Persian Literature, Volume 2, Comprising The Shah Nameh | Page 5

twig. Exalt not the fortune of the abject, for thou canst never
extract sugar from a mat or common cane."
The vizir listened to this speech; willingly or not he approved of it, and
applauded the good sense of the king, and said:--"What his majesty,
whose dominion is eternal, is pleased to remark is the mirror of probity
and essence of good policy, for had he been brought up in the society of
those vagabonds, and confined to their service, he would have followed
their vicious courses. Your servant, however, trusts that he may be
instructed to associate with the virtuous, and take to the habits of the
prudent; for he is still a child, and the lawless and refractory principles
of that gang cannot have yet tainted his mind; and it is in tradition
that--_Whatever child is born, and he is verily born after the right way
of orthodoxy, namely Islamism, afterwards his father and his mother
bring him up as a Jew, Christian, or Guebre_.--The wife of Lot
associated with the wicked, and her posterity failed in the gift of
prophecy; the dog of the seven sleepers (at Ephesus) for some time
took the path of the righteous, and became a rational being."
He said this, and a body of the courtiers joined him in intercession, till
the king acceded to the youth's pardon, and answered: "I gave him up,
though I saw not the good of it.--Knowest thou what Zal said to the
heroic Rustem: 'Thou must not consider thy foe as abject and helpless. I
have often found a small stream at the fountain-head, which, when
followed up, carried away the camel and its load.'"
In short, the vizir took the boy home, and educated him with kindness

and liberality. And he appointed him masters and tutors, who taught
him the graces of logic and rhetoric, and all manner of courtier
accomplishments, so that he met general approbation. On one occasion
the vizir was detailing some instances of his proficiency and talents in
the royal presence, and saying: "The instruction of the wise has made
an impression upon him, and his former savageness is obliterated from
his mind." The king smiled at this speech, and replied:--"The whelp of
a wolf must prove a wolf at last, notwithstanding he may be brought up
by a man."
Two years after this a gang of city vagabonds got about him, and joined
in league, till on an opportunity he murdered the vizir and his two sons;
and, carrying off an immense booty, he took up the station of his father
in the den of thieves, and became a hardened villain. The king was
apprised of this event; and, seizing the hand of amazement with the
teeth of regret, said:--"How can any person manufacture a tempered
sabre from base iron; nor can a base-born man, O wiseacre, be made a
gentleman by any education! Rain, in the purity of whose nature there
is no anomaly, cherishes the tulip in the garden and common weed in
the salt-marsh. Waste not thy labor in scattered seed upon a briny soil,
for it can never be made to yield spikenard; to confer a favor on the
wicked is of a like import, as if thou didst an injury to the good."
V
At the gate of Oghlamish Patan, King of Delhi, I (namely Sa'di) saw an
officer's son, who, in his wit and learning, wisdom and understanding,
surpassed all manner of encomium. In the prime of youth, he at the
same time bore on his forehead the traces of ripe age, and exhibited on
his cheek the features of good fortune:--"Above his head, from his
prudent conduct, the star of superiority shone conspicuous."
In short, it was noticed with approbation by the king that he possessed
bodily accomplishments and mental endowments. And sages have
remarked that worth rests not on riches, but on talents; and the
discretion of age, not in years, but on good sense. His comrades envied
his good fortune, charged him with disaffection, and vainly attempted
to have him put to death:--"but what can the rival effect so long as the

charmer is our friend?"
The king asked, saying, "Why do they show such a disinclination to do
you justice?" He replied: "Under the shadow of his majesty's good
fortune I have pleased everybody, excepting the envious man, who is
not to be satisfied but with a decline of my success; and let the
prosperity and dominion of my lord the king be perpetual!" I can so
manage as to give umbrage to no man's heart; but what can I do with
the envious man, who harbors within himself the cause of his own
chagrin? Die, O ye envious, that ye may get a deliverance; for this is
such an evil that