Saadi [Electronic resources] : The Gulistan نسخه متنی

habits, and there is no trusting to his piety and goodness.---By the means of repentance
thou mayest get delivered from the wrath of God, but there is no escape from the
slanderous tongue of man. He was unable to put up with the virulence of their remarks, and
took his complaint to his ghostly father, saying, "I am much troubled by the tongues
of mankind." The holy man wept, and answered, "How can you be sufficiently
grateful for this blessing, that you are better than they represent you?---How often wilt
thou call aloud, saying, The malignant and envious are calumniating wretched me, that they
rise up to shed my blood, and that they sit down to devise me mischief. Be thou good
thyself, and let people speak evil of thee; it is better than to be wicked, and that they
should consider thee as good."---But, on the other hand, behold me, of whose
perfectness all entertain the best opinion, while I am the mirror of imperfection.---Had I
done what they have said, I should have been a pious and moral man. Verily, I may
conceal myself from the sight of my neighbor, But God knows what is secret and what is
open. There is a shut door between me and mankind, that they may not pry into my sins;
but what, O Omniscience! can a closed door avail against thee, who art equally informed of
what is manifest or concealed?

XXIII

I lodged a complaint with one of our reverend Shaikhs, saying: "A certain person
has borne testimony against my character on the score of lasciviousness." He
answered, "Shame him by your continence.---Be thou virtuously disposed, that the
detractor may not have it in his power to indulge his malignity. So long as the harp is in
tune, how can it have its ear pulled (or suffer correction by being put in tune) by the
minstrel?"

XXIV

They asked one of the Shaikhs of Sham, or Syria, saying: "What is the condition of
the Sufi sect?" He answered, "Formerly they were in this world a fraternity
dispersed in the flesh, but united in the spirit; but now they are a body well clothed
carnally, and ragged in divine mystery." Whilst thy heart will be every moment
wandering into a different place, in thy recluse state thou canst not see purity; but
though thou possesses rank and wealth, lands and chattels, if thy heart be fixed on God,
thou art a hermit.

XXV

On one occasion we had marched, I recollect, all the night along with the caravan, and
halted toward morning on the skirts of the wilderness. One mystically distracted, who
accompanied us on that journey, set up a loud lamentation at dawn, went a-wandering into
the desert, and did not take a moment's rest. Next day I said to him, "What condition
was that?" He replied, "I remarked the nightingales that they had come to carol
in the groves, the pheasants to prattle on the mountains, the frogs to croak in the pools,
and the wild beasts to roar in the forests, and thought with myself, saying, It can not be
generous that all are awake in God's praise and I am wrapped up in the sleep of
forgetfulness!---Last night a bird was caroling toward the morning; it stole my patience
and reason, my fortitude and understanding. My lamentation had perhaps reached the ear of
one of my dearly-beloved friends. He said, 'I did not believe that the singing of a bird
could so distract thee!' I answered, This is not the duty of the human species, that the
birds are singing God's praise and that I am silent."

XXVI

Once, on a pilgrimage to Hijaz, I was the fellow-traveler of some piously disposed
young men, and on a footing of familiarity and intimacy with them. From time to time we
were humming a tune and chanting a spiritual hymn, and an abid , who bore us
company, kept disparaging the morals of the dervishes, and was callous to their
sufferings, 'till we reached the palm plantation of the tribe of Hulal, when a boy of a
tawny complexion issued from the Arab horde and sang such a plaintive melody as would
arrest the bird in its flight through the air. I remarked the abid's camel that it kicked
up and pranced, and, throwing the abid, danced into the wilderness. I said: "O
reverend Shaikh! that spiritual strain threw a brute into an ecstasy, and it is not in
like manner working a change in you!--Know thou what that nightingale of the dawn
whispered to me? What sort of man art thou, indeed, who art ignorant of love?---The camel
is in an ecstasy of delight from the Arab's song. If thou hast no taste to relish this
thou art a cross-grained brute---Now that the camel is elated with rapture and delight, if
a man is insensible to these he is an ass. The zephyr, gliding through the verdure on
the earth,Shakes the twig of the ban-tree, but moves not the solid rocks. Whatever
thou beholdest is loud in extolling him. That heart which has an ear is full of the divine
mystery. It is not the nightingale that alone serenades his rose; for every thorn on the
rose-bush is a tongue in his or God's praise!"

