STORY XLV
Several travellers were on a journey together, and equally sharing each other's troubles and comforts. I desired to accompany them, but they would not agree. Then I said: "It is foreign to the manners of great men to turn away the face from the company of the poor, and so deprive themselves of the advantage they might derive therefrom; because I for one consider myself sufficiently strong and energetic to be of service to men, and not an encumbrance. Although I am not riding on a beast, I shall aid you in carrying blankets.
One of them said: "Do not be grieved in the words thou hast heard, because some days ago a thief in the guise of a Dervish arrived and joined our company. How can people know who is in the dress? The writer is aware what the book contains. As the state of Dervishes is safe,[1] we entertained no suspicion of him, and received him as a friend.
- "THe outward state of Arifs is the patched dress;
- It suffices as a display to the face of the people.
- The abandoning of the world, of lust and desire
- Is sanctity; not the abandonment of the robe only.
"We travelled one day till the night set in, during which we slept near a fort, and the graceless thief, taking up the water-pot of a companion, pretending to go for an ablution, departed for plunder.
- A pretended Saint who wears the Dervish garb
- Has made of the Ka'bah's robes the covering of an ass.[2]
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