Gulistan of Saadi
The Manners of Kings
Story 36
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 laboring. 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.
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Gulistan of Saadi | The Manners of Kings | Story 35