XXVII

A king had reached the end of his days and had no heir to succeed him. He made his
will, stating, "You will place the crown of sovereignty upon the head of whatever
person first enters the city gate in the morning, and commit the kingdom to his
charge." It happened that the first man that presented himself at the city gate was a
beggar, who had passed his whole life in scraping broken meat and in patching rags. The
ministers of State and nobles of the court fulfilled the conditions of the king's will,
and laid the keys of the treasury and citadel at his feet. For a time the dervish governed
the kingdom, 'till some of the chiefs of the empire swerved from their allegiance, and the
princes of the territories on every side rose in opposition to him, and levied armies for
the contest. In short, his troops and subjects were routed and subdued, and several of his
provinces taken from him. The dervish was hurt to the soul at these events, when one of
his old friends, who had been the companion of his state of poverty, returned from a
journey and found him in such dignity. He exclaimed: "Thanksgiving be to a Deity of
majesty and glory that lofty fortune succored you and prosperity was your guide, 'till
roses issued from your thorns and the thorns were extracted from your feet, and 'till you
arrived at this elevated rank! Along with hardship there is ease; or, to sorrow
succeeds joy. The plant is at one season in flower and at another withered; the tree
is at one time naked and at another clothed with leaves." He said: "O, my dear
friend, offer me condolence, for here is no place for congratulation. When you last saw me
I had to think of getting a crumb of bread; now I have the cares of a whole kingdom on my
head." If the world be adverse, we are the victims of pain; if prosperous, the
fettered slaves of affection for it. Amidst this life no calamity is more afflicting than
that, whether fortunate or not, the mind is equally disquieted. If thou covet riches, ask
not but for contentment, which is an immense treasure. Should a rich man throw money into
thy lap, take heed, and do not look upon it as a benefit; for I have often heard from the
great and good that the patience of the poor is more meritorious than the gift of the
rich. Were King Bahram Ghor to distribute a whole roasted elk, it would not be equal to
the gift of a locust's leg from an ant."

XXVIII

A person had a friend who was holding the office of king's divan, or prime minister,
and it happened that he had not seen him for some time. Somebody remarked, saying,
"It is some time since you saw such a gentleman." He answered, "I am no
ways anxious about seeing him." One of the divan's people chanced to be present. He
asked, "What has happened amiss that you should dislike to visit him?" He
replied, "There is no dislike; but my friend, the divan, can be seen at a time when
he is out of office, and my idle intrusion might not come amiss." Amidst the State
patronage and authority of office they might take umbrage at their acquaintance; but on
the day of vexation and loss of place they would impart their mental disquietudes to their
friends.

XXXV

They asked a profoundly learned man, saying, "What is your opinion of consecrated
bread, or alms taking?" He answered, "If with the view of composing their minds,
and promoting their devotions, it is lawful to take it; but if monks collect for the sake
of an endowment, it is forbidden. Good and holy men have received the bread of
consecration for the sake of religious retirement; and are not recluses, that they may
receive such bread."

