CHAPTER
V - ON LOVE AND YOUTH
Story 1
Hasan Maimundi was asked
that, as the Sultan Mahmud possesses so many beautiful slaves,
each of whom is a marvel in the world, how it happens that he
manifests towards none of them so much inclination and love as
to Iyaz, although he is not more handsome than the others. He
replied: ‘Whatever descends into the heart appears good
to the eye.’
He whose murid’ the
sultan is
If he does everything bad,
it will be good.
But he whom the padshah
throws away
Will not be cared for by
anyone in the household.
If anyone looks with an
unfavourable eye
Even the figure of Joseph
will indicate ugliness
And if he looks with the
eye of desire on a demon,
He will appear an angel,
a cherub in his sight.
Story 2
It is said that a gentleman
possessed a slave of exquisite beauty, whom he regarded with
love and affection. He nevertheless said to a friend: ‘Would
that this slave of mine, with all the beauty and good qualities
he possesses, had not a long and uncivil tongue!’ He replied:
‘Brother, do not expect service, after professing friendship;
because when relations between lover and beloved come in, the
relations between master and servant are superseded’:
When a master with a fairy-faced
slave
Begins to play and to laugh
What wonder if the latter
coquets like the master
And the gentleman bears
it like a slave?
A slave is to draw water
and make bricks.
A pampered slave will strike
with the fist.
Story 3
I saw a religious man, who
had fallen in love with a fellow to such a degree that he had
neither strength to remain patient nor to bear the talk of the
people but would not relinquish his attachment, despite of the
reproaches he suffered and the grief he bore, saying:
I shall not let go my hold
of thy skirt
Even if thou strike me with
a sharp sword.
After thee I have no refuge
nor asylum.
To thee alone I shall flee
if I flee.
I once reproached him, asking
him what had become of his exquisite intellect so that it had
been overcome by his base proclivity. He meditated a while and
then said:
‘Wherever love has
become sultan
Piety’s arm has no
strength left.
How can a helpless fellow
live purely
Who has sunk up to his neck
in impurity?’
Story 4
One had lost his heart and
bidden farewell to his life because the target which he aimed
at was in a dangerous locality, portending destruction and no
chance promising a morsel easily coming to the palate nor a bird
falling into the trap.
I once advised him to abandon
his aspiration to a fancy impossible of realization because many
persons are enslaved by the same passion like himself, the feet
of their hearts being in chains. He lamented and said:
‘Tell my friends not
to give me advice
Because my eyes are fixed
on her wishes.
By the strength of fist
and shoulders warriors
Slay enemies but sweethearts
a friend.’
It is against the requirements
of love to renounce affection to our sweethearts for fear of
losing our lives.
Thou who art a slave to
thy selfishness
Art mendacious in the game
of love.
If there be no way to reach
the friend
Friendship demands to die
in pursuit of it.
I rise as no other source
is left to me
Though the foe may smite
me with arrow and sword.
If chance serves me I shall
take hold of her sleeve.
Or else I shall go and die
on her threshold.
His friends, who considered
his position, pitied his state, gave him advice and at last confined
him but all to no purpose.
Alas, that the physician
should prescribe patience,
Whereas this greedy lust
requires sugar.
Hast thou heard that the
mistress secretly
Told him who had lost his
heart:
‘As long as thou possessest
thy own dignity,
What will mine amount to
in thy eyes?’
It is related that the royal
prince who was the object of his affection had been informed
to the effect that a good-natured and sweet-spoken youth was
constantly attending on the plain, uttering graceful words; and
strange tales having been heard of him, it appeared that his
heart is inflamed and that he has a touch of insanity in his
head. The boy knew that his heart had become attached to him
and that he had raised this dust of calamity. Accordingly he
galloped towards him. When the youth perceived the prince approaching
him, he we and said:
Although he accosted the
youth graciously, asking him whence he came and what his occupation
was, he was so plunged in the depths of the ocean of love that
he could not breathe:
If thou recitest the seven
portions of the lesson by heart,
When thou art demented by
love thou knowest not the A, B, C.
