The wife of an officer of a king said to her husband: “Arise, and go to the royal palace, that they may give thee food, for thy children are in want.”
“The kitchen is closed to-day,” he answered; “last night the Sultan resolved to fast awhile.”
In the despair of hunger, the woman bowed her head and murmured: “What does the Sultan seek from his fasting when his breaking the fast means a festival of joy for our children?”
One who eats that good may follow is better than a Mammon-worshipper who continually fasts. Proper it is to fast with him who feeds the needy in the morning.
Story Illustrative of Practical Charity
A certain man had generosity without the means of displaying it; his pittance was unequal to his benevolence. (May riches never fall to the mean, nor poverty be the lot of the generous!) His charities exceeding the depth of his pocket, therefore was he always short of money.
One day a poor man wrote to him saying: “O thou of happy nature! Assist me with funds, since for some time have I languished in prison.”
The generous man would have willingly acceded to the request, but he possessed not so much as the smallest piece of money. But he sent someone to the creditors of the prisoner with the message: “Free this man for a few days, and I will be his security.”
Then did he visit the prisoner in his cell and say: “Arise, and fly with haste from the city.”
When a sparrow sees open the door of its cage, it tarries not a moment. Like the morning breeze, the prisoner flew from the land. Thereupon, they seized his benefactor, saying: “Produce either the man or the money.”