XXXVI

A dervish came to put up at a place where the master of the house was a gentleman of an
hospitable disposition. He had as his guests an assembly of learned and witty men, each of
whom was repeating such a jest, or anecdote, as is usual with the facetious. Having
traveled across a desert, the dervish was much fatigued, and well-nigh famished. One of
the company observed, in the way of pleasantry, "You must also repeat
something." The dervish answered, "I am not, like the others, overstocked with
learning and wit, nor am I much read in books; and you must be satisfied with my reciting
one distich." One and all eagerly cried, "Let us hear it." He said,
"Hungry as I am, I sit by a table spread with food, like a bachelor at the entrance
of a bath full of women!" They applauded what he said, and ordered the tray to be
placed before him. The lord of the feast said, "Stay your appetite, my friend! 'till
my handmaids can prepare for you some forced meat." He raised his head from the tray,
and answered, "Say there is no need for forced meat on my tray, for a crust of plain
bread is sufficient for one baked as I have been in the desert."

XXXVII

A disciple complained to his ghostly father, saying, "What can I do, for I am much
annoyed by the people, who are interrupting me with their frequent visits, and break in
upon my precious hours with their impertinent intrusions." He replied, "To such
of them as are poor lend money, and from such as are rich ask some in loan; and neither of
them will trouble you again." Let a beggar be the harbinger of an army of Islam, or
the orthodox, and the infidel will fly his importunity as far as the wall of China.

XXXIX

A drunken fellow had lain down to sleep on the highway, and was quite overcome with the
fumes of intoxication. An abid was passing close by, and looking at him with scorn. The
youth raised his head, and said, "Whenever they pass anything shameful they pass
it with compassion. Whenever thou beholdest a sinner, hide and bear with his
transgressions: Thou, who art aware of them, why not overlook my sins with pity? Turn
not away, O reverend sir! from a sinner; but look upon him with compassion. Though in my
actions I am not a hero, do thou pass by as the heroic would pass me."

XL

A gang of dissolute vagabonds broke in upon a dervish, used opprobrious language, and
beat and ill-used him. In his helplessness he carried his complaint before his ghostly
father, and said, "Thus it has befallen me." He replied: "O my son! the
patched cloak of dervishes is the garment of resignation; whosoever wears this garb, and
can not bear with disappointment, is a hypocrite, and to him our cloth is forbidden.---A
vast and deep river is not rendered turbid by throwing into it a stone. That religious man
who can be vexed at an injury is as yet a shallow brook.---If thou art subjected to
trouble, bear with it; for by forgiveness thou art purified from sin. Seeing, O brother!
that we are ultimately to become dust, be humble as the dust, before thou molders into
dust."

XLI

Hear what occurred once at Baghdad in a dispute that took place between a roll-up
curtain and standard. Covered with the road-dust, and jaded with a march, the standard, in
reproach, observed to the curtain: "Thou and I are gentlemen in livery; we are
fellow-servants at the court of his majesty. I never enjoy a moment's relief from duty;
early and late I am equally marching. Thou hast never experienced any peril or a siege,
the heavy sand of the desert or dust of a whirlwind; my foot is most forward in any
enterprise. Then why art thou my superior in dignity? Thou art cared for by youths with
faces splendid as the moon, and handled by damsels scenting like jasmine; while I am
fallen into the hands of raw recruits, am rolled upon our march, and turned upside
down." The curtain answered: "I lay my head humble at the threshold, and hold it
not up like thine, flaring in the face of heaven! Whoever is thus vainly rearing his crest
exalts himself only to be humbled."

XLII

A good and holy man saw a huge and strong fellow, who, having got much enraged, was
storming with passion and foaming at the mouth. He asked, "What has happened to this
man?" Somebody answered, "Such a one has given him bad names!" He said,
"This paltry wretch is able to carry a thousand-weight of stone, and can not bear
with one light word! Cease to boast of thy strong arm and pretended manhood, infirm as
thou art in mind, and mean in spirit. What difference is there between such a man and a
woman? Though thou art strong of arm, let thy mouth utter sweet words; it is no proof of
courage to thrust thy fist into another man's face.---Though thou art able to tear the
scalp off an elephant, if deficient in humanity, thou art no hero. The sons of Adam are
formed from dust; if not humble as the I dust, they fall short of being men."

