Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/129

Story LXXVII

said to his Pir: "What am I to do? I am troubled by the people, many of whom pay me visits. By their coming and going they encroach upon my precious time."

He replied:" Lend something to every one of them who is poor, and ask something from every one who is rich, and they will come round thee no more."

If a mendicant were the leader of the army of Islâm, the infidels would, for fear of his importunity, run as far as China!