Kalila and Dimna, page 18
“Why are you worried?” he asked. “Has carrying me tired you out?”
“What are you talking about?” said the turtle. “What makes you think I’m worried?”
“It is apparent that you are debating with yourself and wondering what to do,” said the monkey.
“You’re right,” said the turtle. “I am thinking that this is the first time you are going to such trouble. My wife is ill, and something is sure to be lacking. I will not be able to host and honor you as I wish.”
“Since your friendship is assured,” said the monkey, “and your desire for my happiness is known, it would be more appropriate to our companionship and intimacy for you not to go to such trouble. What I know of your friendship is beyond your needing to regale and feast me. Put your mind at rest and don’t worry.”
The turtle proceeded. Once again he stopped and had the same thoughts as before. The monkey’s suspicion increased, and he said to himself, “When suspicion of a friend arises in one’s mind one should take precaution and remain calm. If the suspicion proves true one can remain safe from malevolence and stratagem. If the {104} doubt is misplaced no harm can come of being vigilant. The mind is fickle, and one cannot know at any given moment whether it is inclined to good or to evil.” Then he said to the turtle, “Why do you seem lost in thought and worry?”
“It is so,” replied the turtle. “Thoughts of my wife’s illness and distress worry me.”
“In all friendship you should tell me of your concerns,” said the monkey. “We should see what the cause is and how to deal with what you seem unable to resolve.”
“The physicians have prescribed a medicine that cannot be obtained,” said the turtle.
“What is it?” he asked.
“A monkey’s heart,” he said.
And there, in the midst of the water, the world turned dark before his eyes and he said to himself, “Greed and cupidity have brought me to this pass. I am not the first person to be taken in by hypocrites. An arrow of calamity has been shot from a bow of ignorance and waywardness into my heart, and now I know of nothing that can assist me other than a ruse. As soon as I am on that island, if I refuse to turn over my heart, I will die of hunger or be imprisoned. If I try to escape by throwing myself into the water I will drown.”
“I know how to treat your wife,” he said. “It is simple. The wise have said that it is not good to withhold something others seek for good purposes, for kings to deny something that would be for the benefit of all, or to refuse friends something that would be a comfort to them. I know the place your wife holds in your heart, and in all friendship it would not be right for me to withhold for any reason medicine that would cure her. If I were to hesitate, how could I be excused by people of virtue? I know what is wrong with her, for it often happens to our women, and we give them our hearts, for only a little pain is involved, and that is negligible next to the comfort it gives us and the cure it brings them. If you had told me I would have brought my heart, and it would have been easy for me to do so since it would have cured your wife and I wouldn’t have missed it. I cannot imagine ever needing my heart for the rest of my life since I am in a place where nothing is harder for me than the company of my heart. It has been burdened with much care and wells up all the time with grief, and my only wish is to get rid of it. If I didn’t have {105} it I would regret separation from my people and worry about my homeland less, and I would be free of those anxieties and thoughts for a while.”
“Why did you leave your heart behind?” asked the turtle.
“It is the custom of monkeys, when they go visiting friends and want to spend the day with them in good cheer and don’t want their cares to infect their happiness, not to take their hearts along since they are seats of tribulation and grief and it is not in the owner’s power to fix them on sadness or happiness. Any moment they may sour a good time and disrupt enjoyment. Since I was going to your house I wanted you to be glad to have me there. Now I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s illness and not to have brought my heart with me. You may forgive me, but your people will think badly of me and say that with all our past friendship I have failed to do this one little thing and have neglected to comfort you with something that would not hurt me.”
The turtle immediately turned back, confident that he was going to get what he wanted. When he delivered the monkey to the water’s edge the monkey scrambled up into a tree. The turtle waited for a while and then called out. The monkey laughed and said, “I have reached the end of my life and have had much experience of the world. My eyes have been opened to its good and evil, and now that time has taken back what it gave and I have seen misfortune, I can still distinguish between good and bad. Enough of this talk! Never again boast of fidelity. If a person claims all gallantry and boasts of manliness he should emerge honorably when put to the test. All sorts of wood may look alike, and if color and beauty are sought few could compete with aloes. However, when fire is wanted aloes will be set aside and pine will be used for heating. Do not imagine that I’m like the donkey that the fox said had no heart or ears.”
