Story of the poet and how the king gave him a reward and how the vizier, whose name was Bu ’l-Hasan, made it many times greater.
A poet
brought a poem before
the king in hope
of
(receiving) robes of
honour and bounty
and rank.
The king was munificent: he ordered him
(to receive) a thousand
(dinars) of red gold and bounties and largesse.
Then the vizier
said to him, “This is (too)
little: bestow (on him) a gift of ten
thousand (dinars), that he may
depart (satisfied).
From a poet
like him intellect (displays itself); from you, whose hand is like the ocean
(in
bounty), the (sum of) ten thousand (dinars) which I mentioned
is
little.”
1160. He argued and reasoned
with the king until the
tithe on the threshed
grain was made up out of the unthreshed ears of corn (which remain on the threshing-floor).
He (the king) gave him the ten thousand (dinars) and the robes of honour suitable to him: his head became a house of thanksgiving and praise.
Then he made inquiry,
saying, “Whose work was this? Who
declared my merit to the king?”
So they told him,
“(It was) —— al-Dín, the vizier,
he whose name is Hasan and whose disposition
and heart are
good (hasan).”
He wrote a long poem in praise of him (the vizier) and returned
home.
1165. Without tongue or lip (mutely) that bounty of the king and those robes of honour bestowed by
the
king were praising the king.
How after several years the poet came back in the hope of (receiving) the same reward, and how the king according to his custom ordered a thousand dinars to be given to him, and how the new vizier, who was also named Hasan, said to the king, “This is very much: we have (great) expenses and the treasury is empty, and I will satisfy him with a tenth of that (sum).”
After some years the
poet, on account of
poverty and destitution,
became in need for daily
bread and seed-produce (the
means of livelihood).
He said, “At the time of poverty and close-handedness (want), it is better to seek out one who has
been tried.
The court which
I have tried in regard
to generosity—I will carry the new request to the same quarter.”
That (celebrated) Síbawayh said
(that) the meaning
of (the name) Alláh (is that) they (His worshippers)
take refuge
(yawlahúna) with Him in (all) their
needs.
1170. He said, “We have repaired
for
succour (alihná) unto you in our needs and have sought them (and) found them with Thee.”
In the hour of affliction hundreds of thousands of intelligent persons are all crying (for help)
before that unique Judge.
Would any mad fool do this, (namely), continue to beg of a miser incapable (of liberality)? Unless
the intelligent had experienced (God's
beneficence) more than a thousand times, how should they have betaken themselves
to Him?
Nay, all the fish in the
waves (of the sea), all the
birds in the lofty regions (of the
sky),
1175. The elephant and the wolf and also the hunting lion, the huge
dragon and also the ant and the snake,
Nay, earth and wind (air) and
water and every
spark (of fire) gain subsistence from Him both in
December (winter) and spring.
This heaven is making entreaty
unto Him incessantly—“Do not forsake
me, O God, for a single
moment!
Thy safeguarding and protection (of me) is my pillar (support): all (of me) is enfolded in the
might of those two
Hands.”
And this
earth says, “Preserve me, O
You who have caused me to ride upon the
water.”
1180. All have
sewn up (filled) their
purses from Him and have
learned from Him to give
(satisfy) the wants (of others).
Every prophet
has received (on behalf of his people) from Him the
guarantee (implied in the words) seek help of Him with patience or prayer.
Come, ask of Him, not of any
one except Him: seek water in the
sea, do not
seek it in the dry
river-bed.
And if you ask of
another, it is He that
gives; it is He that lays generosity on
the
open hand of his
(that other's) inclination.
He who
with gold makes one
that turns away (from Him in disobedience) a Qárún (Korah), how
(much more) will He do
(if) you turn
your face towards
Him in obedience!
1185. The poet, from passionate
desire for bounty,
set his face a second
time towards that beneficent king.
What is the poet's
offering? A new poem:
he brings it to the beneficent (patron) and deposits it as his stake.
The beneficent (on their part)
have deposited
gold and are waiting
for
the poets with a hundred gifts and liberalities and kindnesses.
In their eyes a
poem (shi‘r) is better than a hundred
bales of silk
robes (sha‘r), especially
(when it is composed by) a poet who
fetches pearls from the depths.
At first a man is
greedy for bread,
because food and bread are
the pillar (support) of
life.
1190. On account of
greed and expectation he runs every
risk in the
way of earning his livelihood and
seizing property by violence and
(employing) a hundred devices.
When, (as happens)
rarely, he becomes independent of
(earning his) bread,
he is in love with fame
and the praise of poets,
In order that
they may give fruit
to (may adorn) his root
and branch and
may
set up a pulpit to declare his excellence,
So that his pomp
and magnificence
and lavishing
of
gold may yield a
perfume, like (that of)
ambergris, in (their) song.
God created us in His image: our
qualities are instructed by
(are modeled upon)
His qualities.
