Story of a Short-sighted Man and his High-minded Wife
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Sadi and Edwards, A. Hart
A certain child having cut its teeth, the father bent his head in anxious thought and said: “How can I obtain the bread and food of which the child will now have need?”
“Be not alarmed,” his wife replied, “for, until our child shall die, He who gave him teeth will send him bread. A rich man provides for his slave; why should not He who created the slave do likewise? Thou hast not the trust in God that the purchased slave reposes in his master.”
I have heard that in olden times stones became silver in the hands of saints. Think not that this is contrary to reason—when thou hast become contented, silver and stones will be as one to thee.
Say to the devotee who worships kings that a king is poorer than a darwesh.
A dinar satisfies a beggar; Faridun was but half content with the whole of the kingdom of Persia.
A beggar free from care is better off than a troubled king.
The villager and his wife sleep more happily than the king ever did in his palace.
Though one be a king and the other a cotton-carder, when they sleep in death the night of both becomes day.
When thou seest a rich man filled with pride, go and give thanks, O thou who art poor, that thou, praise be to God! hast not the power to inflict injury upon any one.