TALE XXXVI

There were two brothers, one of whom was in the service of the King, and the other ate the bread of his own industry. Once the rich man said to his poor brother, “ Why do you not enter into the service of the King, to relieve yourself from the affliction of labour ? ” He asked, “ And why do you not work, that you may be relieved from the baseness of servitude ?

For the sages have said, That to eat one’s bread and-to sit down at ease, is preferable to wearing a golden girdle and standing up in service ; to use your hands in making mortar of quicklime, is preferable to placing them on your breast in attendance on the Umeer. Precious life has been spent in these cares. £ What shall I eat in the summer, and with what shall I be clothed in the winter ? ignoble belly, satisfyyourself with a loaf of bread, that you may not bend your back in servitude.”

TALE XXXVII.

Somebody brought to Nowshirvan the just the

good tidings, that the God of majesty and glory has taken away such an one, who

was your enemy. He asked, “ Have you heard that He will by any means spare me ?

The death of my enemy is no cause of joy to me, since neither is my own life

eternal.”

TALE XXXVIII.

At the court of Kisra a number of wise men

were debating on some affair, when Buzercliemehcr being silent, they asked him,

Why in this debate he did not say any thing ? He answered, “ Ministers are like

physicians, and the physician administers medicine to the sick only; therefore,

when I see that your opinions are judicious, it would not he consistent with

wisdom for me to obtrude my sentiments. When a business can he managed without

my interference, it is not proper for me to speak on the subject: but if I see

a blind man in the way of a well, if I keep silence, it is a crime.”

TALE XXXIX.

Haroon ur Rusheed, when he had completed the conquest of Egypt, said, “ As a contrast to that rebel, who, through the pride of his possessing the kingdom of Egypt, boasted that he was God, I will bestow this kingdom on the meanest of my slaves.” He had an Ethiopian blockhead, named Khosaib, to whom he gave the kingdom. They say that this man’s wisdom and knowledge were so great, that when some of the farmers of Egypt were complaining, that an unseasonable fell of rain had destroyed the cotton which they had sown on the banks of the Nile, he said that they ought to sow wool.

A man of discernment, upon hearing this said, “ If the augmentation of wealth depended upon knowledge, none would be so distressed as an ignorant fellow ; but God bestows on a single fool as much wealth as would astonish an hundred men of wisdom. Wealth and power depend not upon skill, and cannot be obtained without the assistance of Heaven. It often happens in the world that the imprudent are honoured, and the wise are despised. The alchymist died of grief and distress, whilst the blockhead found treasure under a ruin.”