Good and ill fortune are predestined. Our daily portion depends not upon our strength and efforts, for those who are strongest and strive the most stand often in the direst need. STORY OF ONE WHO BLAMED HIS DESTINY 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?” The man replied: “I am incapable of aught; quarrel not with Fate. I have not been endowed with the power to make myself a Bakhtyār.”[25] STORY OF A DARWESH AND HIS WIFE A darwesh remarked to his wife, who was of ill-favoured countenance: “Since Fate has made thee ugly, do not encrust thy face with cosmetic.” Who can attain good fortune by force? Who, with collyrium, can make the blind to see? Not one among the philosophers of Greece or Rome could produce honey from the thorn. Wild beasts cannot become men; education is wasted upon them. A mirror can be freed from stain, but it cannot be made from a stone. Roses do not blossom on the branches of the willow; hot baths never yet made an Ethiop white. Since one cannot escape the arrows of Fate, resignation is the only shield. STORY OF A VULTURE AND A KITE A vulture said to a kite: “No one can see so far as I.” “Possibly,” replied the kite; “but what canst thou see across the desert?” Gazing down, the vulture exclaimed: “Yonder do I see a grain of wheat.” Thereupon, they flew to the ground. When the vulture settled upon the wheat he became caught in a trap. He had not known that, through his eating the grain, Fate would ensnare him by the neck. Not every oyster contains a pearl; not every archer hits the target. “Of what use,” the kite inquired, “was it to see the grain when thou couldst not discern the trap of thine enemy?” “Caution,” said the captive vulture, “availeth not with Destiny.” When the decrees of past eternity are brought to action, the keenest eyes are rendered blind by Fate. In the ocean, where no shore-line appears, the swimmer strives in vain. STORY OF A CAMEL A young camel said to its mother: “After thou hast made a journey, rest awhile.” “If the bridle were in my hands,” was the reply, “no one would ever see me in the string of camels with a load upon my back.” Fate is the helmsman of the ship of life, no matter though the owner rend his clothes. O Sadi! look not for aid from any man. God is the giver, and He alone. If thou worship Him, the door of His mercy sufficeth thee; if He drive thee away, no one will ease thee. If He make thee to wear a crown, raise thy head; if not, bow thy head in despair. DISCOURSE CONCERNING HYPOCRISY Who knows that thou art not pledged to God even though thou standest in prayer without ablution?