English
Fereydoun, the Minister, and the Slanderer
Fereydoun had a worthy minister, a man of clear heart and far-seeing eye.
First he kept God's approval in view, then he honored the king's command.
A mean official loads suffering on the people, claiming it serves the realm and fills the treasury.
But if you don't keep God's side, harm will reach you even from the king himself.
One morning a man came before the king: 'May every day bring you ease and joy.'
'Don't suspect my motive, take my advice: this minister is secretly your enemy.'
'There's no one left, from the elite troops to the common ranks, who doesn't owe him silver and gold.'
'On the condition that when the proud king dies, they must repay that gold and silver.'
'This selfish man does not want you alive, for fear he might never get his money back.'
The king turned to his trusted minister with a stern, examining eye:
'You who wear the face of friends before me, why do you wish me harm in your heart?'
The minister kissed the ground before the throne and said, 'Since you have asked, I cannot hide it now.'
'This is what I want, O renowned king: that all your people wish you well.'
'Since my loans come due only at your death, out of fear of me they will wish you long life.'
'Don't you want people, in sincerity and prayer, to wish you flourishing and long life?'
'Wise men count prayers as spoils, for prayer is armor against the arrow of disaster.'
The king approved what he said, and the flower of his face bloomed with fresh delight.
He raised the minister above his former rank and station and lifted his standing higher.
He punished and rebuked the slanderer, who regretted the words he had spoken.
I have seen no one more lost than the slanderer, none with darker luck and more overturned fortune.
Out of his own ignorance and murky mind, he sows discord between two friends.
The two soon make their peace again, while he is left in the middle, disgraced and unlucky.
Kindling a fire between two people, then burning in it yourself, is no wisdom at all.
Only someone like Saadi has tasted the sweetness of solitude, one who held his tongue from everyone in the world.
Say the useful words you know, even if they please no one at all,
for tomorrow the fool will cry out in regret: 'Alas, why did I not listen to the truth?'