1195. Inasmuch as the Creator
desires thanksgiving and
glorification, it is also the
nature of man to desire praise,
Especially the man of God, who is
active in (showing) excellence: he
becomes filled
with that
wind (of praise),
like an undamaged leathern bag;
But if he (the
recipient of praise) be not worthy, the bag is rent by that
wind of falsehood: how should it receive lustre?
I have not invented this parable, O comrade: do not hear it (as though it were) silly,
if you art worthy and restored to
your senses.
The Prophet
(Mohammed) said (something like)
this,
when
he heard vituperation (from the infidels who asked), “Why is Ahmad
(Mohammed) made fat (happy) by
praise?”
1200. The poet went
to the king and brought
a poem in thanks
(and praise) for (his)
beneficence, saying that it (beneficence)
never died.
The beneficent died, and
(their) acts of beneficence remained:
oh, blest is he that rode
this steed!
The unjust died, and those acts of injustice remained: alas for the soul that practises deceit and
fraud!
The Prophet said, “Blest is he who
departed from this world and left
good deeds behind him.”
The beneficent man died, but
his beneficence died not:
with God, religion (piety) and beneficence are not of small account.
1205. Alas for him who died and
whose disobedience (to God) died not: beware of thinking that by death he saved his soul (from punishment).
Dismiss this (topic), for the
poet is on the way—in debt and mightily in need
of gold.
The poet brought
the poem to the king in
hope of (receiving) last year's donation and benefit— A
charming poem full of
flawless pearls, in hope
and expectation of the
first (former) munificence.
The Sháh indeed, according
to
his habit, ordered
a thousand (dinars to be
paid) to him, since
such was the
custom of that monarch;
1210. But, on this occasion, the bountiful vizier had departed
from the present life, (mounted)
on the Buráq of glory,
And in his place a new vizier had
assumed
authority; but (he
was) very pitiless and mean.
He said, “O king, we have (great) outlays: this donation is not the
(fitting) reward for a poet. With a
fortieth part of
this (sum), O you (whose favour is)
eagerly sought, I will make the poet man happy and content.”
The people said to him, “He carried away a sum of ten thousand
(dinars) in ready money from this valiant (king).
1215. After (having eaten)
sugar, how should he
chew (the empty)
cane? After having
been a sultan, how should he practise beggary?”
He (the vizier)
replied, “I
will squeeze him in torment,
that he may be made
wretched and worn out
by waiting;
Then, if I give him
earth from the
road, he will
snatch it as
(though it were)
rose-leaves from the garden.
Leave this to me, for I am expert in this, even
if the claimant be fiery (hot
and fierce).
Though he
(be able to) fly from
the Pleiades to
the
earth, he will become meek
when he sees me.”
1220. The king
said to him, “Go: it is for you to command;
but make him
happy, for he is my
eulogist.”
He (the vizier) said, “Leave him
and two hundred (other) lickers-up of hope to
me, and write this
(down) against me.”
Then the minister
threw him into
(the pains of) expectation: winter
and December passed and
spring came.
In expectation of it (the reward)
the poet grew old; then he
was
crushed by this anxiety and making shift to provide
(the means of
livelihood),
And said (to the vizier),
“If there is no gold (for me), please give me
abuse, so that my soul may
be delivered
(from expectation) (and
that) I may be
your (devoted) slave.
1225. Expectation has
killed me: at
least bid me go, that this wretched soul may be delivered from bondage.”
After that, he
(the vizier) gave him the
fortieth part of that
(gift): the poet remained in
heavy thought,
(Thinking), “That (former gift) was so promptly paid and was so much: this one that
blossomed
late was (only) a handful
of
thorns.”
Then they (the
courtiers) said to him, “That
generous vizier has departed
from this life: may God
reward you!
For those gifts
were always multiplied (increased in amount) by
him: there was no fault to be
found with the donations (then);
1230. (But) now, he is gone and
has taken
beneficence away
(with him): he is not dead, (but)
beneficence is dead
(in this world), yea, verily.
The generous and
upright minister is
gone from us; the
minister who is a flayer of the poor has arrived.
Go, take this (money) and
flee from here by
night, lest this minister pick a quarrel
with you.
We have obtained
this gift from him by a
hundred devices, O you who art ignorant
of our exertions.”
He turned his face
to them and said,
“O kindly men,
tell (me), whence
came this myrmidon
(ruffian)?
1235. What is the name
of this vizier
who tears off the clothes
(of the poor)?” The company
(of courtiers)
said to him, “His name too is Hasan.”
He (the poet)
cried, “O Lord,
how
are the names
of that one
and this one the
same? Alas, O Lord of the Judgement!
That Hasan by name
(was such)
that by a single pen of his a hundred viziers and ministers
are
disposed to liberality.
This Hasan (is such)
that from the ugly beard
of this Hasan
you canst weave,
O (dear) soul, a hundred ropes.”
When a king
listens to such a minister, he (the
minister)
disgraces
the king and his kingdom
unto everlasting.
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