The ass of a villager died, so he set the head upon a vine in his garden in order that it might ward off the Evil Eye.
A sage old man passed by and laughingly remarked: “Dost think, O friend, this will effect thy purpose? In life, the ass could not protect itself from blows; so, in weakness, did it die.”
What knows the physician of the condition of the sick, when, helpless, he himself will die through illness?
Story illustrating Luck
A poor man dropped a dinar in the road. He searched much, but at last, despairing, abandoned the attempt.
Some one came along and found the coin by chance.
Good and ill fortune are predestined. Our daily portion depends not upon our strength and efforts, for those who are strongest and strive the most stand often in the direst need.
Story of One who blamed his Destiny
There was once a rich and prosperous man named Bakhtyār. The wife of one of his neighbours, who was in the other extreme of poverty, upbraided her husband one night when he went to her empty-handed, saying: “No one is so poor and unfortunate as thee. Take a lesson from thy neighbours, who are well-to-do. Why art thou not fortunate, like them?”
The man replied: “I am incapable of aught; quarrel not with Fate. I have not been endowed with the power to make myself a Bakhtyār.”[25]