Tales from the Gulistan/Chapter 4
IV
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF
SILENCE
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“MY LEARNING IS IN TRADITION”
[p. 153
STORY CXVIII
I said to a friend that I have chosen rather to be silent than to speak, because on most occasions good and bad words are scattered concurrently, but enemies perceive only the latter. He replied: "That enemy is the best [or greatest] who does not see any good."
The brother of enmity passes not near a good man except to consider him as a most wicked liar. Virtue is to the eyes of enmity the greatest fault; Sa'di is a rose, but to the eye of enemies a thorn. The world-illumining sun and fountain of light looks ugly to the eye of a mole. STORY CXIX
A merchant, having suffered the loss of a thousand 'dinârs, enjoined his son not to reveal it to anyone. The boy said: "It is thy order, and I shall not tell it; but thou must inform me of the utility of this proceeding, and of the propriety of concealment."
He replied: "For fear the misfortune would be double; namely, the loss of money, and, secondly, the joy of neighbors at our loss."
Reveal not thy grief to enemies, because they will say, Lâ haul,[1] but rejoice. STORY CXX
An intelligent youth possessed an abundant share of accomplishments and discreet behavior, so that he was allowed to sit in assemblies of learned men, but he refrained from conversing with them. His father once asked him why he did not likewise speak on subjects he was acquainted with. He replied: "I fear I may be asked what I do not know, and be put to shame."
Hast thou heard how a Sûfi drove
A few nails under his sandals,
And an officer, taking him by the sleeve,
Said to him: "Come and shoe my horse."
For what thou hast not said no one will trouble thee, but when thou hast spoken, bring the proof.
STORY CXXI
A scholar of note had a controversy with an unbeliever, but, being unable to cope with him in argument, shook his head and retired. Someone asked him how it came to pass that, with all his eloquence and learning, he had been unable to vanquish an irreligious man?
He replied: "My learning is in the Qurân, in tradition, and in the sayings of Sheikhs, which he neither believes in nor listens to; then of what use is it to me to hear him blaspheming?"
To him of whom thou canst not rid thyself by the Qurân and tradition, the [best] reply is, if thou dost not reply anything. STORY CXXII
Galenus[2] saw a fool hanging on with his hands to the collar of a learned man, and insulting him, whereon he said: "If he were learned he would not have come to this pass with an ignorant man."
Two wise men do not contend and quarrel, nor does a scholar fight with a contemptible fellow. If an ignorant man in his rudeness speaks harshly, an intelligent man tenderly reconciles his heart. Two pious men keep a hair between them [untorn], and so does a mild, with a headstrong man; if, however, both sides are fools, if there be a chain they will snap it. An ill-humoured man insulted someone; he bore it, and replied: "O man of happy issue, I am worse than thou canst say that I am, because I know thou art not aware of my faults as I am." STORY CXXIII
Subhân Vâil is considered to have had no equal in rhetorics, because he had addressed an assembly during a year, and had not repeated the same word, but when the same meaning happened to occur, he expressed it in another manner; and this is one of the accomplishments of courtiers and princes.
A word, if heart-binding and sweet, is worthy of belief and of approbation; when thou hast once said it, do not utter it again, because sweets once partaken of suffice.
STORY CXXIV
I heard a philosopher say that no one has ever made a confession of his own folly, except he who begins speaking whilst another has not yet finished his talk.
Words have a head, O shrewd man, and a tail. Do not insert [thy] words between words [of others]. The possessor of deliberation, intelligence, and shrewdness does not say a word till he sees silence. STORY CXXV
Several officials of Sultân Mahmûd asked Hasan Muimandi[3] one day what the Sultân had told him about a certain affair. He replied: "You must yourselves have heard it."
They rejoined: "What he says to thee, he does not think proper to communicate to the likes of us."
He answered: "Because he trusts that I shall not reveal it; then why do you ask me [to do so]? A knowing man will not utter every word which occurs to him; it is not proper to endanger one's head for the King's secret."
STORY CXXVI
I was hesitating in the conclusion of a bargain for the purchase of a house, when a Jew said: "Buy it, for I am one of the landholders of this ward, ask me for a description of the house as it is, and it has no defect."
I replied: "Except that thou art the neighbour of it. A house which has a neighbor like thee is worth ten dirhems of a deficient standard; but the hope must be entertained that after thy death it will be worth a thousand. STORY CXXVII
A poet went to an Amir of robbers and recited a panegyric, but he ordered him to be divested of his robe. As the poor man was departing naked in the world, he was attacked from behind by dogs, whereon he intended to snatch up a stone, but it was frozen to the ground, and being unable to do so, he exclaimed: "What whore-sons of men are these? They have let loose the dogs, and have tied down the stones!"