XLIV

A facetious old gentleman of Baghdad gave his daughter in marriage to a shoemaker. The
flint-hearted fellow bit so deeply into the damsel's lip that the blood trickled from the
wound. Next morning the father found her in this plight; he went up to his son-in-law, and
asked him, saying: "Lowborn wretch! what sort of teeth are these that thou shouldst
chew her lips as if they were a piece of leather? I speak not in play what I have to say.
Lay jesting aside, and take with her thy legal enjoyment.---When once a vicious
disposition has taken root in the habit, the hand of death can only eradicate it."

XLV

A doctor of laws had a daughter preciously ugly, and she had reached the age of
womanhood; but, notwithstanding her dowry and fortune, nobody seemed inclined to ask her
in marriage.---Damask or brocade but add to her deformity when put upon a bride void of
symmetry. In short, they were under the necessity of uniting her in the bonds of wedlock
to a blind man. They add, that soon after there arrived from Sirandip, or Ceylon, a
physician that could restore sight to the blind. They spoke to the law doctor, saying,
"Why do you not get him to prescribe for your son-in-law?" He answered:
"Because I am afraid he may recover his sight, and repudiate my daughter; for--- 'the
Husband of an ugly woman should be blind.'"

XLVIII

They asked a wise man which was preferable, munificence or courage? He answered,
"Whoever has munificence has no need of courage." On the tombstone of
Bahram-Ghgor was inscribed: "The hand of liberality is stronger than the arm of
power.---Hatim Tayi remains not, yet will his exalted name live renowned for generosity to
all eternity. Distribute the tithe of thy wealth in alms, for the more the gardener prunes
his vine the more he adds to his crop of grapes."

Chapter III

On The Preciousness Of Contentment

I

A mendicant from the west of Africa had taken his station amidst a group of shopkeepers
at Aleppo, and was saying: "O lords of plenty! had ye a just sense of equity, and we
of contentment, all manner of importunity would cease in this world!" O contentment!
do thou make me rich, for without thee there is no wealth. The treasure of patience was
the choice of Lokman. Whoever has no patience has no wisdom.

II

There dwelt in Egypt two youths of noble birth, one of whom applied himself to study
knowledge, and the other to accumulate wealth. In process of time that became the wisest
man of his age, and this King of Egypt. Then was the rich man casting an eye of scorn upon
his philosophic brother, and saying, "I have reached a sovereignty, and you remain
thus in a state of poverty." He replied: "O brother! I am all the more grateful
for the bounty of a Most High God, whose name was glorified, that I have found the
heritage of the prophets---namely, wisdom; and you have got the estate of Pharaoh and
Haman---that is, the kingdom of Egypt. I am an ernmet, that mankind shall tread under
foot; not a hornet, that they shall complain of my sting. How can I sufficiently express
my grateful sense of this blessing, that I possess not the means of injuring my fellow
creatures?"

III

I heard of a dervish who was consuming in the flame of want, tacking patch after patch
upon his ragged garment, and solacing his mind with this couplet: "I can rest content
with a dry crust of bread and a coarse woolen frock, for the burden of my own exertion
bears lighter than laying myself under obligation to another."---Somebody observed to
him, "Why do you sit quiet, while a certain gentleman of this city is so nobly
disposed and universally benevolent, that he has girt up his loins in the service of the
religious independents, and seated himself by the door of their hearts? Were he apprised
of your condition, he would esteem himself obliged, and be happy in the opportunity of
relieving it." He said: "Be silent; for it is better to die of want than to
expose our necessities before another, as they have remarked: 'Patching a tattered cloak
and the consequent treasure of content, is more commendable than petitioning the great for
every new garment.'" By my troth, I swear it were equal to the torments of hell to
enter into paradise through the interest of a neighbor.