“How was that?” asked the turtle.
The Donkey without Ears or Heart
It is related that a lion got the mange and grew so weak that he couldn’t move, and hunting was impossible. There was a fox in his service that ate scraps from his table. One day the fox said, “Is the king not going to treat this disease?”
{106} “I am troubled by that very thought,” said the lion. “If medicine were available I wouldn’t hesitate, but they say the only remedy is the heart and ears of a donkey, and they are impossible to get.”
“If the king so orders,” said the fox, “it will be done without delay and miraculously produced. The king’s fur has fallen out and his glory and splendor are somewhat diminished. He cannot go out of the forest lest his majesty suffer indignity. Nearby is a spring in which a washerman washes clothes every day. A donkey that carries the clothes spends all day grazing in the meadow. I’ll trick it into coming. The king should vow to eat only the heart and ears and give the rest away.” The king so vowed.
The fox went to the donkey and started talking to it. Then he asked, “Why do you look so lean, thin, and sickly?”
“This washerman makes me work nonstop,” the donkey said, “and only occasionally does he tend to me. Of course he doesn’t worry about fodder and has no thought that I need rest.”
“Salvation is at hand,” said the fox. “Why should you labor under such conditions?”
“Such is my reputation,” said the donkey, “and no matter where I go I can’t escape hard labor. I am not alone in this calamity, for all like me suffer the same fate.”
“If you follow me I’ll take you to a meadow where the ground sparkles like jewels and the air is as fragrant as musk,” said the fox. “Previously I led a donkey there, and today he lives in comfort and safety.”
When the donkey heard this, temptation got the better of him and he said, “I will do as you say. I know you are acting out of friendship, sympathy, and compassion.”
The fox led the donkey to the lion. The lion attacked him and wounded him, but not seriously, and the donkey escaped.
The fox was somewhat astonished by the lion’s weakness and said, “Without benefit or need it is not a good idea to hurt animals. Since it wasn’t possible to get it, now what could be worse than my master’s inability to take down a skinny donkey?”
The lion was offended by these words and thought, “If I ignore him I’ll be accused of feeble-mindedness and irresolution. If I admit my lack of strength I’ll be labeled a weakling.” Finally he said, “Nothing kings do should be questioned by their subjects. {107} Not everyone can understand their reasoning. Do not question me. Instead, think up some ruse by which you can get the donkey back. Assure him of your friendship and loyalty, and you will enjoy favor and patronage over your peers.”
The fox went back to the donkey, who asked, “Why did you take me there?”
“It’s no use,” said the fox. “Your period of pain and affliction is still not over. It is impossible to combat destiny and fate. Otherwise, you would not have taken fright and run away. If the lion stretched his paw out to you it was out of yearning, and desire for your friendship made him hasty. If you had stayed you would have seen much kindness and I would have been commended for leading you there.” And he kept charming him with such words until he seduced him and took him back.
The donkey had never seen a lion before and thought he was a donkey. The lion treated him kindly and won him over, and then he leapt on him and killed him.
“I’m going to wash,” he said to the fox. “Then I’ll eat the heart and ears, which will cure this disease.”
As soon as he was out of sight the fox ate the donkey’s heart and ears. When the lion came back he asked, “Where are the heart and ears?”
“Long live the king,” the fox replied. “If he had had a heart and ears, one of which is the seat of the mind and the other the organ of hearing, after having experienced the king’s ferocity he would not have listened to or been deceived by my lies and would not have come to the edge of the grave on his own feet.”
“I have told this story that you may realize that I am not without heart and ears. There is no ruse you have not tried, but I have outsmarted you with my intelligence and cunning and endeavored until the dark path turned bright and difficulty became easy. Do you still think I’ll come back? There is little use in entertaining futile notions.”
