Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/143

XXI. sent us unto thee to announce to thee that thou shalt be a great monarch." Lokman replied, "If God desires what you say, His will can accomplish all things, and doubtless He will give me what is necessary for executing my duty in that position in which He will place me. But if He would suffer me to choose a state of life, I should prefer that in which I now am,"—now Lokman was a slave,—"and above all would I ask Him to enable me never to offend Him; without which all earthly grandeur would be to me a burden." This reply of Lokman was so pleasing to Allah, that He gave him the gift of wisdom to such a degree of excellence, that he became capable of instructing all men; and this he did by means of a great multitude of maxims, sentences, and parables to the number of ten thousand, each of which is more valuable than the whole world.

When Lokman did not know anything with which others were acquainted, he held his tongue, and did not ask questions and thus divulge his ignorance. As he lived to a great age, he was alive in the days of King David. Now David made a coat of mail, and showed it to Lokman. The sage had seen nothing like it before, and did not know what purpose it was to serve, but he looked knowing and nodded his head. Presently David put the armour upon him, and marched, and said, "It is serviceable in war." Then Lokman understood its object; so his mouth became unsealed and he talked about it. Lokman used to say, "Silence is wisdom, but few practise it."

Thalebi relates, in his Commentary on the Koran, that Lokman was a slave, and that having been sent along with other slaves into the country to gather fruit, his fellow-slaves ate them, and charged Lokman with having done so. Lokman, to justify himself, said to his master, "Let every one of us slaves be given warm water to drink, and you will soon see who has been the thief." The expedient succeeded; the slaves who had eaten the fruit vomited it, and Lokman threw up only warm water.

The same story precisely is told of Æsop.

Lokman is always spoken of as black, with thick lips. He is regarded by the Arabs much as is Bidpay by the Indians, and Æsop by the Europeans, as the Father of Fable.