun, to all his subjects: and the Creator Himself knows what are the qualifications of each, and what promotion and advancement each accordingly deserves [as it is said], ‘God best knoweth whom He will appoint for a messenger.’^643a

The good-fortune of the people of this country brought thee to this station, and the vigorous auspices of the inhabitants of this land spread the felicitous shade of a Humá over thee like the heads of the drooping-pinioned subjects.

Another then rose and adorned his tongue with praise of the king of youthful fortune, aud throne lofty as the sky, and having placed the jewels of these couplets on the tray of representation, he showered them, applaudingly, on the royal head;

Similarly each of the nobles delivered his sentiments suitably to his position, and recited a select portion of the pages of the imperial virtues. At last, a pure-minded, fair-spoken old man rose on his feet, and after offering the fitting praises and eulogies, said, ‘O king! On the subject of fate and predestination, somewhat of which has been explained to the hearts of the assembly by the gem-scattering tongue of the sovereign, this slave has a story, and if the implicitly-obeyed command is condescendingly issued, I will recite it and set it forth.’ The king said, ‘Bring what thou hast, and say how that was.’

The old man said, ‘I used once to be in the service of a great personage. As, however, I knew the fickleness of the world, and was on my guard against the wiles of that fraudful hag, and knew that that husband-killing bride—the world—has, by disappointing many of those enamoured of her, reduced them to despair; and that that perfidious mistress of evil deeds, has overthrown, headlong, many a lover; I said to myself, ‘O simple one! thou art fixing thy heart on the friendship of one who has struck the hand of rejection on the breasts of a hundred thousand prosperous kings, and given to the winds of annihilation the stacks of the peace of mind of innumerable renowned princes. Abandon this pursuit and build not thy house at a place of passage, whence every moment thou must be prepared to set out.

Awake from the slumber of supineness, for the time is short, and the steed of action lame; and carry with thee a provision for thy journey from thy brief existence here, for the way is long and protracted, and the heat of the fire of the desert such as to melt life.

At last, by using these reflections my refractory passions were rebuked, and with the utmost delight and real eagerness, I turned my face from the affairs of the world and the society of worldlings. One day I saw in the bázár that a fowler was offering for sale two hoopoes; and they expressed to one another by the language of their behaviour, the grief of heart which they experienced, and drooping at their imprisonment, supplicated God for the good tidings of release. I felt pity for them, and wished to buy them with a view to my own final salvation, and that by releasing them from their bonds, I might look for the blessing of liberation from the prison of the Divine wrath. The price the fowler set on them was two dirams—and that was all I had in my possession. I felt irresolute, therefore, and my mind would not permit me to expend those two dirams, and yet my inclination, was to liberate the birds. At last I placed my reliance on God, and having bought the two, I carried them outside the city, and let them go. They came and settled on a wall, and called out to me, and, as is the custom of the grateful, returned me thanks, and said, ‘At present our hands fall short of requiting and recompensing thee. However, beneath this wall is a casket full of jewels of great value. Break down to it and take it up.’ I was amazed at their words, and said, ‘It is a wondrous thing that ye see a little box of jewels under the ground, and fail to observe the gem which is on the surface.’⁶⁴⁶ They replied, ‘When fate issues its decree, the eye of reason is darkened, and the day of understanding, which descries the minutest things, becomes obscured. The demands of destiny are in no wise to be set aside; and when they take place, neither has the prudent man any vision left, nor does the sight of the sagacious avail. And all this has taken place because the execution of the Divine decree was involved in it.

And this story bears just testimony to the speech of the king which he delivered on the subject of fate and predestination. Moreover, in corroboration of these sentiments, sages have said,

The old man added, ‘O king! I dug under that wall and secured the box, and I make it known in order that the king may issue his august commands for it to be conveyed to the public treasury.’ The Prince responded, ‘Thou hast sown the seed and hast reaped the fruit. It is not right that any should share in this with thee; and these jewels of wisdom, which in this assembly thou hast arranged on the string of recitation, are for me sufficient. For no gem can be more beautiful than good words, and by the philosopher’s stone of language, the copper of bad money may be transmuted into sterling gold.

