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246 "no one would ever see me in the string of camels, plodding across the desert sands with a pack on my back."

One of the first rules of wise living is obedience.

(Sadi, The Burstan.)

ABDUL AZIZ AND THE PEARL

HE story is told of Abdul Aziz that he had a pearl of great beauty and value, set in a ring. Shortly afterwards there came a dry season, the crops failed, and there was great suffering among his people. Moved by compassion the King ordered that the pearl should be sold, and the money received for it given to the poor. One of his friends reproached him for doing this, saying:

"Never again will such a beautiful jewel come into your hands."

Sighing regretfully, the King answered: "Ugly is any ornament upon the person of a King when the hearts of his people are wrung with want and hunger. Better for me is a stoneless ring than a suffering people."

Moral. Happy is he who sets the welfare of others above his own.

(Sadi, The Burstan.)

THE RAIN-DROP

RAIN-DROP fell from a spring cloud, and when it saw the wide expanse of the ocean it felt ashamed. "At best," it said, "I am only a Rain-drop,—but compared with the ocean I am nothing at all!"

But just at the moment that the little Rain-drop was judging itself