“I confess what I have done and am sorry,” said the turtle. “Now you harbor in your heart a grudge against me that not all the kindness in the world can make up for. The brand of malevolence, {108} baseness, and regret will never be erased from my forehead, and there is no use in being sorry and repenting. I must accustom myself to being separated from you.” With these words he turned and departed sadly.
This has been a story of one who gained friendship or wealth and then regretted foolishly letting it slip away. Beating one’s head against a wall does no good. Those of intelligence and awareness should submit this chapter to their own wisdom and experience and realize that one should hold dear whatever one has acquired, be it friends, wealth, or anything else, and beware of losing or squandering it, for nothing that is lost can ever be regained by wishing, and remorse is to no avail.
{109} Chapter Six
The Ascetic and the Weasel
The Raja said to the Brahman, “I have heard the story of a person who, having had something in his grasp, failed to keep it and suffered remorse. Now tell me a story of someone who was too hasty in his actions and was negligent in planning and foresight. What happened to him in the end?”
The Brahman said, “He who does not base his actions on foresight and clemency will suffer censure and regret in the end. The most praiseworthy quality God has given human beings is clemency because its benefits are widespread and can include all people. The Prophet said, ‘You can never extend your wealth to all people, so extend to them your good qualities.’ If a person exhibits all noble traits and good characteristics and outstrips all his peers in them, when harshness and hard-heartedness are added, they mask all virtues and hatred is engendered. ‘If thou hadst been severe, and hard-hearted, they had surely separated themselves from about thee’ [Kor. 3:159]. It is said of Abraham that he was full of pity and compassionate because a clement person is beloved and all hearts are inclined to him. Mu‘awiya said, ‘It is necessary for a Hashimite to be generous, for an Umayyad to be clement, for a Makhzumi to be arrogant, and for a Zubayri to be brave.’ When these words reached Hasan he said, ‘He wants Hashimites to be generous so they will be poor, he wants Makhzumis to be arrogant so that people will hate them and consider them enemies, he wants Zubayris to be proud of their bravery, hurl themselves into battle, and perform laborious feats so that they will be killed and people will be rid of them, and he wants the clan of Umayya, who are his kinfolk, to be spoken of for their clemency and harmlessness so that they will be loved by the people and people will be inclined to be friendly and faithful to them.’
“The quality of clemency cannot be acquired except by firm resolve and calmness of nature, as the Prophet has said, ‘There is no clement person without gravity.’ Haste is not a pleasing quality and does not accord with the conduct of people of wisdom. ‘Haste is of the devil.’ Appropriate here is the story of the ascetic who failed to have insight and stained his hands with innocent blood by killing an innocent weasel.”
“How was that?” asked the Raja.
{110} The Ascetic and the Weasel
It has been related that an ascetic married a chaste woman whose cheeks shone like the dawn and whose tresses mirrored the dark night, and he was very anxious to have a child. When some time passed and it did not happen, he lost hope. After he had despaired God had mercy on him and his wife got pregnant. The old man rejoiced and wanted to talk about it day and night. One day he said to his wife, “Very soon now you will have a son. I will give him a good name and will instruct him in the rites of my order and train him well. In a short time he will be fit for religious service and ready to receive heavenly grace. He will attain renown and have children in whom we will take delight.”
“How do you know I will have a son?” the wife asked. “It is possible that I may not have a child at all, and if I do have one it may not be a boy. If the Creator does grant this blessing life may not be propitious. In all this there are many possibilities, and you are ignorantly building castles in the air. All your talk is just like the hermit who spilled honey and oil all over his face and hair.”
“How was that?” asked the ascetic.
The Hermit Who Spilled the Honey and Oil
There was a hermit who lived near a merchant who sold honey and oil. Every day the merchant would send a bit of his commodities for the hermit’s sustenance. He would consume some and put the rest in a pot he had hanging in a corner of his house. Gradually the pot was filled. One day he looked at it and thought, “If I can sell this honey and oil for ten dirhems I can buy five head of sheep. Every month another five will be born, and soon I will have flocks that will enrich me. I will be able to furnish a household and get a wife from a good family. Of course I will have a son. I will give him a good name and teach him well. When he is grown if he disobeys me I will chastise him with this staff.”
