Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/247

Stories CLXVI and CLXVII

man with a pain in his eyes went to a farrier to be treated by him. The farrier applied to his eyes what he used to put on those of quadrupeds, so that the man became blind and lodged a complaint with the judge, who, however, refrained from punishing the farrier, saying: "Had this man not been an ass, he would not have gone to a farrier."

The moral of this story is, to let thee know that whoever entrusts an inexperienced man with an important business and afterwards repents, is by intelligent persons held to suffer from levity of intellect. A shrewd and enlightened man will not give affairs of importance to a base fellow to transact. A matmaker, although employed in weaving, is not set to work in a silk-factory.

illustrious man had a worthy son who died. Being asked what he desired to be written upon the sarcophagus of the tomb, he replied: "The verses of the glorious book [of the Qurân] are deserving of more honour than to be written on such a spot, where they would be injured by the lapse of time, would be walked upon by persons passing by, and urinated upon by dogs. If anything is necessarily to be written, let what follows suffice: