Mules, horses, mice, and accidents have it reduced.
This world’s a negative; the positive seek thou.
All outward forms are cyphers; search, the sense to know.
Lay down thy wretched life before th’ uplifted sword;
New life thou’lt purchase, never-ending, of the Lord.350
But if thou do not know, well, how to quit this scene,
To me, then, lend thy ear; this tale for thee I mean.
In days of old there was a Caliph, as is said,
Whose generosity Hātim Tāyī ’d dismayed.[282]
His fame for liberality went through the land;