Allah shall do whate'er He wills ✿ And in His will oppose Him not.
And further still:—
To th' All-wise Subtle One trust worldly things ✿ Rest thee from all whereto the worldling clings:
Learn wisely well naught cometh by thy will ✿ But e'en as willeth Allah, King of Kings.
And lastly:—
Gladsome and gay forget thine every grief ✿ Full often grief the wisest hearts outwore:
Thought is but folly in the feeble slave ✿ Shun it and so be savèd evermore.
Said the King for sole return, "Knowest thou why I have summoned thee?" and the Sage replied, "Allah Most Highest alone kenneth hidden things!" But the King rejoined, "I summoned thee only to take thy life and utterly to destroy thee." Duban the Wise wondered at this strange address with exceeding wonder and asked, "O King, and wherefore wouldest thou slay me, and what ill have I done thee?" and the King answered, "Men tell me thou art a spy sent hither with intent to slay me; and lo! I will kill thee ere I be killed by thee;" then he called to his Sworder, and said, "Strike me off the head of this traitor and deliver us from his evil practices." Quoth the Sage, "Spare me and Allah will spare thee; slay me not or Allah shall slay thee." And he repeated to him these very words, even as I to thee, O Ifrit, and yet thou wouldst not let me go, being bent upon my death. King Yunan only rejoined, "I shall not be safe without slaying thee; for, as thou healedst me by something held in hand, so am I not secure against thy killing me by something given me to smell or otherwise." Said the physician, "This then, O King, is thy requital and reward; thou returnest only evil for good." The King replied, "There is no help for it; die thou must and without delay." Now when the physician was certified that the King would slay him without waiting, he wept and regretted the good he had done to other than the good. As one hath said on this subject:—
Of wit and wisdom is Maymúnah[[98]] bare ✿ Whose sire in wisdom all the wits outstrippeth:
Man may not tread on mud or dust or clay ✿ Save by good sense, else trippeth he and slippeth.