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High[1] and returning to the sea a third time, cast the net. He waited till it had settled down, then pulled it up and found in it potsherds and bones and broken bottles: whereat he was exceeding wroth and wept and recited the following verses:
Fortune’s with God: thou mayst not win to bind or set it free: Nor letter-lore nor any skill can bring good hap to thee.
Fortune, indeed, and benefits by Fate are lotted out: One country’s blest with fertile fields, whilst others sterile be.
The shifts of evil chance cast down full many a man of worth And those, that merit not, uplift to be of high degree.
So come to me, O Death! for life is worthless verily; When falcons humbled to the dust and geese on high we see.
’Tis little wonder if thou find the noble-minded poor, What while the loser by main force usurps his sovranty.
One bird will traverse all the earth and fly from East to West: Another hath his every wish although no step stir he.
Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, ‘O my God, Thou knowest that I cast my net but four times a day; and now I have cast it three times and have taken nothing. Grant me then, O my God, my daily bread this time!’ So he said, ‘In the name of God!’ and cast his net and waited till it had settled down in the water, then pulled it, but could not bring it up, for it was caught in the bottom. Whereupon, ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God!’ said he and repeated the following verses:
Away with the world, if it be like this, away! My part in it’s nought but misery and dismay!
Though the life of a man in the morning be serene, He must drink of the cup of woe ere ended day.
And yet if one asked, ‘Who’s the happiest man alive?’ The people would point to me and ‘He’ would say.
Then he stripped and dived down to the net and strove with it till he brought it to shore, where he opened it and
- ↑ for his impatience.
