* * * * *


XXXIX

A drunken fellow had lain down to sleep on the highway, and was quite
overcome with the fumes of intoxication. An abid was passing close by,
and looking at him with scorn. The youth raised his head, and said,
"_Whenever they pass anything shameful they pass it with
compassion.--Whenever thou beholdest a sinner, hide and bear with his
transgressions: thou, who art aware of them, why not overlook my sins
with pity_?--Turn not away, O reverend sir! from a sinner; but look upon
him with compassion. Though in my actions I am not a hero, do thou pass
by as the heroic would pass me."


XL

A gang of dissolute vagabonds broke in upon a dervish, used opprobrious
language, and beat and ill-used him. In his helplessness he carried his
complaint before his ghostly father, and said, "Thus it has befallen
me." He replied: "O my son! the patched cloak of dervishes is the
garment of resignation; whosoever wears this garb, and cannot bear with
disappointment, is a hypocrite, and to him our cloth is forbidden.--A
vast and deep river is not rendered turbid by throwing into it a stone.
That religious man who can be vexed at an injury is as yet a shallow
brook.--If thou art subjected to trouble, bear with it; for by
forgiveness thou art purified from sin. Seeing, O brother! that we are
ultimately to become dust, be humble as the dust, before thou moulderest
into dust."