Hikayaat of Shaikh Sadi
Story 4 -The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A band of Arab brigands having taken up their position on the top of a mountain and closed the passage of caravans, the inhabitants of the country were distressed by their stratagems and the troops of the sultan foiled because the robbers, having obtained
Story 36 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
There were two brothers: one of them in the service of the sultan and the other gaining his livelihood by the effort of his arm. The wealthy man once asked his destitute brother why he did not serve the sultan in order to be delivered from the hardship
Story 22 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A king was subject to a terrible disease, the mention of which is not sanctioned by custom. The tribe of Yunani physicians agreed that this pain cannot be allayed except by means of the bile of a person endued with certain qualities. Orders having been
Story 31 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
The veziers of Nushirvan happened to discuss an important affair of state, each giving his opinion according to his knowledge. The king likewise gave his opinion and Barzachumihr concurred with it. Afterwards the veziers secretly asked him: 'What superiority
Story 27 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A man had attained great excellence in the art of wrestling, who knew three hundred and sixty exquisite tricks and daily exhibited something new. He had a particular affection for the beauty of one of his pupils whom he taught three hundred and fifty-nine
Story 17- The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A bareheaded and barefooted pedestrian who had arrived from Kufah with the Hejaz-caravan of pilgrims joined us, strutted about and recited: 'I am neither riding a camel nor under a load like a camel. I am neither a lord of subjects nor the slave of
Story 8 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Hormuzd, being asked what fault the veziers of his father had committed that he imprisoned them, replied: 'I discovered no fault. I saw that boundless awe of me had taken root in their hearts but that they had no full confidence in my promises, wherefore
Story 24 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
King Zuzan had a khajah of noble sentiments and of good aspect who served his companions when they were present and spoke well of them when they were absent. He happened to do something whereby he incurred the displeasure of the king who inflicted a
Story 2-The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
One of the kings of Khorasan had a vision in a dream of Sultan Mahmud, one hundred years after his death. His whole person appeared to have been dissolved and turned to dust, except his eyes, which were revolving in their orbits and looking about. All
Story 38 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A company of philosophers were discussing a subject in the palace of Kesra and Barzachumihr, having remained silent, they asked him why he took no share in the debate. He replied: 'Veziers are like physicians and the latter give medicine to the sick
Story 15 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A vezier, who had been removed from his post, entered the circle of dervishes and the blessing of their society took such effect upon him that he became contented in his mind. When the king was again favourably disposed towards him and ordered him to
Story 10 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
One asked the man who had lost his son: 'O noble and intelligent old man! As thou hast smelt the odour of his garment from Egypt Why hast thou not seen him in the well of Canaan?' He replied: 'My state is that of leaping lightning. One moment
Story 8 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A great man was praised in an assembly and, his good qualities being extolled, he raised his head and said: 'I am such as I know myself to be.' O thou who reckonest my virtues, refrainest from giving me pain, These are my open, and thou knowest not
Story 28 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A solitary dervish was sitting in a corner of the desert when a padshah happened to pass by but, ease having made him independent, he took no notice. The sultan, in conformity with his royal dignity, became angry and said: 'This tribe of rag-wearers
Story 10 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I was constantly engaged in prayer, at the head of the prophet Yahia's tomb in the cathedral mosque of Damascus, when one of the Arab kings, notorious for his injustice, happened to arrive on a pilgrimage to it, who offered his supplications and asked
Story 23 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
One of the servants of Umrulais had fled but some men, having been sent in pursuit, brought him back. The vezier who bore a grudge towards him desired him to be killed that the other servants may not imitate his example. He placed his head on the ground
Story 11 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A dervish, whose prayers met with answers, made his appearance, and Hejaj Yusuf, calling him, said: 'Utter a good prayer for me', whereon the dervish exclaimed: 'O God, take his life.' He replied: 'For God's sake, what prayer is this?' The dervish rejoined:
Story 13- The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I heard a king, who had changed might into day by pleasures, saying in his drunkenness: 'We have in the world no moment more delightful than this, Because I care neither for good nor for bad nor for anyone.' A naked dervish, who was sleeping outside
Story 11 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I spoke in the cathedral mosque of Damascus a few words by way of a sermon but to a congregation whose hearts were withered and dead, not having travelled from the road of the world of form, the physical, to the world of meaning, the moral world. I perceived
Story 39 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Harun-ur-Rashid said when the country of Egypt was surrendered to him: 'In contrast to the rebel who had in his arrogance of being sovereign of Egypt pretended to be God, I shall bestow this country upon the meanest of my slaves.' He had a stupid negro,
Story 20 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Despite the abundant admonitions of the most illustrious Sheikh Abulfaraj Ben Juzi to shun musical entertainments and to prefer solitude and retirement, the budding of my youth overcame me, my sensual desires were excited so that, unable to resist them,
Story 5 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Several travellers were on a journey together and equally sharing each other's troubles and comforts. I desired to accompany them but they would not agree. Then I said: 'It is foreign to the manners of great men to turn away the face from the company
Story 3 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I saw A'bd-u-Qader Gaillani in the sanctuary of the Ka'bah with his face on the pebbles and saying: 'O lord, pardon my sins and, if I deserve punishment, cause me to arise blind on the day of resurrection that I may not be ashamed in the sight of the
Story 26- The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
It is narrated that a tyrant who purchased wood from dervishes forcibly gave it away to rich -people gratuitously. A pious man passing near said: 'Thou art a snake, stingest whom thou beholdest, Or an owl; wherever thou sittest thou destroyest. Although
Story 17 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Several men were in my company whose external appearance displayed the adornment of piety. A great man who had conceived a very good opinion of these persons had assigned them a fixed allowance but, after one of them had done something unbecoming the
Story 19 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
It is related that, whilst some game was being roasted for Nushirvan the just during a hunting party, no salt could be found. Accordingly a boy was sent to an adjoining village to bring some. Nushirvan said: 'Pay for the salt lest it should become a
Story 16 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
One of my friends complained of the unpropitious times, telling me that he had a slender income, a large family, without strength to bear the load of poverty and had often entertained the idea to emigrate to another country so that no matter how he made
Story 21 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Loqman, being asked from whom he had learnt civility, replied: 'From those who had no civility because what appeared to me unbecoming in them I refrained from doing.' Not a word is said even in sport Without an intelligent man taking advice thereby.
