Now I had a friendship with a farmer, and the road of companionship was incessantly trodden by us, and the customs of amicable intercourse observed. The farmer, out of friendly feeling and to assist me, used to send to my shop the grain that I required, and took the money for it as time came round, and when there happened to be a delay1 sometimes in the payment, he was easy with me. One day he took me to an entertainment at one of his gardens, and discharged all the duties of a host, as is customary with liberal people. After we had finished eating our meat, we engaged in conversation. He inquired, 'What amount of profit dost thou make by thy trade? and what is the extent of thy stock and interest?' I gave him some slight inkling of my condition, and said, 'The stock in my shop is twenty kharwars of wheat, and the profit I obtain thereon is just enough to support my wife and family, and that may be3 about ten or twelve kharwárs. COUPLET. Since I no trade more gainful have than this, The farmer exclaimed, 'Holy God! the profit of thy profession is not of that degree that one could build thereon. I fancied that in thy trade the profit was great and the income immense. HEMISTICH. It was a downright error, what I thought.' I rejoined, 'Sir! what kind of business is thine? and what are the profits and capital in it?' He replied, 'In my business the capital required is small and the interest vast. Save the seed that we sow the whole crop is clear gain. And in this business we are not content with a return of ten for one.' I was amazed, and said, 'How can this be?' The farmer answered, 'Don't be surprised, for there is still greater profit than this. When a single poppyseed, which is the smallest of all seeds, takes root well in the ground and germinates, it sends up near twenty shoots, and possibly even more. And at the end of every shoot is a poppy-clump, so that one cannot reckon the number of them; and hence thou mayest imagine that the profit of my business is beyond the range of calculation, and the gain of farming greater than can be computed. And the agriculturists of the field of wisdom have said that zar'a (sowing) is a word of three letters, and that its two first letters are; s-r (or zar) 'gold,' and its last letter is that, too, is a name for gold, wherefore this business is gold upon gold. زرع દ 'ain, and ع The printed edition, by a typographical error, omits chún before muhlatí. For the va fursati of the editions, I would prefer to read, with some MSS., bi-furșati. 2 Lit., ass-loads,' a measure equal to 100 Tabriz maunds. 3 The lithographed edition omits.búd after tawánad. The Persian word for our 'shoot,' here, is tir,-lit. 'arrow.' COUPLET. Since Zara's two first letters 'gold' express; and that behind Means also 'gold,' in this word then 'gold upon gold,' we find. And, according to the belief of the alchymists, the department of husbandry is viewed in such a light that the philosopher's stone' is supposed to allude to agriculture: as it is said, COUPLET. To seek the red-hued sulphur is to squander life in vain, Turn to black mould and there the one sole alchymy obtain.' When I heard these words from the farmer, a longing for the gains of agriculture entered my head, and shutting up the door of my shop I busied myself with preparing farming implements. Now, in the quarter of the town in which I resided, there was a darvesh famed for his perfections, and noted for his excellent qualities. COUPLET. All outward show relinquishing, a lonely life he spent ; All luxuries he put aside, with requisites content. When he learnt that I was leaving my own business, and going to employ myself in a different profession, he sent for me, and loosing the tongue of rebuke, said, 'Master baker! be content with that which has been given thee and don't seek for more, for the quality of greediness is an unlucky one, and the end of the greedy is to be deprecated. But whoever holds in his hand the coin of contentment is the king of his own time, while he that is a prisoner to the baseness of avarice is on a level with devils and brutes. COUPLET. Be patient, and thy loaf of barley break, Lest thou the wheat 3 that ruined Adam take.' I replied, 'O shekh! I get but little advantage from this business in which I am engaged, and I have found out that the profits of farming are great. I have formed an idea that I may, perhaps, be benefited by the latter occupation, and that I may subsist more easily.' The old devotee answered, 'For a very long time the means of thy subsistence have been procured by this business, and the beverage of thy life has, by this employment, been purified from the rubbish of anxiety; while the undertaking in which thou art at present designing to embark is an affair full of toil. Peradventure thou mayest not be able to labour assiduously in the duties required, nor to discharge fitly what it demands. Nor is everything which shews its head from the secret chamber of desire possible to be acquired according to our wish. 1 Kibrit-i ahmár, lit. 'red gold.' 2 Gúgird-i ahmar, another name for 'the philosopher's stone.' 3 Some Muhammadans suppose that 'wheat' was the forbidden fruit. See Sale, page 5, note 'c.' COUPLET. Know, my friend! the way is long, longer far than words express, From the street of our desires to the market of success. Meddle not with that which concerns thee not, and withdraw not thine hand from thine own employment, for whoever leaves his own trade and undertakes a thing unsuited to him will meet with what that Crane met with.' I asked, 'How was that?' STORY II. The darvesh replied, They have related that a washerman was wont to be busy in his avocation on the bank of a certain river. Every day he saw there a Crane, which sat on the river's bank, and used to catch the creatures that are found in the mud, and contenting himself therewith, went back to his nest. One day there came a swift-winged hawk, which made prey of a fat quail, and after eating part of it, left the rest and flew away. The Crane thought to himself, "This animal with such a puny body makes prey of large birds, and I of such a huge stature content myself with a trifle; and this state of things is evidently owing to my mean spirit. Why should not I too have a share of magnanimity? My