Story 36 - The Manners of Kings - gulistaan-e-sa.adii

There were two brothers: one of them in the service of the sultan and the other gaining his livelihood by the effort of his arm. The wealthy man once asked his destitute brother why he did not serve the sultan in order to be delivered from the hardship of labouring. He replied: 'Why labourest thou not to be delivered from the baseness of service because philosophers have said that it is better to eat barley bread and to sit than to gird oneself with a golden belt and to stand in service?'

To leaven mortar of quicklime with the hand

Is better than to hold them on the breast before the amir.

My precious life was spent in considering

What I am to eat in summer and wear in winter.

O ignoble belly, be satisfied with one bread

Rather than to bend the back in service.

There were two brothers: one of them in the service of the sultan and the other gaining his livelihood by the effort of his arm. The wealthy man once asked his destitute brother why he did not serve the sultan in order to be delivered from the hardship of labouring. He replied: 'Why labourest thou not to be delivered from the baseness of service because philosophers have said that it is better to eat barley bread and to sit than to gird oneself with a golden belt and to stand in service?'

To leaven mortar of quicklime with the hand

Is better than to hold them on the breast before the amir.

My precious life was spent in considering

What I am to eat in summer and wear in winter.

O ignoble belly, be satisfied with one bread

Rather than to bend the back in service.