Weeping, the king replied: “Ugly is an ornament upon the person of a king when the hearts of his people are distressed by want. Better for me is a stoneless ring than a sorrowing people.” Happy is he who sets the ease of others above his own. The virtuous desire not their own pleasure at the expense of others. When the king sleeps neglectfully upon his couch, I trow not that the beggar finds enviable repose. STORY OF HOW TUKLA WAS REBUKED BY A DEVOTEE Tukla, king of Persia, once visited a devotee and said: “Fruitless have been my years. None but the beggar carries riches from the world when earthly dignities are passed. Hence, would I now sit in the corner of devotion that I might usefully employ the few short days that yet remain to me.” The devotee was angered at these words. “Enough!” he cried. “Religion consists alone in the service of the people; it finds no place in the rosary, or prayer-rug, or tattered garment. Be a king in sovereignty and a devotee in purity of morals. Action, not words, is demanded by religion, for words without action are void of substance.” DISCOURSE CONCERNING RICHES AND POVERTY Say not that no dignity excels that of sovereignty, for no kingdom is more free from care than that of the darwesh. They that are the most lightly burdened reach the destination first. The poor man is afflicted by lack of bread; the king by the cares of his kingdom. Though one may rule and another may serve, though the one be exalted to the height of Saturn and the other languish in a prison, when death has claimed them it will not be possible to distinguish between the two. STORY OF QAZAL ARSALĀN[10] AND THE FORT Qazal Arsalān possessed a fort, which raised its head to the height of Alwand.[11] Secure from all were those within its walls, for its roads were a labyrinth, like the curls of a bride. From a learned traveller Qazal once inquired: “Didst thou ever, in thy wanderings, see a fort as strong as this?” “Splendid it is,” was the reply, “but methinks not it confers much strength. Before thee, did not other kings possess it for a while, then pass away? After thee, will not other kings assume control, and eat the fruits of the tree of thy hope?” In the estimation of the wise, the world is a false gem that passes each moment from one hand to another. A STORY OF DAMASCUS Such famine was there once in Damascus that lovers forgot their love. So miserly was the sky towards the earth that the sown fields and the date-trees moistened not their lips. Fountains dried up, and no water remained but the tears in the eyes of the orphans. If smoke issued from a chimney, nought was it but the sighs of the widows. Like beggars, the trees stood leafless, and the mountains lost their verdure. The locusts devoured the gardens, and men devoured the locusts.