The Ascetic and the Lute Player

A drunk man was carrying a lute under his arm; at night he smashed it over the head of a devout man. When morning came, that gentle, good-hearted man took a handful of silver coins to the hard-hearted drunk. He said: 'Last night you were drunk and not yourself. Your lute and my head were both broken.' 'My wound has healed and the danger has passed, but yours will only be mended by silver.' These are the friends of God, who go about in the world and willingly take many a blow upon the head from people.