The Amir of the robbers, who heard these words from his room, laughed and said: "O philosopher! Ask something from me."
He replied: "I ask for my robe, if thou wilt make me a present of it. We are satisfied of thy gift by departure.[4] A man was hoping for the gifts of people; I hope no gift from thee! Do me no evil."
The robber chief took pity on him, ordered his robe to be restored to him, and added to it a sheepskin jacket with some dirhems.
STORY CXXVIII
An astrologer, having entered his own house, saw a stranger, and, getting angry, began to insult him, whereon both fell upon each other and fought, so that turmoil and confusion ensued. A pious man who had witnessed the scene exclaimed: "How
knowest thou what is in the zenith of the sky if thou art not aware who is in thy house?" STORY CXXIX
A preacher imagined his miserable voice to be pleasing and raised useless shouts. Thou wouldst have said that the crow of separation[5] had become the tune of his song; and the verse 'for the most detestable of voices is surely the voice of asses'[6] appears to have been applicable to him. This distich also concerns him:
When the preacher Abu-l-Fâres brays
At his voice Istakhar-Fâres[7] quakes.
On account of the [respected] position he occupied, the inhabitants of the locality submitted to the hardship, and did not think proper to molest him. In course of time, however, another preacher of that region, who bore secret enmity towards him, arrived on a visit, and said to him: "I have dreamt about thee; may it end well!"
"What hast thou dreamt?"
"I dreamt that thy voice had become pleasant, and that the people were comfortable during thy sermons."
The preacher meditated a while on these words, and then said: "Thou hast dreamed a blessed dream, because thou hast made me aware of my defect; it has become known to me that I have a disagreeable voice, and that the people are displeased with my loud reading; accordingly I have determined henceforth not to address them except in a subdued voice."
I am displeased with the company of friends
To whom my bad qualities appear to be good;
They fancy my faults are virtues and perfection,
My thorns they believe to be rose and jessamine.
Say! Where is the bold and quick enemy
To make me aware of my defects?
He whose faults are not told him, ignorantly thinks his defects are virtues.
STORY CXXX
A man used to shout superfluous prayers in the mosque of Sinjâr, and in a voice which displeased all who heard it. The owner of the mosque, who was a just and virtuous Amir, not desirous to give him pain, said: "My good fellow! In this mosque there are old Muezzins,[8] to each of whom I pay five dinârs monthly; but to thee I shall give ten, if thou wilt go to another place."
The man agreed and went away; some time afterwards, however, he returned to the Amir and said: "My Lord! Thou hast injured me by turning me away for ten dinârs from this place, because where I next went, they offered me twenty dinârs to go to another locality, but I refused."
The Amir smiled and said: "By no means accept them, because they will give thee even fifty dinârs. No one can scrape the mud from gravel with an axe, as thy discordant shouting scrapes the heart."
STORY CXXXI
A fellow with a disagrecable voice happened to be reading the Qurân, when a pious man passed near, and asked him what his monthly salary was. He replied: "Nothing."
He further inquired: "Then why takest thou this trouble?"
He replied: "I am reading for God's sake."
He replied: "For God's sake do not read. If thou readest the Qurân thus thou wilt deprive the religion of splendour."
- ↑ Figuratively the words Lâ haul are synonymous with the exclamation 'God forbid!' but literally mean 'There is no power'; they are the first two words of the following phrase, generally uttered by Moslems when any extraordinary event or calamity takes place: 'There is no power nor strength except by [the will of] Allah the Most High.
- ↑ He is considered to have been not only a great physician but also philosopher.
- ↑ He was the celebrated vizier of Mahmûd the Ghaznavide.
- ↑ Meaning, 'We excuse thee from making us a present, if we are only allowed to depart in safety.'
- ↑ The crow is so called because it alights in search of food on the spot of an abandoned encampment, and it is considered extremely unlucky to meet it, hence the Arab proverb: Ashâmu min ghurabi-l-baini, 'More ill-boding than the crow of separation'; but, according to the above allusion, there may also have been a tune to imitate the croaking of a crow.
- ↑ Qurân, ch. xxxi., part of v. 18.
- ↑ The celebrated ruins of Persepolis.
- ↑ The duty of the Muezzins is to shout the Azan, or call to prayers, from the top of the mosque at the appointed five times during twenty-four hours.