When it was evening the king returned from the chase and came to the palace, and again the lady rose to greet him, and she sat with the king. After the repast the lady asked for news of the youth. The king said, “To-day likewise such an one of my vezirs made intercession for him, and I have sent him again to the prison.” The lady said, “O king, why dost thou leave my counsel and act according to thine own understanding? Hast not thou heard these words they have said concerning the heedless: ‘Whoso is presumptuous through reason is abased.’ And the sages have said that eight things bring disgrace upon a man: the first is going to dine at a place without invitation, the second is interfering between another and his wife, the third is giving ear to everyone’s words, the fourth is slighting the king, the fifth is setting one’s self above a great man, the sixth is speaking to those who listen not to one’s words, the seventh is begging a favor of an avaricious and indifferent person, and the eighth is going to the enemies’ gate.
“Now, O king, those vezirs interfere between thee and me. Beware, act not according to their words. They have said that he who acts according to a stranger’s word will divorce his wife. Their words are many; and they are forty vezirs, and each one of them for this long time is planning wiles. Mayhap my king has not heard the story of the old gardener and his son.” The king said, “Tell on, let us hear.” Quoth the lady:
The Gardener and His Son
“In the by-gone time an old gardener had mounted his son upon an ass and was proceeding to the garden, himself on foot. They met some men who said, ‘See this old pederast, how he has mounted the boy upon the ass; and is himself running alongside.’ Whenever the old man heard this he made the boy alight and mounted himself. Again they met some other folk, these likewise said, ‘Look at this heartless old man, he rides the ass himself and makes the poor child go on foot.’ Whenever the old man heard this he took his son up in front of him. Then some people saw them and said, ‘See this old pederast, how he has taken the boy up in front of him.’ The old man heard this, and he put his son up behind him. Again certain folks saw them and said, ‘See this old catamite, how he has taken the boy up behind him.’ The old man knew not what to do, so he put his son down and alighted himself and drove the ass before them. The garden was near, and both of them were on foot, and they reached the garden before meeting with any others.
“Now, O king, I have told this story that thou mayst know that no one in the world can escape the tongue of the folk. Each one says a different thing. It is even as when a boil came out on the foot of a certain king who showed it to someone and said, ‘Come, look at this boil; is it ripe or unripe?’ He looked and said, ‘It is ripe.’ Then he showed it to another person, and he said, ‘It is unripe.’ Then the king said, ‘We cannot get sure information concerning even one foot.’ Do thou too, O king, go by no one’s word, lose not the opportunity; no good will come to thee from this youth.” When the king heard this story from the lady he said, “To-morrow will I kill him.”
When it was morning the king came and sat upon his throne, and he caused the youth to be brought and ordered the executioner, “Smite off his head.” The twentieth vezir came forward and said, “O king of the world, I will speak a good word to thee: all these vezirs who have spoken these many words are well-wishers to thee. The holy Apostle of God hath said, ‘Whoso hath believed in God and the last day; when he witnesseth to aught, let him speak with good or let him be silent,’ Now, what is best for thee in this thy affair is this, as all thy vezirs say, ‘Slay not the prince,’ I too say, have patience, else the end of this will be care and sorrow. Mayhap the king has not heard the story of a certain king.” The king said, “Tell on, let us hear.” Quoth the vezir:
The Dervish’s Advice
“Of old time there was a great king. One day, when returning from the chase, he saw a dervish sitting by the way, crying, ‘I have a piece of advice; to him who will give me 1,000 sequins I will tell it.’ When the king heard these words of the dervish he drew in his horse’s head and halted, and he said to the dervish, ‘What is thy counsel?’ The dervish replied, ‘Bring the sequins and give me them that I may tell my counsel.’ The king ordered that they count 1,000 sequins into the dervish’s lap. The dervish said, ‘O king, my advice to thee is this, whenever thou art about to do a deed, consider the end of that deed, and then act.’ The nobles who were present laughed together at these words and said, ‘Anyone knows that.’ But the king rewarded that poor man. He was greatly pleased with the words of the dervish and commanded that they wrote them on the palace gate and other places.
“Now that king had an enemy, a great king; and this hostile king was ever watching his opportunity; but he could find no way save this, he said in himself, ‘Let me go and promise the king’s barber some worldly good and give him a poisoned lancet; some day when the king is sick he can bleed him with that lancet.’ So he disguised himself, and went and gave the barber a poisoned lancet and 10,000 sequins. And the barber was covetous and undertook to bleed the king with that lancet what time it should be needful. One day the king was sick, and he sent word to the barber to come and bleed him. Thereupon the barber took that poisoned lancet with him and went. The attendants prepared the basin, and the barber saw written on the rim of the basin, ‘Whenever thou art about to perform a deed, think on the end thereof.’
“When the barber saw this he said in himself, ‘I am now about to bleed the king with this lancet and doubtless he will perish, then they will not leave me alive, but will inevitably kill me; after I am dead what use will these sequins be to me?’ And he took up that lancet and put it in its place and drew out another lancet that he might bleed the king. When he took his arm a second time, the king said, ‘Why didst thou not bleed me with the first lancet?’ The barber answered, ‘O king, there was some dust on its point.’ Then the king said, ‘I saw it, it is not the treasury lancet; there is some secret here, quick, tell it, else I will slay thee.’ When the barber saw this importunity, he related the story from beginning to end and how he had seen the writing on the basin and changed his intention. The king put a robe of honor on the barber and let him keep the sequins which his enemy had given him. And the king said, ‘The dervish’s counsel is worth not 1,000 sequins but 100,000 sequins.’