Speaker 1: The king who made mats from the Persian. In ancient times,
there was in the country of Aberbaijan a king who
cherished wisdom and administered justice. The tiller of his equity,
loving nature kept the garden of his kingdom always clean
of the chaff and trash of oppression, and preserved, with
the light of the torture of highmindedness and largesses the
surface of the breast of those that hoped and solicited
from the darkness of hardship and destitution. By means of
his discernment, he became acquainted with the worth and station
due to men of profession, and always honored the high
polish of the speculum of accomplishments and perfections, with the
throne of dignity and the place of respect. One day,
whilst he was sitting in the palace of pomp and splendor,
dispensing justice and retribution, and engaged in diving into the
depths of the circumstances of the people, two men took
hold of the of complaint. One of them had no trade,
and the other was skillful and accomplished. And although the
one who had no trade brought forward arguments and evidences
in support of his claim, and it became clear that
he was in the right. The King purposely turned the
scales in favor of the clever fellow, and ordered the
man without a trade to be punished. The king happened
to have a vizier equal to Plato in science, and
who always drew upon the leaves of the book of
Circumstances with the pen of propriety of opinion and prudence
of arrangement. Wondering at the decision of the King, he
rose from his place and said, O, thou leader of
the caravan of prosperity of realms. By the blows of
whose world conquering scimetur, the peace of the breasts of
opponents is destroyed, and from the fruits of whose convoy success,
the countries of the hearts of the amicable are made
populous and flourishing. I have a request to make first
that the skyward flying home, may a bird of happy
omen it is said never to touch the ground, and
every headed overshades will wear a crown of your gracious
disposition may pervade the atmosphere of compliance with my solicitation,
The king said, explain. The vizier answered, I pray that
the life of this innocent youth, whose guiltlessness must be
visible upon the mirror of your Majesty's mind, may be
spared for my sake, and that it might be disclosed
to me why your Majesty pardoned the guilty and condemned
the innocent man. The King said, I have absolved him
whom you call guilty, because I have arrived at the
certainty that he is unblameable and has the right on
his side. I also have reason to believe that this
is not the proper time to elucidate the matter, but
it will be done as soon as we are alone.
A short time afterwards, the tree of the Assembly shed
the leaves and fruit of its multitude. The lamp of
the Apartment of Privacy was trimmed and made bright. When
the King spoke thou contessence of acuteness, something happened to
me once which plunged me into the sea of astonishment.
Since that time I made a vow to show favor
to a man who has a profession, even if he
should be blameworthy otherwise, and to punish and persecute him
who has no trade or occupation, even if he should
be my own son, so that the high and the low,
seeing this, be induced to teach their children trades in
conformity with their circumstances, because labor is too simple and gentle,
a refuge from misfortune, and a means to attain prosperity.
Know thou that when my father was yet walking in
the garden of life, and was sitting upon the throne
of happiness and government, on a certain day, those who
were present at the audience were discussing the advantages of
trades and accomplishments. And although I had made myself acquainted
with several sciences and accomplishments befitting a royal prince, I
was anxious to learn yet some other trade. I determined
that each of the tradesmen established in the city should
display his skill before my eyes, in order that I
might apply myself to any trade which should captivate my
fancy after having seen them. No one pleased me so
much as map making, because the master of that art
had introduced into the specimen which he worked all sorts
of pretty figures. The instructor was engaged, and I was taught.
I assisted every day until I became skillful in this business.
One day I happened to entertain a desire of making
an excursion of pleasure on the sea, I took leave
of the king and embarked on board a boat with
a number of courtiers. We amused ourselves for two days
with fishing, but as all mortals are subject to the
vicissitudes of fortune, on the third day a dreadful storm arose.
The sea was lashed by it into furious waves. Our
boat went to pieces, and my companions became food for
the palate of the wail of destiny. I was floating
about on a broken plank with two of my associates
for several days, earring like chaff in the ebb and
hide of the abyss, and having our throat choked every
moment by the gripe of mortal fear. We humbled and
turned ourselves to the footstool of the answerer of prayers,
because nobody ever besought him in vain by this favor.
