Gulistan of Saadi

 The Manners of Kings

 Story 7

A padshah was in the same boat with a Persian slave who had never before been at sea and
experienced the inconvenience of a vessel. He began to cry and to tremble to such a degree that he
could not be pacified by kindness, so that at last the king became displeased as the matter could not be
remedied. In that boat there happened to be a philosopher, who said: ‘With thy permission I shall quiet
him.’ The padshah replied: ‘It will be a great favour.’ The philosopher ordered the slave to be thrown
into the water so that he swallowed some of it, whereon be was caught and pulled by his hair to the
boat, to the stern of which he clung with both his hands. Then he sat down in a corner and became
quiet. This appeared strange to the king who knew not what wisdom there was in the proceeding and
asked for it. The philosopher replied: ‘Before he had tasted the calamity of being drowned, he knew
not the safety of the boat; thus also a man does not appreciate the value of immunity from a
misfortune until it has befallen him.’

O thou full man, barley-bread pleases thee not.
She is my sweetheart who appears ugly to thee.
To the huris of paradise purgatory seems hell.
Ask the denizens of hell. To them purgatory is paradise.

There is a difference between him whose friend is in his arms
And him whose eyes of expectation are upon the door.