advisable course is hereafter not to stoop to small matters, and not to cast the noose of my efforts save on the battlements of the highest heavens. VERSE. The cloud when thirsty seeks the purple ocean, He then forsook the chace of worms, and was on the watch to pursue pigeons and quails. Now the washerman had from a distance observed the proceedings of the hawk and the quail. When he saw the amazement of the Crane, and how it gave up its own employment, he was astonished, and opened the eye of amusement. By the will of fate a pigeon appeared in that direction, and the Crane flying up made a stoop at it. The pigeon turning along the edge of the water, outstripped the Crane, which pouncing down behind, fell on the bank of the river, and his leg stuck in the mud. The more he tried to fly away, the more his foot sank in the thick mire, and his feathers and wings became more and more besmeared with the mud. The I feel very doubtful of the meaning of the first two lines of this verse. Readings differ very considerably, yet none seem good, I have translated very freely. The literal version would, I apprehend, be, "The cloud runs, because it is thirsty, to the blue sea; it bows not its head to moisture. They are live-hearted who fly upward: from the effect of spirit they fly upward.' washerman came up and seized him, and set off home. In the way a friend met him and asked, 'What's this?' The washerman replied, 'This is a crane that wanted to hunt,' and that wished to play the part of a hawk, and so destroyed itself.' And I have adduced this story that thou mayest know that every one ought to attend to his own business and quit that which does not belong to him.' When the old darvesh had cited this tale, the temptings of my covetousness increased, and refusing that speech access to the ear of attention, I persevered in the same idea. So I abandoned the business of a baker, and with the trifling capital I possessed purchased implements for farming, and having sown a quantity of grain, fastened the eye of expectation on the road of looking for the crop. In the meantime my means of subsisting myself and my family became straitened, because what I expended daily had been as regularly procured in the baker's shop, and now it was necessary for me to wait a year expectant, until the profit should arrive. I said to myself, Thou hast committed an error in not listening to the words of thy venerable seniors, and now thou art in distress for thy current expenses, and there is no channel by which income is obtainable. Thy best course is to get a sum by way of loan, and having re-opened thy baker's shop, return to thy own business. COUPLET. From his own business, he who turns aside, 'Twere best that he should there again subside. I then betook myself to one of the rich merchants of the city, and having taken up a sum on credit, I opened my shop a second time, and leaving one of my servants to superintend that business, I myself was busy with my farming. Now I started for the country to manage the cultivation, and anon I returned to the market to set off my shop. When two or three months had passed in this way, my servant swindled me, and not a particle either of stock or profit was left. At the same time a variety of misfortunes befell my crops. The tenth of what I had expended was not realised. I then went to the same neighbor, and detailed to him my case, and told him the circumstance of my taking two things in hand, and my losing by both. The aged darvesh laughed and said, 'How like thy case is to that of the man of two kinds of hair, who gave up his beard to his wives!' I asked, 'How was that?' The reader must pardon the bad rhyme of these verses, as the rhyming words are intended to express the jingle of sar gashtah and sar rishtah. STORY III. The darvesh said, 'They have related that a person had two wives, one old and the other young; and he himself had hair of two colors. Now he was fond of both his wives, and passed a day and a night in the apartment of each; and his habit was, when he entered the apartment of one of his wives, to put his head in her lap and go to sleep. One day he went to the room of the elderly wife, and, according to custom, put his head in her lap and went to sleep. The old lady gazed on his face and hair, and said to herself, 'In the beard and whiskers of this person there are some black hairs; I can't do better than pluck them out, that all his beard may appear white, and that young wife of his may not fancy him; so when he perceives that that wife is not fond of him but loathes him and has an aversion for him, the flame of his affection, too, will be quenched and he will remove his heart from her and will give himself up altogether to me.' She then pulled out all the black hairs she could from his beard. HEMISTICH. The beard that lies in women's hands were better far plucked out. The next day that person was in the apartment of his young wife, and in his accustomed manner put his head in her lap and went to sleep. The young wife observed some white hairs in his beard, and thought to herself, 'I must pluck out these white hairs that his whole beard may appear black, and when he sees himself with black hairs he will of course be disgusted with the society of his old wife, and will be attached to me. Thereupon she, too, pulled out as many white hairs as were required at the time. After some time had passed in this manner, one day that person stroked his beard with his hand; he found that the hairs were gone and that the harvest of his beard was scattered to the wind. At this he raised a cry of distress, but all his lamentation was vain. Now thy case is just similar. Part of thy capital and interest thou didst expend on thy baker's shop, and part thou wastedst on thy farming business, and now when thou lookest about thee, thou hast neither baked bread in the oven of subsistence nor a stack obtained in the tillage-ground of life. COUPLET. One day in this, the next in that, goes by; Thou look'st, and now nor this, nor that, canst spy.' When I heard this story I perceived that what the old darvesh said was true, and that from this procedure I had got nothing but regret and remorse, and that all I possessed would not suffice to pay my debts. I looked upon |