The thought was so powerful that he waved his staff and accidentally hit the pot. It broke, and the honey and oil all poured down on his face.
{111} “I have told this story that you may know that to say something without certitude is reprehensible and brings regret in the end.”
The ascetic was chastened by these words and ceased mentioning it. When the pregnancy was over, indeed a good-looking boy was born. They rejoiced and gave what they had vowed. When the wife’s confinement was over she wanted to go to the bath, so she entrusted the child to the father and left. An hour passed, and the king’s messenger came to summon the ascetic. Delay was impossible. There was a weasel in the house on which they relied, so he left the child with the weasel and departed. While he was gone a snake slithered over to the cradle to kill the child. The weasel killed the snake and saved the child.1
When the ascetic returned, the weasel ran to him covered in blood. The ascetic thought it was the blood of his son and fainted. When he came to he beat the weasel with his staff and crushed its head. Entering the house, he found his son safe and sound and saw the snake torn to pieces. Heartsick, he beat his head against the wall and tore at his breast, saying, “Would that this child had never been born and I had never grown to love it, for then this innocent blood would not have been shed! What calamity could be worse? I have killed my own pet for no reason and covered myself with regret. Was this the thanks to God for giving me a child in my old age? Anyone who is negligent in giving thanks and appreciating a good thing will have his name entered in the register of the sinful, and all mention of him will be erased from the record of the thankful.”
He was lost in these thoughts when his wife returned from the bath and saw what had happened. She comforted him in his grief, and they discussed it for a while. Then she said to the ascetic, “Remember this, for anyone who is hasty in his actions and fails to exercise gravity and calmness should be forewarned by this story and learn from this experience.”
{112} This has been a story of a person who rushed into something without foresight. An intelligent person should follow these examples and polish the mirror of his mind with the dictates of the wise. In all regards he should deliberate and think ahead and avoid haste and foolishness, for then fortune will smile upon him constantly and felicity will come his way.
1. Since mongooses are not commonly known in Arab and Persian lands a weasel is substituted in the Arabic (ibn ‘irs) and the Persian (rāsū), but since weasels are not domestic animals and do not kill snakes, it should be kept in mind that in Indian versions the animal is a mongoose.
{113} Chapter Seven
The Cat and the Mouse
The Raja said, “I have heard the story of a person without forethought and contemplation who cast himself into a sea of confusion and remorse and fell into a snare of loss and regret. Now tell me a story of someone so beset by enemies left and right and fore and aft that he is on the brink of death and destruction, but then he sees a way out by being benign and kind and by making himself agreeable. He escapes to safety and keeps his word to the enemy. If such a thing is not possible how can peace be achieved?”
The Brahman said, “Usually friendship and enmity are not permanent and are caused by some turn of fate. They are like springtime clouds: sometimes they rain and sometimes the sun shines through them, and they have no great permanence. Women’s agreeability, a ruler’s intimacy, a madman’s kindness, and an adolescent’s beauty all have the same quality and should not be counted on for permanence. Many is the friendship that has flourished in all kindness and unity and lasted for a long time when suddenly the evil eye strikes and it is changed to enmity and grievance, and many an ancient enmity and hereditary hatred have disappeared with one kind act and turned into firm friendship and affection. An enlightened person of intelligence will put the Prophet’s words into practice in both cases: ‘Love your friend gently, for one day he may be your enemy. Hate your enemy gently, for one day he may be your friend.’ Do not neglect to accommodate your enemy and do not give up hope of friendship with him; do not rely totally on every friend or have confidence in his fidelity, and do not ever think you are safe from the machinations of fate. A foresighted person will consider an enemy’s request for a truce to be a golden opportunity since it may ward off harm and have benefits for all the reasons stated. Anyone who keeps all these things in mind and watches out for his own best interests will sooner gain his objective and have good fortune and felicity. A good example is the story of the cat and the mouse.”
