How should we behave in Time of Prosperity?
Two dervishes of Khorasan who had entered into strict intimacy, traveled together: one who was infirm would fast for two days, and the other who was robust used to eat three times a day. It happened that they were seized at the gate of a city on suspicion of being spies, were both confined in the same room, and the door closed up with mud. After a fortnight it was discovered that they were innocent. On opening the door, they found the strong man dead, and the infirm one alive. They were astonished at the circumstance, but a philosopher said, that the contrary would have been more wonderful, for the one who was great eater, was not able to support abstinence; and the other who weak, having his body in subjection, and being used to fasting, had happily escaped.
A person who had accustomed himself to eat sparingly,
When difficulty occurs, bears it easily;
But if in time of prosperity he has been used to pamper himself,
When he meets with distress he sinks under it.
Gulisten saadi
other links:
The man who stole a snake
The Pen and the Inkstand
Why the turtle has no tail
The Elephant in the dark
THE MAN BORN BLIND
The Tiger in the Trap
The origin of Death
Prayer for a tyrant
The blind beggar,