Story 7- The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I remember, being in my childhood pious, rising in the night, addicted to devotion and abstinence. One night I was sitting with my father, remaining awake and holding the beloved Quran in my lap, whilst the people around us were asleep. I said: 'Not
Story 4 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A thief paid a visit to the house of a pious man but, although he sought a great deal, found nothing and was much grieved. The pious man, who knew this, threw the blanket upon which he had been sleeping into the way of the thief that he might not go
Story 18 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A hermit, having been invited by a padshah, concluded that if he were to take some medicine to make himself weak he might perhaps enhance the opinion of the padshah regarding his merits. But it is related that the medicine was lethal so that when he
Story 18 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A royal prince, having inherited abundant treasures from his father, opened the hand of liberality and satisfied his impulse of generosity by lavishing without stint benefits upon the army and the population. A tray of lignum aloes will emit no odour.
Story 19 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A caravan having been plundered in the Yunan country and deprived of boundless wealth, the merchants wept and lamented, beseeching God and the prophet to intercede for them with the robbers, but ineffectually. When a dark-minded robber is victorious
Story 3-The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I have heard that a royal prince of short stature and mean presence, whose brothers were tall and good-looking, once saw his father glancing on him with aversion and contempt but he had the shrewdness and penetration to guess the meaning and said: 'O
Story 34 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
One of the sons of Harun-ur-Rashid went to his father and angrily informed him that the son of an official had used insulting expressions towards him whereon Harun asked his courtiers what requital he deserved. One of them proposed capital punishment,
Story 41 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
Iskandur Rumi, having been asked how he had conquered the east and the west, considering that the treasures, territories, reigns and armies of former kings exceeded his own and they had not gained such a victory, replied: 'Whatever country I conquered
Story 14 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A dervish who had fallen into want stole a blanket from the house of a friend. The judge ordered his hand to be amputated but the owner of the blanket interceded, saying that he had condoned the fault. The judge rejoined: 'Thy intercession cannot persuade
Story 20 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I heard that an oppressor ruined the habitations of the subjects to fill the treasury of the sultan, unmindful of the maxim of philosophers, who have said: 'Who offends God the most high to gain the heart of a created being, God will use that very being
Story 29 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A vezier paid a visit to Zulnun Misri and asked for his favour, saying: 'I am day and night engaged in the service of the sultan and hoping to be rewarded but nevertheless dread to be punished by him.' Zulnun wept and said: 'Had I feared God, the great
Story 13 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I saw a holy man on the seashore who had been wounded by a tiger. No medicine could relieve his pain; he suffered much but he nevertheless constantly thanked God the most high, saying: 'Praise be to Allah that I have fallen into a calamity and not into
Story 21 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
It is narrated that an oppressor of the people, a soldier, hit the head of a pious man with a stone and that the dervish, having no means of taking vengeance, preserved the stone till the time arrived when the king became angry with that soldier, and
Story 12 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
An unjust king asked a devotee what kind of worship is best? He replied: 'For thee the best is to sleep one half of the day so as not to injure the people for a while.' I saw a tyrant sleeping half the day. I said: 'This confusion, if sleep removes
Story 35 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I was sitting in a vessel with a company of great men when a boat which contained two brothers happened to sink near us. One of the great men promised a hundred dinars to a sailor if he could save them both. Whilst however the sailor was pulling out
Story 16 - The Morals of Dervishes - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A pious man saw in a dream a padshah in paradise and a devotee in hell whereon he asked for the reason of the former's exaltation and the latter's degradation, saying that he had imagined the contrary ought to be the case. He received the following answer:
Story 5 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I saw at the palace-gate of Oglimish the son of a military officer who was endued with marvellous intellect, sagacity, perception and shrewdness; also the signs of future greatness manifested themselves on his forehead whilst yet a small boy. From
Story 32 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
An impostor arranged his hair in a peculiar fashion, pretended to be a descendant of A'li and entered the town with a caravan from the Hejaz, saying that he had just arrived from a pilgrimage. He also presented an elegy to the king, alleging that he
Story 9 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
An Arab king was sick in his state of decrepitude so that all hopes of life were cut off. A trooper entered the gate with the good news that a certain fort had been conquered by the good luck of the king, that the enemies had been captured and that the
Story 7 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A padshah was in the same boat with a Persian slave who had never before been at sea and experienced the inconvenience of a vessel. He began to cry and to tremble to such a degree that he could not be pacified by kindness, so that at last the king became
Story 40 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
A Chinese slave-girl having been brought to a king, he desired to have connection with her whilst in a state of intoxication but, as she repelled him, he became angry and presented her to one of his negro-slaves whose upper lip was higher than his nostrils
Story 1-The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii
I heard a padshah giving orders to kill a prisoner. The helpless fellow began to insult the king on that occasion of despair, with the tongue he had, and to use foul expressions according to the saying: Who washes his hands of life Says whatever
aaj ik aur baras biit gayā us ke baġhair
jis ke hote hue hote the zamāne mere