Those present applauded the genius of the Prince, and at once bound their hearts in fealty to him; and having placed their heads on the line of his command, committed the reins of authority to the grasp of his option, and passed their lives in the shade of his munificence.

This is the story of the advantages of reliance on God, and of resignation; and of the results of destiny and fate. And no wise man can dispense with knowing thus much, that if he delivers the reins of choice to the hand of destiny he will obtain all good things, and no event of importance will take place contrary to his wish; and the fact is,

And how well is it said in the beginning of this ode,

When the Bráhman had finished this discourse, and by the recital of this story had fully concluded the explanation of the precepts of Húshang, King Dábishlím performed the usual respectful salutation, and said, ‘By the auspicious influence of the spirit of the sublime sage the veil of concealment has fallen from the face of my wish, and the desire I felt has been attained by the blessing of the society of my exalted teacher.

I now respectfully request that the Sage of luminous mind would accept an offering from me, and not reject the tribute which, through pure affection, I have brought.’ The Bráhman replied, ‘O King! I have contentedly withdrawn from the world’s mansion to a corner and a morsel, and have washed the skirt of my heart from the pollution of worldly superfluities. It is impossible that I should ever again be stained with the filthiness of its appurtenances.

And if the king wishes to do me a service, and to put the chain of obligation round my neck, my wish is that he would draw on the string of compilation these words, blended with wisdom; and regard them as the guide of the way to salvation, and the leader in the path of perfection, and by this means, always keeping me in his gracious mind, not withhold from me the blessing of his prayers. For in accordance with the saying, ‘The prayer of the just man is not rejected,’ the request of the prayer of just kings is marked with the honor of acceptance.’ The king assented to this, and having bid farewell to the Bráhman, returned to his own capital, and arranged on the string of compilation the jewels of wisdom which he had secured, and used always to refer to those admonitions in the occurrence of events; and in great emergencies, used to seek aid from their counsels.

When Khujistah Ráí had recounted from beginning to end this heart-enchanting story and incomparable tale, Humáyún Fál began, like a freshly-irrigated rose, to bloom on the bed of delight; and the young tree of his condition raised its head in the parterre of good-fortune. He made the vazír hopeful of his imperial bounties, and enlightened the eye of his heart with the acquisition of his wishes, and said,

By the full recital of this delightful story thou hast bestowed sweetness on the palate of my soul, and by the exposition of these words of wise conclusion, thou hast sown in the ground of my heart the seed of perpetual happiness. And henceforward, nought save these perfect admonitions shall be the guide of my government, and I will regard nought as the rule of the fabric of my practice but these salutary counsels. And these words have made a wonderful impression on my heart, and this is entirely owing to thy abundant sincere affection and truth; for although words may be essentially good; yet, by reason of the polluted nature of the speaker, they may yield no wholesome result; and advice, though springing from the purest wisdom, oftentimes, from the wickedness of the rehearser, produces no impression.

The vazír extolled the king, and said, ‘That which has passed the wisdom-impressed tongue of the king is essentially true and purely wholesome; for the words of the fraudulent and the hypocritical have but a false lustre, and expire in a short time, like a fire made of wormwood. But the language of truth and purity, like the streaks of morning light, increase in brightness every instant; and, like the torch of the sun, appear more brilliant every hour.

Again Humáyún Fál addressed the vazír with flattering encouragement, and raised the flag of his good-fortune to the pinnacle of high heaven; and the vazír, beholding the tokens of the amiable qualities of the king, and the light of his praiseworthy virtues; arrayed the substructure of praise and benediction in the following manner,

With these words the conversation closed, and Humáyún Fál, too, in the same way as Dábishlím, impressed on the pages of his own actions the graces of these tales, and fulfilled all the requirements of justice in building up the edifices of good administration, and left, as a memorial on the leaves of time, a good name and fair renown.

These are the few words which, on the call of the moment, the tongue of the pen has aided in inscribing, and which, in the manner that the nature of the subject⁶⁵⁰ required, have been written down by the reed of exposition. And my hope in the virtuous excellencies of the most eminent of mankind, and in the good qualities of the lofty noble,^650a is, that he will conceal with the skirt of indulgence the unweighed expressions and unsatisfactory style of this his humble servant; and that, by way of cherishing the insignificant, and condescending to the poor,

will survey it with the eye of favor.