The Story of King Salih

King Salih, one of the rulers of Syria, would go out at dawn with a servant. He wandered through the markets and lanes, his face half covered in the Arab way. For he was a man of insight and a friend to the poor. Whoever has these two qualities is truly King Salih. He found two dervishes asleep in a mosque, both troubled at heart and worn out in spirit. Through the cold night their eyes had known no sleep; like a chameleon they watched and waited for the sun. One of the two was saying to the other: on the Day of Judgment there will be a reckoning. If these proud, high necked kings, wrapped in pleasure and ease, in luxury and comfort, were to enter paradise together with the helpless, I would not even lift my head from the brick of my grave. The highest paradise is our own kingdom and home, for the chains of sorrow are on our feet today. What comfort have you ever known from these people all your life, that you should suffer beside them in the next world too? If Salih climbs the wall of that garden, I will smash his nose with the flat of my hand. When the man had spoken and Salih heard it, he saw no wisdom in staying there any longer. A moment passed until the spring of the sun rose and washed sleep from the eyes of all people. He hurried and sent someone to summon them both; he sat in majesty and seated them with honor. He poured a rain of generosity upon them and washed the dust of humiliation from their beings. After the misery of cold and rain and flood, they sat among the honored nobles of the court. Beggars who had turned nights into days without even a cloak now perfumed their garments over burning incense. One of them quietly said to the king: you whose ear wisdom itself circles like a slave's ring, the worthy rise to greatness; what have you found worthy in us, your servants? The king blossomed with joy like a flower; he laughed in the dervish's face and said: I am not the kind who, out of the pride of my retinue, would frown at the helpless. So you too, put aside that ugly habit with me, this quarreling you would carry even into paradise. Today I have opened the door of peace to you; tomorrow do not shut your door in my face. If you are fortunate, take this path: if you want honor, take the hand of the poor. No one ever picked fruit from the branch of the tree of paradise who did not sow the seed of devotion today. If you have no devotion, do not seek happiness; the ball can only be carried off with the mallet of service. When will you ever blaze like a lamp, when you are as empty of yourself as a lamp's glass is empty of water? Only a being that has a burning in its heart, like a candle, can give light to the gathering.