Story 13: The King and the Dervish

I heard of a king who spent one whole night in revelry, and at the end of his drunkenness he kept saying: There is no sweeter moment for us in the world than this, when I fret over neither good nor ill, and grieve for no one. A dervish who had been sleeping outside in the cold spoke up and said: You whose good fortune has no equal in the world, suppose you have no sorrow: does my sorrow mean nothing to you either? The king was pleased. He tossed a purse of a thousand gold coins out through the window, saying, 'Hold out your skirt, dervish.' The man replied, 'How can I hold out a skirt when I have no clothes at all?' The king's pity for the poor man's plight grew even greater, so he added a robe of honor to the gift and sent it out to him. In no time the dervish squandered the money and the goods, spent it all, and came back as poor as before. Wealth finds no rest in the hands of the free, any more than patience settles in a lover's heart, or water stays in a sieve. When the king was in no mood to be bothered with him, they reported the situation. He was upset and frowned at the man. From this, people of wit and experience have said: one must beware the sharp temper of kings, for their attention is mostly fixed on the great affairs of the realm, and they cannot bear the pressing of common folk. A king's bounty is forbidden to the man who, when opportunity comes, fails to look after it. Until you see an opening for your words, do not cheapen yourself with idle talk. He said: 'Drive out this brazen, spendthrift beggar who wasted so much wealth in so short a time. The public treasury is meant to feed the needy, not to be a meal for the devil's brothers.' The fool who burns a candle of scented camphor in broad daylight will soon find, when night comes, there is no oil left in his lamp. One of his wise counselors said: 'My lord, I think it best that such people be given a modest allowance paid out in small portions, so they will not squander it. But the punishment and dismissal you ordered do not suit men of high spirit: first to lift someone up with kindness, then to wound him with disappointment.' You cannot open your door to the greedy, and once it is open, you cannot slam it shut with harshness. No one ever sees the thirsty of Hejaz gather round a well of salty water. Wherever there is a spring of sweet water, people and birds and ants all gather round.