The prince said: ‘Why
speakest thou not to me? I also belong to the circle of dervishes;
nay I am even in their service.’ In consequence of the force
of the friendly advances of his beloved, he raised his head from
the dashing waves of love and said:
Saying these words he uttered
a shout and surrendered his life.
Story 5
A schoolboy was so perfectly
beautiful and sweet-voiced that the teacher, in accordance with
human nature, conceived such an affection towards him that’
he often recited the following verses:
I am not so little occupied
with thee, O heavenly face,
That remembrance of myself
occurs to my mind.
From thy sight I am unable
to withdraw my eyes
Although when I am opposite
I may see that an arrow comes.
Once the boy said to him:
‘As thou strivest to direct my studies, direct also my behaviour.
If thou perceivest anything reprovable in my conduct, although
it may seem approvable to me, inform me thereof that I may endeavour
to change it.’ He replied: ‘O boy, make that request
to someone else because the eyes with which I look upon thee
behold nothing but virtues.’
The ill-wishing eye, be
it torn out
Sees only defects in his
virtue.
But if thou possessest one
virtue and seventy faults
A friend sees nothing except
that virtue.
Story 6
I remember that one night
a dear friend of mine entered when I jumped up in such a heedless
way that the lamp was extinguished by my sleeve. A vision appeared
in the night and by its appearance the darkness was illuminated.
I was amazed at my luck
exclaiming whence this felicity?
He took a seat and began
reproving me saying that when I beheld him I extinguished the
lamp. I said: ‘I thought the sun had risen and wits have
said:
When an ugly person comes
before the lamp
Arise to him and pull him
into the assembly
But if it be a sugar-smiled,
sweet-lipped one
Pull him by the sleeve and
extinguish the lamp.’
Story 7
One who had for a considerable
time not seen his friend asked him where he had been and said
he had been longing. He replied: ‘To be longing is better
than to be satisfied.’
Thou hast come late, O intoxicated
idol,
We shall not soon let go
thy skirt from the hand.
He who sees his sweetheart
at long intervals
Is after all better off
than if he sees too much of her.
When thou comest with friends
to visit me
Although thou comest in
peace thou art attacking.
If my sweetheart associates
one moment with strangers
It wants but little and
I die of jealousy.
She said smiling: ‘I
am the lamp of the assembly, O Sa’di,
What is it to me if a moth
kills itself?’
Story 8
I remember how in former
times I and another friend kept company with each other like
two almond kernels in one skin. Suddenly a separation took place
but after a time, when my companion returned, he commenced to
blame me for not having sent him a messenger during it. I replied:
‘I thought it would be a pity that the eyes of a messenger
should be brightened by thy beauty and I deprived thereof.’
Tell my old friend not to
give me advice with the tongue
Because even a sword will
not compel me to repent.
I am jealous that anyone
should see thee to satiety.
Again I say that no one
will be satiated.
Story 9
I knew a learned man who
had fallen in love with someone but his secret having fallen
from the veil of concealment into publicity, he endured abundant
persecution and displayed boundless patience. I said once to
him by way of consolation: ‘I know thou entertainest no
worldly motive nor inclination for baseness. It is nevertheless
unbecoming the dignity of a scholar to expose himself to suspicions
and to bear the persecutions of mannerless persons.’ He
replied: ‘O friend, take off the hand of reproach from my
skirt because I have often meditated on the opinion which thou
entertainest but have found it easier to bear persecution for
his sake than not to see him; and philosophers have said that
it is easier to accustom the heart to strife, than to turn away
the eye from seeing the beloved.
Who has his heart with a
heart-ravisher
Has his beard in another’s
hand.
A gazelle with a halter
on the neck
Is not able to walk of its
own accord.
If he, without whom one
cannot abide,
Becomes insolent it must
be endured.
I one day told him to beware
of his friend
But I often asked pardon
for that day.
A friend does not abandon
a friend.
I submit my heart to what
he wills.
Whether he kindly calls
me to himself
Or drives me away in anger
he knows best.
