One day the Caliph informed his ministers that he wished to tour the cities of the state. The Caliph wishes to know the conditions of the citizens in order to help the poor and the needy, he said.
When the Caliph arrived in the first city, he wanted to know the names of the poor, and he found among these names that of the governor of the city.
The Caliph was surprised and ordered him to be brought, and asked him: You have a large salary and yet you are poor?
I give away my salary to the poor of the city in order to prevent them from being hungry, and none remains for me.
The Caliph was pleased with the governor’s actions and doubled his monthly salary and gave charity to the poor.
The Bedouins, Dwellers of the Desert
In the old times many Bedouin tribes lived on the Arabian Peninsula. In each tribe were many families—in them were fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. The Bedouins lived in tents, and their lives in the desert were difficult because of the high temperatures, little rain, and lack of trees. For this reason, the Bedouins moved from place to place in the desert, seeking water and grass. Because of the difficult life in the desert, the Bedouins grew accustomed to the lack of food and water. In spite of being poor, they would welcome guests generously and help the needy and the weak. Among their customs is drinking coffee and serving it to their guests.
The camel is the most important animal for the Bedouins, as they both ride on it and drink its milk. Thus the nickname of the camel is “the ship of the desert.”
The King and the Miller
A king visited a wheat mill that belonged to an old miller. He saw the donkey that turned the grindstone to grind the wheat and noticed that the miller put a string of bells around the donkey’s neck. The donkey was moving and the bells were ringing with a beautiful sound.
The king asked the miller: Why did you attach a string of bells around the donkey’s neck?
Sometimes when I feel tired I close my eyes, and if the bells stops making noise, I know the donkey has stopped moving, the miller said.
And if the donkey stops and begins to toss his head back and forth, don’t the bells sound? asked the king.
The miller answered him, smiling: And where would the donkey get the mind of a king?
The Caliph and the Old Man
One day the Caliph and his minister passed by a seventy-year-old man who was planting palms. The Caliph asked him: Do you think you will eat from the fruit of these palms, though you know that it doesn’t yield until after many years?
The old man answered: They planted and we eat, and we plant and they will eat.
The Caliph was amazed at the old man’s wisdom and gave him hundred dinars. The old man took the money and said: Look, O Caliph, the palms have already paid off.
The Caliph laughed at the clever old man’s answer and gave him another hundred dinars. A smile filled the old man’s face, and he said: Each plant gives fruit once a year except my plant. It gave fruit twice.
The admiration of the king increased at the cleverness of the old man, and he ordered to another hundred dinars to be given to him. The king turned to his minister and said: Let’s go quickly from here. Otherwise, he will take all of our money because of his wisdom and presence of mind.
Detail of A Discussion Between a Mullah and an Old Man, Muhammad Zamanc.1664 and 1665, ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Folio from the Davis Album, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1915: bequeathed by Theordore M. Davis.
A Father’s Advice
One of the tribal sheiks was a wise and just man, and all the people loved him. He had seven sons who were famous for their courage and strength. When he became old and about to die, he called his seven sons to him and gave each of them one arrow, telling them: I want each of you to break the arrow that is in your hand.
The sons were surprised at their father’s request, but everyone broke his arrow. After this, the father gave each son a bundle of seven arrows and said to them: Each of you must break the bundle of arrows that is in your hand.
Each son tried to break his bundle but without success, despite their strength and youth.
The father said to them: Do you see? Each of you had been able to break his one arrow quite easily, but you weren’t able to break the bundle of arrows. I am an old sheik and, before long, I will be leaving this world. I have one wish: that you be united after I die and that each of you protect the other, for then no one will be able to defeat you. However, if you quarrel and become divided, you will grow weak and easily vanquished.
The sons looked on their father with respect and appreciation because of his wisdom and counsel, and they vowed to fulfill his wish.
Detail from an illustration in the late Timurid manuscript of Sa'di's story of "Sa'di and the Youth of Kashgar" in his Gulistan ch 5, story 17. illustration 1547 Bukhara, for a text written by Sa'di in 1259, copied for this book in Herat in July 1500. Peerless Images: Persian Figural Painting and Its Sources, Eleanor Sims, from the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Geneva.
The Lost Treasure
It is said that a man had seven children, and he wanted to ensure their income after he died. When his moment of death grew closer, he gathered his children and said to them: I have left you in the land that I own an expensive treasure. I hid it there. Go and get it out after my death, so you can make a living out of it.
When the father died, his children began to dig up the land inch by inch, but they couldn’t find the treasure, and their efforts were in vain. Then they looked and saw the land was plowed, so they agreed to grow wheat there, and they did.
The land yielded a great deal of wheat. They ate some and sold the rest and lived a comfortable life. Then they understood that the land was the treasure their father had told them about.
The Caliph and the Milk Seller
The Caliph Umar bnu al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, learned that an old woman was cheating when she sold milk, and he said to her: Old woman, do not cheat the people, and do not mix your milk with water. She who cheats us is not one of us. The old woman said: I heard and will obey, O Leader of Believers.
After some days, he passed by and said to her: Old woman, did I not command you not to mix your milk with water? The old woman said: By God, I didn’t do that, O Leader of the Believers.
Then one of her daughters from inside the tent said: O mother! Are