IV

One of the Persian kings sent a skillful physician to attend Mohammed Mustafa, on whom
be salutation. He remained some years in the territory of the Arabs; but nobody went to
try his skill, or asked him for any medicine. One day he presented himself before the
blessed prince of prophets, and complained, saying, "The king had sent me to dispense
medicine to your companions; but, 'till this moment, nobody has been so good as to enable
me to practice any skill that this your servant may possess." The blessed messenger
of God was pleased to answer, saying, "It is a rule with this tribe never to eat
'till hard pressed by hunger, and to discontinue their repast while they have yet an
appetite." The physician said, "This accounts for their health." Then he
kissed the earth of respect and took his leave. The physician will then begin to inculcate
temperance, or to extend the finger of indulgence, when from silence his patient might
suffer by excess, or his life be endangered by abstinence: of course, the skill of the
physician is advice, and the patient's regimen and diet yield the fruits of health!

V

A certain person would be making vows of abstinence and breaking them. At last a
reverend gentleman observed to him, "So I understand that you make a practice of
eating to excess; and that any restraint on your appetite, namely, this vow, is weaker
than a hair, and this voraciousness, as you indulge it, would break an iron chain; but the
day must come when it will destroy you." A man was rearing the whelp of a wolf; when
full grown it tore its patron and master.

VI

In the annals of Ardashir Babagan it is recorded that he asked an Arabian physician,
saying, "What quantity of food ought to be eaten daily?" He replied, "A
hundred dirams' weight were sufficient." The king said, "What strength can a man
derive from so small a quantity?" The physician replied: "So much can support
you; but in whatever you exceed that you must support it.---Eating is for the purpose of
living, and speaking in praise of God; but thou believest that we live only to eat."

VII

Two dervishes of Khorassan were fellow-companions on a journey. One was so spare and
moderate that he would break his fast only every other night, and the other so robust and
intemperate that he ate three meals a day. It happened that they were taken up at the gate
of a city on suspicion of being spies, and both together put into a place, the entrance of
which was built up with mud. After a fortnight it was discovered that they were innocent,
when, on breaking open the door, they found the strong man dead, and the weak one alive
and well. They were astonished at this circumstance. A wise man said, "The contrary
of this had been strange, for this one was a voracious eater, and not having strength to
support a want of food, perished; and that other was abstemious, and being patient,
according to his habitual practice, survived it.---When a person is habitually temperate,
and a hardship shall cross him, he will get over it with ease; but if he has pampered his
body and lived in luxury, and shall get into straitened circumstances, he must
perish."

XI

In a battle with the Tartars, a gallant young man was grievously wounded. Somebody said
to him, "A certain merchant has a stock of the mummy antidote; if you would ask him,
he might perhaps accommodate you with a portion of it." They say that merchant was so
notorious for his stinginess, that--- "If, in the place of his loaf of bread, the orb
of the sun had been in his wallet, nobody would have seen daylight in the world 'till the
day of judgment." The spirited youth replied: "Were I to ask him for this
antidote, he might give it, or he might not; and if he did it might cure me, or it might
not; at any rate, to ask such a man were itself a deadly poison!" Whatever thou
wouldst ask of the mean, in obligation, might add to the body, but would take from the
soul.---And philosophers have observed, that were the water of immortality, for example,
to be sold at the price of the reputation, a wise man would not buy it, for an honorable
death is preferable to a life of infamy.---Wert thou to eat colocynth from the hand of the
kind-hearted, it would relish better than a sweetmeat from that of the crabbed.

XII

One of the learned had a large family and small means. He stated his case to a great
man, who entertained a favorable opinion of his character. This one turned away from his
solicitation, and viewed this prostitution of begging as discreditable with a gentleman of
education. If soured by misfortune, present not thyself before a dear friend, for thou may
also embitter his pleasure. When thou brings forward a distress, do it with a cheerful and
smiling face, for an openness of countenance can never retard business.---They have
related that he rose a little in the pension, but sank much in the estimation of the great