Story 10
In the exuberance of youth,
as it usually happens and as thou knowest, I was on the closest
terms of intimacy with a sweetheart who had a melodious voice
and a form beautiful like the moon just rising.
He, the down of whose cheek
drinks the water of immortality,
Whoever looks at his sugar
lips eats sweetmeats.
I happened to notice something
in his behaviour which was contrary to nature and not approved
of by me. Accordingly I gathered up my skirt from him and, picking
up the pieces of the chess-game of friendship, recited:
I heard him saying when
he went away:
Saying this, he departed
and his distress took effect on me:
I lost the time of union
and man is ignorant
Of the value of delightful
life before adversity.
Return. Slay me. For to
die in thy presence
Is more sweet than to live
after thee.
Thanks be to the bounty
of God, he returned some time afterwards but his melodious voice
had changed, his Joseph like beauty had faded, on the apple of
his skin dust had settled as upon a quince so that the splendour
of his beauty had departed. He wanted me to embrace him. I complied
and said:
‘On the day when thou
hadst a beauteous incipient beard
Thou drovest him, who desired
the sight, from thy sight.
Today thou camest to make
peace with him
But hast exhibited Fathah
and Zammah.
His fresh spring is gone
and he has become yellow.
Bring not the kettle because
our fire is extinguished.
How long wilt thou strut
about, showing arrogance,
Imagining felicity which
has elapsed?
Go to him who will purchase
thee.
Coquet with him who asks
for thee.
They said: “Verdure
in the garden is pleasing.”
He knows it who utters these
words.
Namely, heartfelt affection
for that green line
Fascinates the hearts of
lovers more and more.
Thy garden is a bed of leeks.
The more thou weedest it
the more they grow.
Whether thou pluckest out
thy beard or not
This happiness of youthful
days must end.
Had I the power of life
as thou of the beard
I would not let it end till
resurrection-day.
I asked and said: What has
befallen the beauty of thy face
That ants are crawling round
the moon?
He replied, smiling: “I
know not what is the matter with my face.
Perhaps it wears black as
mourning for my beauty.”’
Story 11
I asked one of the people
of Baghdad what he thought of beardless youths. He replied: ‘There
is no good in them for when one of them is yet delicate and wanted
he is insolent; but when he becomes rough and is not wanted he
is affable.’
When a beardless youth is
beautiful and sweet
His speech is bitter, his
temper hasty.
When his beard grows and
he attains puberty
He associates with men and
seeks affection.
Story 12
One of the ullemma had been
asked that, supposing one sits with a moon-faced beauty in a
private apartment, the doors being closed, companions asleep,
passion inflamed, and lust raging, as the Arab says, the date
is ripe and its guardian not forbidding, whether he thought the
power of abstinence would cause the man to remain in safety.
He replied: ‘If he remains in safety from the moon-faced
one, he will not remain safe from evil speakers.’
If a man escapes from his
own bad lust
He will not escape from
the bad suspicions of accusers.
It is proper to sit down
to one’s own work
But it is impossible to
bind the tongues of men.
Story 13
A parrot, having been imprisoned
in a cage with a crow, was vexed by the sight and said: ‘What
a loathsome aspect is this! What an odious figure! What cursed
object with rude habits! 0 crow of separation, would that the
distance of the east from the west were between us.’
Whoever beholds thee when
he rises in the morning
The morn of a day of safety
becomes evening to him.
An ill-omened one like thyself
is fit to keep thee company
But where in the world is
one like thee?
More strange still, the
crow was similarly distressed by the proximity of the parrot
and, having become disgusted, was shouting ‘La haul’,
and lamenting the vicissitudes of time. He rubbed the claws of
sorrow against each other and said: ‘What ill-luck is this?
What base destiny and chameleonlike times? It was befitting my
dignity to strut about on a garden-wall in the society of another
crow.
‘What sin have I committed
that I have already in this life, as a punishment for it, fallen
into the bonds of this calamity in company with such a conceited,
uncongenial and heedless fool?’
No one will approach the
foot of the wall
Upon which they paint thy
portrait.
If thy place were in paradise
Others would select. hell.
