The Just and the Unjust Brother

I heard that on a border in the West, two brothers lived, born of one father. Both were commanders, proud and mighty as elephants, handsome, wise, and skilled with the sword. The father found each of them a formidable man, eager for the battlefield and combat. So he divided that land into two parts and gave each son his share. So that they would not rise against each other and draw the sword of vengeance in war. After that the father lived a while longer, then surrendered his sweet life to the Creator. Death cut the rope of his hopes; his passing sealed his hand from all doing. The kingdom passed to the two kings, whose treasure and armies were beyond count. By their own judgment they set their course; each of them chose a different path. One chose justice, to win a good name; the other chose oppression, to pile up wealth. One made compassion his way of life: he gave out coins and cared for the poor. He built, he fed people, he honored his soldiers; at night he made shelters for the poor. He emptied his coffers and filled his ranks, so that among the people, in times of joy, the shouts of gladness rose like thunder, as in Shiraz in the days of Abu Bakr Saad. A wise and blessed sovereign, may the branch of his hope grow full with fruit. Hear the tale: that seeker of good name was of praiseworthy ways and happy temper. Devoted to comforting both high and low, praising God at morning and evening. In his land even a Croesus could travel boldly, for the king was just and the poor were content. In his days no heart was pricked, I will not say by a thorn, but not even by a rose petal. By God's aid he rose above all the great; even proud lords bowed their heads to his command. The other wished to grow his throne and crown, so he raised the taxes on the farmer. He coveted the merchants' wealth; he poured misery on the lives of the helpless. In hope of more, he neither gave nor spent; any wise man knows he did wrong. The more gold he gathered by cunning, the more his army scattered from neglect. The merchants heard the news that oppression ruled in that incompetent's realm. They cut off their trade there; the crops failed and the peasants burned in want. When his fortune turned its face from friendship, his enemy easily gained the upper hand. The strife of fate tore up his root and fruit; the hooves of the enemy's horses dug up his land. Where do you seek loyalty when the pact is broken? From whom do you demand taxes when the farmer has fled? What good can that heartless man expect, when curses trail behind his back? Since his luck was upside down from the start, he did not do what good people told him to do. What did the good tell that good man? Enjoy your reward, for the tyrant reaps none. His guess was wrong, his plan was weak: what he sought through cruelty lay in justice all along. A man sat on a branch, cutting its base; the garden's owner watched and saw him. He said: if this man does harm, it is not to me but to his own self he does it. Here is good advice, if you will hear it: do not throw the weak beneath the shoulder of the strong. For tomorrow, before the Judge, even a beggar not worth a grain to you now may carry off kingship. If you want to be his master tomorrow, do not make an enemy of the lowly today. For when this power passes from you, that beggar will seize your skirt in fury. Do not do it: keep your hand off the weak, for if they throw you down you will be shamed. For it is ugly in the eyes of the noble to be brought down by those already fallen. The great, bright of heart and blessed by fortune, won crown and throne through wisdom. Do not walk crooked behind the upright; and if you want the truth, hear it from Saadi.