The Bustān of Sadi Translated from the Persian with an...

The wife of an officer of a king said to her husband: “Arise, and go to the royal palace, that they may give thee food, for thy children are in want.”

“The kitchen is closed to-day,” he answered; “last night the Sultan resolved to fast awhile.”

In the despair of hunger, the woman bowed her head and murmured: “What does the Sultan seek from his fasting when his breaking the fast means a festival of joy for our children?”

One who eats that good may follow is better than a Mammon-worshipper who continually fasts. Proper it is to fast with him who feeds the needy in the morning.