Chapter II: On the Beneficial Results of a Small Favour

A youth, with a Dang, had a kindness supplied ;An old man's desire, he had once gratified.By Heaven, for a crime, he was suddenly bound ;The king sent him off to the gibbeting-ground.From doors, streets and roofs, folk were viewing in groupsThe clamouring mob and careering of troops.When, in midst of the tumult, the old Dervish sawThe youth the crowd's captive and doomed by the law,His heart for the poor, gen'rous victim was grieved,For once by his hand had his heart been relieved.He uttered a wail that the king was no more ;"The world he has left—a good nature he bore !"He was wringing his hands, in apparent distress ;The troops with their sabres drawn, heard his address.A noise of lamenting from all of them rose ;On their heads, face, and shoulders, they dealt themselves blows.They hurried on foot to the Royal Court door,And saw the king sit on his throne, as before.The young man escaped and the old man was drawnBy the neck, as a captive, before the king's throne.With daunting and threat'ning, the sultan inquired :—"In reporting me dead, by what aim were you fired?In my nature both goodness and uprightness lie,In spite of that, why did you wish me to die?"The courageous old man raised his voice, in this way:—"Oh thou, whom the whole of the world must obey!By the statement, untrue, that the sultan was dead,You yet live, and one, helpless, escaped with his head."This story so greatly astonished the king,That he gave him a present and said not a thing.Then, stumbling and rising, the helpless young man,Away in a state of bewilderment ran.A man from the square of requital, thus spake :—"How did you deliver your life from the stake ?""Oh intelligent asker !" he breathed in his ear,"By a man and a Dang from the noose I got clear."For this reason a man in the ground casts the seed ;That he may gather fruit, in the season of need.One grain may the greatest misfortune restrain ;Great Ogg, you perceive, was by Moses staff slain.The Chosen One's saying is true, you can tell,That bestowing and goodness misfortune repel.You won't see an enemy's foot in this place,Where the conquering Bu-Bakar-Sad shows his face.A world gets delight through your presence and grace ;A world, saying, " Joy ever be in your face !"Not a man in your reign on another can tread ;The thorn does not harass the rose in its bed.You're the shade of the favour of God o'er the ground ;You resemble the prophet, in mercy profoundWhat although a man may not your worth realize?The Great Night of Pow'r, too, he can't recognize.