Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/170

On the Excellence of Contentment

seen a fat fool, dressed in a costly robe, with a turban of Egyptian linen on his head, riding on an Arab horse. Someone said : “Sa’di! What thinkest thou of this famous brocade upon this ignorant animal?”

I replied: “It is like ugly characters scrawled with gold-water.

"Verily he is like an ass among men, A calf, a body which is bleating.

“This animal cannot be said to resemble a man, except in his cloak, turban, and outward adornment. Examine all his property and belongings of his estate, thou wilt find nothing lawful to take except his blood. If a noble man becomes impoverished, imagine not that his high worth will also decrease; but if into a silver threshold golden nails are driven by a Jew, think not that he will thereby become noble.”