I have added this parable
to let thee know that no matter how much a learned man may hate
an ignorant man the latter hates him equally.
A hermit was among profligates
When one of them, a Balkhi
beauty, said:
‘If thou art tired
of us sit not sour
For thou art thyself bitter
in our midst.’
An assembly joined together
like roses and tulips!
Thou art withered wood,
growing in its midst,
Like a contrary wind and
unpleasant frost,
Like snow inert, like ice
bound fast.
Story 14
I had a companion with whom
I had travelled for years and eaten salt. Boundless intimacy
subsisted between us till at last he suffered my mind to be grieved
for the sake of some paltry gain and our friendship closed. Despite
of an this, however, mutual attachment of heart still subsisted
between us because I heard him one day reciting in an assembly
the following two distichs of my composition:
When my sweetheart enters
sweetly smiling
She adds more salt to my
bleeding wound.
How would it be if the tip
of her curls fell into my hand
Like the sleeve of the bountiful
into the hands of dervishes?
Some friends bore witness
not so much to the gracefulness of these verses as to the beauty
of my conduct which they approved; and among the rest, the said
friend likewise added his share of praise, regretting the loss
of our former companionship and confessing his fault so that
his affection became known. Accordingly I sent the following
distichs and made peace:
Was not there a covenant
of friendship between us?
Thou hast been cruel and
not loving.
I once tied my heart to
thee, disregarding the world.
Not knowing thou wouldst
turn back so soon.
If thou yet desirest conciliation,
return
Because thou wilt be more
beloved than before.
Story 15
The beautiful wife of a
man died but her mother, a decrepit old hag, remained in the
house on account of the dowry. The man saw no means of escaping
from contact with her until a company of friends paid him a visit
of condolence and one of them asked him how he bore the loss
of his beloved. He replied: ‘It is not as painful not to
see my wife as to see the mother of my wife.’
The rose has been destroyed
and the thorn remained.
The treasure has been taken
and the serpent left.
It is better that one’s
eye be fixed on a spear-head
Than that it should behold
the face of an enemy.
It is incumbent to sever
connection with a thousand friends
Rather than to behold a
single foe.
Story 16
I remember having in the
days of my youth passed through a street, intending to see a
moon-faced beauty. It was in Temuz, whose heat dried up the saliva
in the mouth and whose simum boiled the marrow in my bones. My
weak human nature being unable to endure the scorching sun, I
took refuge in the shadow of a wall, wishing someone might relieve
me from the summer heat and quench my fire with some water; and
lo, all of a sudden, from the darkness of the porch of a house
a light shone forth, namely a beauty, the grace of which the
tongue of eloquence is unable to describe. She came out like
the rising dawn after an obscure night or the water of immortality
gushing from a dark cavern, carrying in her hand a bowl of snow-water,
into which sugar had been poured and essence of roses mixed.
I knew not whether she had perfumed it with rose-water or whether
a few drops from her rosy face had fallen into it. In short,
I took the beverage from her beautiful hands, drank it and began
to live again.
The thirst of my heart cannot
be quenched
By sipping limpid water
even if I drink oceans of it.
Blessed is the man of happy
destiny whose eye
Alights every morning on
such a countenance.
One drunk of wine awakens
at midnight,
One drunk of the cupbearer
on the morn of resurrection.
Story 17
In the year when Muhammad
Khovarezm Shah concluded peace with the king of Khata to suit
his own purpose, I entered the cathedral mosque of Kashgar and
saw an extremely handsome, graceful boy as described in the simile:
Thy master has taught thee
to coquet and to ravish hearts,
Instructed thee to oppose,
to dally, to blame and to be severe.
A person of such figure,
temper, stature and gait
I have not seen; perhaps
he learnt these tricks from a fairy.
He was holding in his hand
the introduction to Zamaksharni’s Arabic syntax and reciting:
Zaid struck Amru and was the injurer of Amru. I said: ‘Boy!
Khovarezm and Khata have concluded peace, and the quarrel between
Zaid and Amru still subsists!’ He smiled and asked for my
birthplace. I replied: ‘The soil of Shiraz.’ He continued:
‘What rememberest thou of the compositions of Sa’di?’
