The Poor Man and His Wealthy Neighbor

A man of high fortune, named Bakhtiar, was powerful and rich in wealth. His house stood in a street of beggars, and his gold was measured out like grain by the bushel. When a poor man sees the rich living in ease, his heart burns even more with the ache of need. One night a woman picked a fight with her husband when he came home empty handed. She said, 'No one is as luckless and poor as you; like a red wasp, all you have is this sting.' 'Learn some manhood from the neighbors, for in the end I am not some worthless woman.' 'Others have gold and silver, property and fine clothes; why aren't you fortunate like them?' The pure hearted man in his woolen cloak let out a cry, like a drum booming from an empty belly. He said, 'I have no power over anything; do not struggle against the fist of fate.' 'It was never left to my own choice to make myself a man of fortune.'