The wind drove the broken plank towards the shore, and
all three of us, having landed safe and sound, made
our way to an oasis which contained various fruits and
aromatic plants, numerous beyond conception. We disported ourselves several days
in that place, and during the night we took refuge
on the trees for fear of rapacious beasts, until we
reached the end of the oasis and entered the desert,
through the ups and downs of which we progressed for
several days till the guide of our destinies led us
into the city of Baghdad. I possessed several rings of
great value and went to the bazaar in the company
of my friends in order to purchase food. Having sold
a ring, we entered the shop of a cook who
had displayed a variety of dishes, and in whose service
a handsome boy was busying himself. We handed to him
a few dirhams to obtain some victuals. He cast a
glance at us and said, young men, nobility and greatness
shine from your foreheads. In this city. It is considered
disgraceful that youths like yourselves should be eating their food
in the bazaar. In the neighborhood, there is a very
beautiful room to which people like you are accustomed to resort.
Do me the favor to adjourn to that place, that
I may send there something worthy of you. He sent
his boy with us, whom we followed After a short time,
we arrived at the house, stepped into the porch, and
entered the mansion, which we found to be very neat
and variously ornamented. We wished to remain there. The boy, however,
opened the door of another apartment and affirmed it to
be a very pleasant place. I entered it with my companions,
and we were beginning to amuse ourselves by contemplating the
exquisite and wonderful paintings that ornamented its walls, when the
boy said, I am going to bring you your meal.
As soon as he was gone, the floor of the
house began to move, as if a great earthquake had happened.
We wished to take to our heels, but the pavement separated,
and all three of us were precipitated into a subterranean well,
which was dark like the graves of infidels and black
like their hearts. We lost all hope and were ready
to die. We said, this time, our adverse fortune has
let fly the arrow of a strange event, and we
have fallen into an uncommon place of destruction, so that
the signification of our rescue would become as a word
without meaning, like the name of the fabulous bird unka.
That cook happened to be a Jew and an enemy
of Mohammedan's. It was his habit from a long time
to make use of those compliments in order to decoy
Mussulman foreigners to that house, whom he threw into that well,
roasted their flesh and sold it to other Musulmans. Our
necks were pledged in this affair, and we were in
apprehension what turn it would take when the same youth
descended into the depth of the well, having a sword
in his hand, and was about to murder us, when
we said to him, friend, what advantage is going to
accrue to you from killing us unhappy wretches? If gained
me your object, we know the trade of mat making,
which is very profitable in this town. Bring the tools
necessary for that occupation to this place, and we will
make a mat every day. The wretch hastened away and
informed his master of our intention. They provided us with
the required materials. We made a mat, for which they
threw down to us every day a loaf of barley bread.
We were continuing the state for some time and were
despairing of our condition, when a stratagem occurred to me.
I finished a mat with all possible care and ornaments,
and wove into its borders the description of my circumstances
in the Arabic language. This happened during the reign of
Harun al Rashid. So I said, if this carpet were
to be offered to the Caliph, a considerable sum might
be gained. The greediness of the Jew having become an
obstacle to his circumspection and to his regard of consequences.
He carried the mat to the palace of the Caliph,
who highly approved of it. But after he had examined
it more minutely, he discovered the explanation round its borders, And,
having by the perusal of it, arrived at the state
of things, he asked the Jew where he got the
mat from and whose work it was. He answered, I
have a friend in Busrah who sent it to me.
The Caliph said, wait a little, that I may present
thee with a reward worthy of it. Having called for
a servant, he whispered something into his ear. The servant left, and,
having delivered me and my companions from the well, carried
me to Haroun. As soon as the Jew perceived us,
he began to tremble. The Caliph asked, who are these?
The Jew struck with his hand the ring of the
door of negation and said, I do not know. The
Caliph ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward.
When the Jew heard this, he confessed everything. Harun commanded
the Jew to be suspended upon the tree of punishment,
and a poison of peredition to be poured into the
throat of his existence. My prudent plan was highly approved of.
I was sent to the bath and presented with rich clothes.
The Caliph asked me about my adventures, which I related
to him from beginning to end. And as the long
service of my father had laid the Caliph under obligations
to him, and as the Caliph knew that I was
the apple of the eye of that monarch, he was
the more kind to me, and said, be of good cheer.
Please God, we will help you to go to your country.
After having entertained me for several days, he presented me
with nearly ten strings of camels and all sorts of
articles which are necessary or useful to grandees, and despatched
me with fifty men and a letter to my father
to my own country. When I arrived in my own capital,
the corpse of my father was just being carried out
of the city. After having mourned over the death of
my father, I established myself upon the throne of dominion.
Although my peace was for some time in jeopardy from
the misfortune just mentioned. Nevertheless, it is by the help
of a trade that I was saved. I have perfect
confidence in skillful men, and I have decided always to
honor men that have a profession, and to despise those
that have none.