I recited:
‘I am tired by a nahvi
who makes a furious attack
Upon me, like Zaid in his
opposition to Amru.
When Zaid submits he does
not raise his head
And how can elevation subsist
when submission is the regent?
He considered awhile and
then said: ‘Most of his poetry current in this country is
in the Persian language. If thou wilt recite some, it will be
more easily understood.’ Then I said:
‘When thy nature has
enticed thee with syntax
It blotted out the form
of intellect from our heart.
Alas, the hearts of lovers
are captive in thy snare.
We are occupied with thee
but thou with Amru and Zaid.’
The next morning, when I
was about to depart, some people told him that I was Sa’di,
whereon he came running to me and politely expressed his regret
that I had not revealed my identity before so that he might have
girded his loins to serve me in token of the gratitude due to
the presence of a great man.
He also said: ‘What
would it be if thou wert to spend in this country some days in
repose that we might derive advantage by serving thee?’
I replied: ‘I cannot on account of the following adventure
which occurred to me:
I beheld an illustrious
man in a mountain region
Who had contentedly retired
from the world into a cave.
Why, said I, comest thou
not into the city
For once to relax the bonds
of thy heart?
He replied: ‘Fairy-faced
maidens are there.
When clay is plentiful,
elephants will stumble.’
This I said. Then we kissed
each other’s heads and faces and took leave of each other.
What profits it to kiss
a friend’s face
And at the same time to
take leave of him?
Thou wouldst say that he
who parts from friends is an apple.
One half of his face is
red and the other yellow.
If I die not of grief on
the day of separation
Reckon me not faithful in
friendship.
Story 18
A man in patched garments’
accompanied us in a caravan to the Hejaz and one of the Arab
amirs presented him with a hundred dinars to spend upon his family
but robbers of the Kufatcha tribe suddenly fell upon the caravan
and robbed it clean of everything. The merchants began to wail
and to cry, uttering vain shouts and amentations.
The dervish alone had not
lost his equanimity and showed no change. I asked: ‘Perhaps
they have not taken thy money?’ He replied: ‘Yes, they
have but I was not so much accustomed to that money that separation
therefrom could grieve my heart’:
I replied: ‘What thou
hast said resembles my case because, when I was young, my intimacy
with a young man and my friendship for him were such that his
beauty was the Qiblah of my eye and the chief joy of my life
union with him’:
Perhaps an angel in heaven
but no mortal
Can be on earth equal in
beauty of form to him.
I swear by the amity, after
which companionship is illicit,
No human sperm will ever
become a man like him.
All of a sudden the foot
of his life sank into the mire of non-existence. The smoke of
separation arose from his family. I kept him company on his grave
for many days and one of my compositions on his loss is as follows:
Would that on the day when
the thorn of fate entered thy foot
The hand of heaven had struck
a sword on my head;
So that this day my eye
could not see the world without thee.
Here I am on thy grave,
would that it were over my head.
He who could take neither
rest nor sleep
Before he had first scattered
roses and narcissi.
The turns of heaven have
strewn the roses of his face.
Thorns and brambles are
growing on his tomb.
After separation from him
I resolved and firmly determined to fold up the carpet of pleasure
during the rest of my life and to retire from mixing in society:
Last night I strutted about
like a peacock in the garden of union
But today, through separation
from my friend, I twist my head like a snake.
The profit of the sea would
be good if there were no fear of waves.
The company of the rose
would be sweet if there were no pain from thorns.
Story 19
A king of the Arabs, having
been informed of the relations subsisting between Laila and Mejnun,
with an account of the latter’s insanity, to the effect
that he had in spite of his great accomplishments and eloquence,
chosen to roam about in the desert and to let go the reins of
self-control from his hands; he ordered him to be brought to
his presence, and this having been done, he began to reprove
him and to ask him what defect he had discovered in the nobility
of the human soul that he adopted the habits of beasts and abandoned
the society of mankind. Mejnun replied:
‘Many friends have
blamed me for loving her.
Will they not see her one
day and understand my excuse?’
