I.
Moghairah bin Shabah states that he never was so cunningly deceived as by a youth of the Benou-ul-Háreth. He intended to sue for the hand of a girl of that tribe, when this youth, who stood near him, said: 'O Amir, you have no need of her.' 'Why?' 'I saw a man kiss her.' Accordingly Moghairah went away, but heard some time afterwards that the said youth had married the girl himself. On meeting again Moghairah said to the youth: 'Did you not tell me that you had seen a man kiss her.' 'Certainly I did,' the young man replied, 'but that man was her father.'
II.
A man happened to find on the road a silver brooch, which women use for applying collyrium to their eyes. This pin was handsome, and he concluded that the girl who had lost it must have very beautiful eyes. He indulged so much in this fancy that he conceived an affection for the owner of the brooch, and was fond of showing the precious article to his acquaintances. One day a friend paid him a visit, and after the wine they had drunk had taken effect, he took out the said brooch according to his wont, kissed it, and wept over it. The friend, who knew the brooch, asked whence he had obtained it, but he replied: 'Pray do not question me, I am in love with the proprietress of it; my heart is melting, and it is so dear to me that I get jealous when other eyes beside my own look at it.' The friend said: 'I shall bring about a meeting between you and your mistress.' The other asked, 'Who could procure me that felicity?' The friend went away, but returned in a short time bearing a covered platter, which he placed before him, saying, 'Uncover this basin,' and lo! it contained a female head, weltering in its own gore, and on beholding it the man nearly fainted with grief. His friend, however, said: 'Be not dismayed, but tell me how you obtained this brooch, which I had presented to my wife, whose head is before you.' He replied that he had found the brooch on a certain day on the road, and described the spot, adding that he imagined the owner of it must be beautiful, and conceived a warm affection for her, but that he had never seen her face, and knew not who she might have been. The friend said: 'This is true enough, because she told me one day that she had lost it; hence no blame rests on you.' The two men parted; the would-be lover, however, took this melancholy event so much to heart that he not only repented of his folly, but died of grief.
The following curious philosophic discourse is taken from the
'Siraj-ul-Mulûk,' or Lamp of Kings, a well-known work composed about
A.D. 1126, and typographed at Cairo A.D. 1872:
'Allah, the Most High, has said (Koran, vi., verse 38): "There is no kind of beast on earth, nor fowl which flieth with its wing, but the same is a people like unto you." Allah the Most High has accordingly established a resemblance between us and all the animals. It is well known that they are not like us in their figures and forms as perceived by the eye, but in their demeanour; and there is not a human being who does not possess some qualities peculiar to animals. When you perceive that a man's character is unusual, you must endeavour to find out the qualities of the animal with which it may be compared, and judge of him according to these; and to avoid all misunderstanding, and to maintain intercourse with him, you must behave towards him in conformity with them.
'Accordingly, when you see an ignorant man of rude behaviour, strong in body, whose anger overpowers him at any moment, you are to compare him to a tiger, and there is an Arab proverb: "He is more stupid than a tiger." When you see a tiger, you avoid him, and do not fight with him, therefore towards an individual of this kind you must behave in the same manner.
'When you observe a man wantonly attacking the reputation of others, compare him to a dog, because it is his nature. When a dog barks at you it does not trouble you much, and you go your own way. You must deal in this manner with such men, because they are like dogs who assault others without any provocation.
'When you perceive that a man's nature is to say "Yes" when you say "No," and "No" if you say "Yes," compare him to an ass, because when you approach him he recedes, and when you move away he will move towards you. You must put up with your donkey, and neither separate from him nor insult him. Deal in the same way with such a person.
'When you perceive a man searching out the weaknesses or shortcomings of people, compare him to a fly, which settles on a carcase, and then gluts itself with the vilest parts of it, such as the rotten flesh and the filthy offal.