VI. THE TIGER OF THE PATHANS
TOLD BY THE AFGHAN GENERAL
"In my case the philosophy of life is of the simplest," remarked the Afghan general. "I neither crave the wealth of the prince, nor do I inflict upon myself the mortifications of the ascetic. For the one rich robes and the sceptre, for the other a loin cloth and a begging-bowl; but for me the good sword that commands respect from my enemies, confidence from my friends, and my due share of the good things of existence. In this frame of mind I find the full measure of joy in each day that passes."
He smiled the smile of the man contented with the world and with himself, but there was the light of proud determination in his eyes that belied the mere sybarite.
"Then for you the greatest good consists in the happiness you can snatch from the passing hour," suggested the magistrate.
"That is so," concurred the soldier, "if to the word happiness you give the right interpretation. To me the performance of one's present duty is the only real thing that brings contentment. And duty need not always be stern and forbidding; to laugh and play and be merry may, at the proper time and in the proper circumstances, be a duty both to ourselves and to others. When one lives philosophically for the present, he takes men in all their moods and life in all its phases. The past is counted as dead and to be forgotten, except for the experience gained to guide the doing of the things that lie now to one's hand. The future is unseen, but is none the less determined by our deeds, words, and thoughts of the passing moment, each one of which, be it remembered, whether deed or rash word, or unspoken thought, has consequences that are eternal."
"So for the man whose mind is thus attuned," again interposed the magistrate, "the present becomes all supreme, shaped by the past, shaping the future."
"Which means that destiny never degenerates into mere blind and helpless fatalism," responded the Afghan. "To do the right now suffices to give absolute trust in God for the hereafter. That is the key of destiny, and each man holds it in his own keeping."