Would that those who are
reproving me
Could see thy face, O ravisher
of hearts,
That instead of a lemon
in thy presence
They might heedlessly cut
their hands.
That the truth may bear
witness to the assertion: This is he for
whose sake ye blamed me.
The king expressed a wish
to see the beauty of Laila in order to ascertain the cause of
so much distress. Accordingly he ordered her to be searched for.
The encampments of various Arab families having been visited,
she was found, conveyed to the king and led into the courtyard
of the palace. The king looked at her outward form for some time
and she appeared despicable in his sight because the meanest
handmaids of his harem excelled her in beauty and attractions.
Mejnun, who shrewdly understood the thoughts of the king, said:
‘It would have been necessary to look from the window of
Mejnun’s eye at the beauty of Laila when the mystery of
her aspect would have been revealed to thee.’
If the record of the glade
which entered my ears
Had been heard by the leaves
of the glade they would have lamented with me.
O company of friends, say
to him who is unconcerned
‘Would that thou knewest
what is in a pining heart
Who are healthy have no
pain from wounds.
I shall tell my grief to
no one but a sympathizer.
It is useless to speak of
bees to one
Who never in his life felt
their sting.
As long as thy state is
not like mine
My state will be but an
idle tale to thee.
Story 20
It is related that the qazi
of Hamdan, having conceived affection towards a farrier-boy and
the horseshoe of his heart being on fire, he sought for some
time to meet him, roaming about and seeking for opportunities,
according to the saying of chroniclers:
That straight tall cypress
my eyes beheld
It robbed me of my heart
and threw me down.
Those wanton eyes have taken
my heart with a lasso.
If thou desirest to preserve
thy heart shut thy eyes.
I was informed that the
boy, who had heard something of the qazi’s passion, happening
to meet him in a thoroughfare, manifested immense wrath, assailed
the qazi with disrespectful and insulting words, snatched up
a stone and left no injury untried. The qazi said to an ullemma
of repute who happened to be of the same opinion with him:
The Arab says: ‘A slap
from a lover is a raisin.
In the same way the boy’s
impudence might be indicating kindness as padshahs utter hard
words whilst they secretly wish for peace:
After saying these words
he returned to his court of justice, where some respectable men
connected with him kissed the ground of service and said: ‘With
thy permission we shall, doing obeisance, speak some words to
thee although they may be contrary to politeness because illustrious
men have said:
‘But as in consequence
of favours conferred by thy lordship in former times upon thy
servants it would be a kind of treachery to withhold the opinion
they entertain, they inform thee that the proper way is not to
yield to thy inclinations concerning this boy but to fold up
the carpet of lascivious desires because thy dignity as qazi
is high and must not be polluted by a base crime. The companion
thou hast seen is this, and our words thou hast heard are these:
One who has done many disreputable
things
Cares nothing for the reputation
of anyone.
Many a good name of fifty
years
Was trodden under foot by
one bad name.”
The qazi approved of the
unanimous advice of his friends and appreciated their good opinion
as well as their steadfast fidelity, saying that the view taken
by his beloved friends on the arrangement of his case was perfectly
right and their arguments admitting of no contradiction. Nevertheless:
Although love ceases in
consequence of reproval
I heard that just men sometimes
concoct falsehoods.
Blame me as much as thou
listest
Because blackness cannot
be washed off from a negro.
Nothing can blot out my
remembrance of thee.
I am a snake with broken
head and cannot turn.
These words he said and
sent some persons to make inquiries about him, spending boundless
money because it is said that whoever has gold in his hand possesses
strength of arm and he who has no worldly goods has no friends
in the whole world:
In short, one night he obtained
privacy but during that night the police obtained information
that the qazi is spending the whole of it with wine in his hand
and a sweetheart on his bosom, enjoying himself, not sleeping,
and singing:
Has this cock perhaps not
crowed at the proper time this night
And have the lovers not
had their fill of embrace, and kiss
Whilst alas for only a moment
the eye of confusion is asleep?
Remain awake that life may
not elapse in vain
Till thou hearest the morning
call from the Friday-mosque
Or the noise of kettle-drums
on Atabek’s palace-gate.
