Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/113

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Stories LXIV and LXV

STORY LXIV

I complained to one of the Sheikhs that a certain man had falsely accused mem of lasciviousness. He replied: "Put him to shame by thy good conduct."

Be thou well behaved, that a maligner may not find occasion to speak of thy faults. When the harp is in proper tune, how can the hand of the musician correct it?

STORY LXV

One of the Sheikhs of Syria, being asked on the true state of the Sûfis, replied: "In former times they were a tribe in the world, apparently distressed, but in reality contented; whereas to-day they are people outwardly satisfied, but inwardly discontented."

If my heart roams away from thee every hour, thou wilt find no tranquillity in solitude; but if thou possesses property, dignity, fields, and wares, if thy heart be with God, thou wilt be a recluse.

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