One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Then rose one of the learned men who were present and said, ‘When the season of Spring cometh, needs must the hare seek the pasture as well as the elephant; and indeed I have heard from you both such questions and solutions as I never before heard; but now let me ask you of somewhat. What is the best of the goods of the world?’ ‘Health of body,’ replied the prince, ‘lawful provision and a virtuous son.’ (Q.) ‘What is the greater and what the less?’ (A.) ‘The greater is that to which a lesser than itself submitteth and the less that which submitteth to a greater than itself.’ (Q.) ‘What are the four things in which all creatures concur?’ (A.) ‘Meat and drink, the delight of sleep, the lust of women and the agonies of death.’ (Q.) ‘What are the three things whose foulness none can do away?’ (A.) ‘Folly, meanness of nature and lying.’ (Q.) ‘What is the best kind of lie, though all kinds are foul?’ (A.) ‘That which averteth harm from its utterer and bringeth profit.’ (Q.) ‘What kind of truthfulness is foul, though all kinds are fair?’ (A.) ‘That of a man glorying in that which he hath and boasting himself thereof.’ (Q.) ‘What is the foulest of foulnesses?’ (A.) ‘When a man boasteth himself of that which he hath not.’ (Q.) ‘Who is the most foolish of men?’ (A.) ‘He who hath no thought but of what he shall put in his belly.’

  Then said Shimas, ‘O king, verily thou art our king, but we desire that thou assign the kingdom to thy son after thee, and we will be thy servants and subjects.’ So the king exhorted the learned men and others who were present to remember that which they had heard and do according thereto and enjoined them to obey his son’s commandment, for that he made him his heir-apparent, so he should be the successor of the king his father; and he took an oath of all the people of his empire, doctors and braves and old men and boys, that they would not oppose him [in the succession] nor transgress against his commandment.

  When the prince was seventeen years old, the king sickened of a sore sickness and came nigh unto death, so, being certified that his last hour was at hand, he said to the people of his household, ‘This is a mortal sickness that is upon me; wherefore do ye summon the grandees and notables of my empire, so not one of them may remain except he be present.’ Accordingly, they made proclamation to those who were near and made known the summons to those who were afar off, and they all assembled and went in to the king. Then said they to him, ‘How is it with thee, O king, and how deemest thou for thyself of this thy sickness?’ Quoth Jelyaad, ‘Verily, this my sickness is mortal and the arrow [of death] hath executed that which God the Most High decreed against me: this is the last of my days in this world and the first of my days in the world to come.’ Then said he to his son, ‘Draw near unto me.’ So he drew near, weeping sore, that he came nigh to wet the bed, whilst the king’s eyes brimmed over with tears and all who were present wept. Quoth Jelyaad, ‘Weep not, O my son; I am not the first whom this inevitable thing betideth; nay, it is common to all that God hath created. But fear thou God and do good, that shall forego thee to the place whither all creatures tend. Obey not thy lusts, but occupy thyself with the praises of God in thy standing up and thy sitting down and in thy sleep and thy wake. Make the truth the aim of thine eyes; this is the last of my speech with thee and peace be on thee.’