Lips against lips like the
cock’s eye
Are not to part at the crowing
of a silly cock.
Whilst the qazi was in this
state one of his dependants entered and said: ‘Arise and
run as far as thy feet will carry thee because the envious have
not only obtained a handle for vexation but have spoken the truth.
We may, whilst the fire of confusion is yet burning low, perchance
extinguish it with the water of stratagem but when it blazes
up high it may destroy a world.’ The qazi, however, replied:
‘When the lion has
his claws on the game
What boots it if a jackal
makes his appearance?
Keep thy face on the face
of the friend and leave
The foe to chew the back
of his own hand in rage.’
The same night information
was also brought to the king that in his realm such a wickedness
had been perpetrated and he was asked what he thought of it.
He replied: ‘I know that he is one of the most learned men,
and I account him to be the paragon of our age. As it is possible
that enemies have devised a plot against him, I give no credit
to this accusation unless I obtain ocular evidence because philosophers
have said:
I heard that at dawn the
king with some of his courtiers arrived at the pillow of the
qazi, saw a lamp standing, the sweetheart sitting, the wine spilled,
the goblet broken and the qazi plunged in the sleep of drunkenness,
unaware of the realm of existence. The king awakened him gently
and said: ‘Get up for the sun has risen.’ The qazi,
who perceived the state of affairs, asked: ‘From what direction?’
The sultan was astonished and replied: ‘From the east as
usual.’ The qazi exclaimed: ‘Praise be to Allah! The
door of repentance is yet open because according to tradition
the gate Of repentance will not be locked against worshippers
till the sun rises in its setting place.’
These two things impelled
me to sin:
My ill-luck and my imperfect
understanding.
If thou givest me punishment
I deserve it
And if thou forgivest pardon
is better than revenge.
The king replied: ‘As
thou knowest that thou must suffer capital punishment, it is
of no use to repent. But their faith availed them not after they
had beholden our vengeance.
‘What is the use to
promise to forego thieving
When a lasso cannot be thrown
up to the palace?
Say to the tall man: “Do
not pluck the fruit”,
For he who is short cannot
reach the branch.
‘For thee, who hast
committed such wickedness, there is no way of escape.’ After
the king had uttered these words, the men appointed for the execution
took hold of him, whereon he said: ‘I have one word more
to speak in the service of the sultan.’ The king, who heard
him, asked: ‘What is it?’ And he recited:
‘Thou who shakest the
sleeve of displeasure upon me
Expect not that I shall
withdraw my hand from thy skirt.
If escape be impossible
from this crime which I committed
I trust to the clemency
which thou possessest.’
The king replied: ‘Thou
hast adduced this wonderful sally and hast enounced a strange
maxim but it is impossible according to reason and contrary to
usage that thy accomplishments and eloquence should this day
save thee from the punishment which I have decreed; and I consider
it proper to throw thee headlong from the castle that others
may take an example.’ He continued: ‘O lord of the
world, I have been nourished by the bounty of this dynasty, and
this crime was not committed only by me in the world. Throw another
man headlong that I may take the example.’ The king burst
out laughing, pardoned his crime and said to his dependents who
desired the qazi to be slain:
Story 21
A virtuous and beauteous
youth
Was pledged to a chaste
maiden.
I read that in the great
sea
They fell into a vortex
together.
When a sailor came to take
his hand,
Lest he might die in that
condition,
He said in anguish from
the waves:
‘Leave me. Take the
hand of my love.’
Whilst saying this, he despaired
of life.
In his agony he was heard
to exclaim:
‘Learn not the tale
of love from the wretch
Who forgets his beloved
in distress.’
Thus the lives of the lovers
terminated.
Learn from what has occurred
that thou mayest know
Because Sa’di is of
the ways and means of love affairs
Well aware in the Arabian
city of Baghdad.
Tie thy heart to the heart-charmer
thou possessest
And shut thy eye to all
the rest of the world.
If Mejnun and Laila were
to come to life again
They might indite a tale
of love on this occurrence.
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