Show kindness, oh son! since all human in name,
By kindness can ev'ry wild animal tame!
Round your enemy's neck, fasten favours profuse-
With the sabre, he cannot divide such a noose.
When a foe sees abundance and favour and grace,
Not again will his wickedness dare to show face.
Do not sin, though a comrade should wickedness show!
Good fruit from a seed that is bad will not grow.
When you deal with a friend in a miserly way,
He desires not to witness you prosp'rous and gay.
If a ruler, to foes, a kind manner extends,
In a very short time, all the foes become friends.
Story on Gaining Hearts by Kindness.
(THE BOY AND THE SHEEP.)
On the road, there came running my way a young man ; Behind him a sheep with alacrity ran.
"Have you hold of a rope or a tether ?" I said,
By which the poor creature is after you led?"
The collar and chain he removed from it, deft,
And then scampered about, from the right to the left.
Immediately after him hurried the pet,
As if barley and grass from his fingers it ate.
On returning from sporting and playing, again,
He looked at me, saying, "Oh wise among men !
This tether, it is not that brings it with me,
But the noose on its neck is 'kind treatment,' you see."
The elephant wanton, from kindness enjoyed,
Attacks not the man, as his keeper employed.
To the bad be indulgent, oh thou who art good!
For the dog will keep watch when he eats of your
To the man the Pard's teeth become blunt by degrees,
Who rubs on its tongue, for a day or two, cheese.
Story of the Dervish and the Fox.
A man saw a fox that had paralyzed feet;
At God's work he was lost in amazement complete—
Saying, "Since he was able to live in a way,
With members so useless when ate he each day?"
The Dervish was puzzling his brains very much,
When a lion appeared with a jackal in's clutch;
He fed on the jackal, of fortune bereft,
And the fox ate his fill from the portion he left.
It happened next morn, in a similar way,
That Providence gave him his food for the day.
Truth enabled the eyes of the man, then, to see;
He went, and his hope on the Maker placed he.
"Like an ant, in a corner I'll sit, from this hour,
For elephants get not subsistence by pow'r."
With his chin on his breast, for a little, he stood,
That the Giver might from the unseen send him food.
Neither stranger nor friend to relieve him took pains;
There remained of him, harp-like, but skin, bone and
veins.
When of patience and sense, due to weakness, deprived,
A voice at his ear from the Mosque niche arrived :-
"Go, copy the fierce, tearing tiger, oh cheat!
And ape not the fox with the paralyzed feet!
So strive that you have, like the lion, to spare;
Like the fox, why be pleased with 'remains' for your
Should a man, like a tiger, a fat neck possess,
And fall like a fox, than a dog, he is less.
Make use of your hands! with your peers eat and drink!
And from eating the leavings of other men, shrink!
By your own arm, while fit, let your food be supplied!
For your efforts will by your own balance be tried.
Like a man, bear your trouble, and happiness give!
On the labour of others let Pæderasts live!
Go thou and assist! oh advice-taking man!
Do not cast thyself down! saying, "Help! if you can."
That servant from God will forgiveness obtain,
Through the presence of whom people happy remain.
Kind acts are performed by that head that has mind;
The mean, like a skin, without brains, you will find.
The good of both worlds the kind person enjoys
Who in bettering people, his moments employs.
(OF A MISERLY SERVANT OF GOD).
I heard that a pure-natured man, knowing God,
And walking His ways, had in Rum his abode.
I and some desert-traversing travellers, free,
Departed, resolved that the man we should see.
He kissed each one's eyes, head and hands—after that
With def'rence and honour he placed us, and sat.
His servants and vines, stores and fields, I could see;
Like a tree without fruit, most ungen'rous was he.
In politeness of manner, his warmth I'll uphold;
But in other respects, he was bitterly cold.
In the night time, we neither could slumber nor rest,—
He, from telling his beads; we, by hunger oppressed.
He dressed in the morning and opened the door,
And repeated the fuss of the ev'ning before.
A good-natured fellow, with wit at command,
Was a trav❜ller, together with us, in that land.
He said: "You're mistaken, in giving a kiss!
For food to the needy would yield greater bliss.
Do not carry, in service, your head to my shoes!
Give me food! beat with slippers my head, if you choose!"
By alms-giving, people will others excel;
Not the dead-hearted men who on night vigils dwell.
The watchmen of Tartary showed me the sight;
Dead of heart, but wide open their eyes all the night.
From kindness and bread-giving, greatness will come ;
And meaningless words are a big, empty drum.
At the Judgment, the man will in Paradise stay,
Who has searched for the truth; cast pretension away.
One can with reality make his claim just;
Mere talk, without acts, is a weak prop to trust.
(OF HATIM TAI AND HIS GENEROSITY).
I have heard that in Hatim Tai's1 days, there appeared
In his stables a smoke-coloured horse he had reared ;
As the morning breeze rapid—a thunder-voiced steed,
That was more than a match for the lightning in speed.
While he ran, he show'red hail over mountain and plain—
You'd have said that a cloud had, in passing, dropp'd
rain.
1 Hatim Tai, an Arab chief famed for his liberality.
A crosser of deserts and torrent-like fleet;
For the wind lagged behind, like the dust, from his feet.
Men, famed for their knowledge, were talking in praise
With the Sultan of Rūm, about Hätim's kind ways.
They remarked that, in kindness, he beat ev'ry one;
Like his horse in careering and war, there was none :
Desert trav'lling, resembling a ship on the deep;
No crow on the wing, o'er his running could keep.
The king thus addressed his enlightened vizier :-
"A claim without proof sounds absurd in my ear.
From Hatim that charger, of pure Arab breed,
I will ask, and if, kindly, he gives me the steed,
Of the grandeur of greatness, I'll know he's possessed;
If not, he's a loud-sounding drum, at the best.
A messenger, wise and accomplished, he sent
To Tai,1 and ten men in his retinue went.
On the ground, dry and lifeless, the clouds had wept rain,
And the cool morning breeze made its life fresh again.
To the rest-house of Hatim, he came as a guest;
Like the thirsty by Zinda's cool stream, he took rest.
Hatim spread the food-trays and a charger he killed;
He put sweets in their laps and with gold their hands filled.
They remained for the night, and, the following day,
What the messenger knew, he proceeded to say.
Then Hatim replied—while he raved as if drunk-
And the teeth of Regret, in his hand deeply sunk—
"Oh sharer in wisdom, and happy in name!
Why did you not sooner this message proclaim?
That courser, so choice, swift as Duldul3 in flight,
On account of your coming, I roasted last night.
1 Tai, name of the tribe of which Hatim was chief.
2 Zinda, a river in Persia, famed for the sweetness of its water. Duldul, Ali's mule.
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