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A Father’s Advice
One of the tribal sheiks was a wise and just man, and all the people loved him. He had seven sons who were famous for their courage and strength. When he became old and about to die, he called his seven sons to him and gave each of them one arrow, telling them: I want each of you to break the arrow that is in your hand.
The sons were surprised at their father’s request, but everyone broke his arrow. After this, the father gave each son a bundle of seven arrows and said to them: Each of you must break the bundle of arrows that is in your hand.
Each son tried to break his bundle but without success, despite their strength and youth.
The father said to them: Do you see? Each of you had been able to break his one arrow quite easily, but you weren’t able to break the bundle of arrows. I am an old sheik and, before long, I will be leaving this world. I have one wish: that you be united after I die and that each of you protect the other, for then no one will be able to defeat you. However, if you quarrel and become divided, you will grow weak and easily vanquished.
The sons looked on their father with respect and appreciation because of his wisdom and counsel, and they vowed to fulfill his wish.
Detail from an illustration in the late Timurid manuscript of Sa'di's story of "Sa'di and the Youth of Kashgar" in his Gulistan ch 5, story 17. illustration 1547 Bukhara, for a text written by Sa'di in 1259, copied for this book in Herat in July 1500. Peerless Images: Persian Figural Painting and Its Sources, Eleanor Sims, from the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Geneva.
The Lost Treasure
It is said that a man had seven children, and he wanted to ensure their income after he died. When his moment of death grew closer, he gathered his children and said to them: I have left you in the land that I own an expensive treasure. I hid it there. Go and get it out after my death, so you can make a living out of it.
When the father died, his children began to dig up the land inch by inch, but they couldn’t find the treasure, and their efforts were in vain. Then they looked and saw the land was plowed, so they agreed to grow wheat there, and they did.
The land yielded a great deal of wheat. They ate some and sold the rest and lived a comfortable life. Then they understood that the land was the treasure their father had told them about.
The Caliph and the Milk Seller
The Caliph Umar bnu al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, learned that an old woman was cheating when she sold milk, and he said to her: Old woman, do not cheat the people, and do not mix your milk with water. She who cheats us is not one of us. The old woman said: I heard and will obey, O Leader of Believers.
After some days, he passed by and said to her: Old woman, did I not command you not to mix your milk with water? The old woman said: By God, I didn’t do that, O Leader of the Believers.
Then one of her daughters from inside the tent said: O mother! Are you cheating the people, lying to the Caliph, and breaking your oath?
Umar heard her, and he liked her words and candor in what is right, and chose her as wife for his son.
Juha and His Donkey
One day Juha was riding his donkey, his son was riding behind him, and the donkey took them where they wanted. A man who was walking in the road saw them riding the donkey and said: What a cruel man! How is it possible for a weak donkey to carry two?
Juha heard the man’s words and agreed with him. He got down from the donkey’s back and left his son to ride, while he walked alongside.
Another man saw them and said: This boy is not polite! He rides the donkey and leaves his old father walking.
Juha’s son was ashamed. He got down from the donkey and bid his father to ride.
A third man passed by and said: What a cruel heart this father has! He rides a donkey and makes his young son walk!
So Juha got down from the donkey and walked next to his son.
After a short while, Juha turned to his son and asked him: What should we do, my son, to please people?
The boy said: All has been done, except if we carry the donkey and walk with it. And Juha said: You’re right.
And then they carried the donkey on their backs and walked with it. The people laughed, mocking them, when they saw this sight, so Juha became angry, and he resumed riding the donkey with his son riding behind him.
