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

There was once a rich and prosperous man named Bakhtyār. The wife of one of his neighbours, who was in the other extreme of poverty, upbraided her husband one night when he went to her empty-handed, saying: “No one is so poor and unfortunate as thee. Take a lesson from thy neighbours, who are well-to-do. Why art thou not fortunate, like them?”