Reflect, if thou be a tyrant, and make a profession of benevolence. He who shows kindness to a dog will not do less towards the good among his fellows. Be generous to the extent of thy power. If thou hast not dug a well in the desert, at least place a lamp in a shrine.[13] Charity distributed from an ox’s skin that is filled with treasure counts for less than a dinar given from the wages of toil. Every man’s burden is suited to his strength—heavy to the ant is the foot of the locust. Do good to others so that on the morrow God may not deal harshly with thee. Be lenient with thy slave, for he may one day become a king, like a pawn that becomes a queen. STORY APROPOS OF NEMESIS A poor man complained of his distressed condition to one who was rich as well as ill-dispositioned. The latter refused to help him, and turned roughly upon him in anger. The beggar’s heart bled by reason of this violence: “Strange!” he reflected, “that this rich man should be of such forbidding countenance! Perhaps he fears not the bitterness of begging.” The rich man ordered his slave to drive the beggar away. As a result of his ingratitude for the blessings that he enjoyed, Fortune forsook him, and he lost all that he possessed. His slave passed into the hands of a generous man of enlightened mind, who was as gladdened at the sight of a beggar as the latter is at the sight of riches.[14] One night a beggar asked alms of the latter, and he commanded his slave to give the man to eat. When the slave took food to the supplicant he involuntarily uttered a cry, and went back weeping. “Why these tears?” his master asked. “My heart is grieved at the plight of this unfortunate old man,” the slave replied. “Once was he the owner of much wealth, and I his slave.” The master smiled and said: “This is not cause for grief, O son. Time, in its revolutions, is not unjust. Was not that indigent man formerly a merchant who carried his head high in the air through pride? I am he whom that day he drove from his door. Fate has now put him in the place that I then occupied. Heaven befriended me and washed the dust of sorrow from my face. Though God, in His wisdom, closed one door, another, in His mercy, did He open.” Many a needy one has become filled, and many a Plutos has gone empty. STORY OF A FOOL AND A FOX Some one saw a fox that was bereft of the use of its legs. He was wondering how the animal managed to live in this condition when a tiger drew near with a jackal in its claws. The tiger ate the jackal, and the fox finished the remains. The next day also did the Omnipotent Provider send the fox its daily meal. The eyes of the man were thus opened to the light of true knowledge. “After this,” he reflected, “I will sit in a corner like an ant, for the elephant’s portion is not gained by reason of its strength.”