Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/188

me.” When the beggar was brought in, the Sultan, frowning on him, asked, “Why do you go on begging when I have made you rich?” “Alas, O Sultan of the Age,” answered the beggar, “all that I have received at your Highness’s gate were two fowls, which I sold to another beggar who used to cry, ‘O Allah! O Thou Bountiful One!’ but who has since grown rich and taken a shop.” The Sultan was amazed and cried, “Wallahi! Allah has shown that it is better to praise His bounty than to pray for my prosperity.”

A certain Sultan once had a dispute with his wazìr as to what constitutes true kindness. He said that it might be found among the poorest of the people, while the wazir maintained that it was impossible to show kindness, or to feel it, unless one were well-to-do. When the Sultan thought enough had been said, he summoned the sheykh el Islâm, and ordered a record of the debate and of the arguments on both sides to be made and deposited in the public archives.

Some time afterwards the Sultan, one afternoon sent secretly for the sheykh, and the two disguised themselves as derwìshes and went out to settle the question. In the city they found much to interest them, but nothing bearing on the problem which they wished to solve. By the time they reached the outskirts of the town the sun was setting, and as they advanced into the country it grew dark apace. They were glad to behold a light shining