Jež in grivar

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Jež in grivar

She said: It is told that a hedgehog made his home beside a palm tree, in which a wood pigeon and his wife had built their nest and lived in ease and plenty. The hedgehog said to himself, “The wood pigeon eats the fruit of the palm, while I have no way of reaching it. I must resort to a trick.” So he dug a dwelling at the foot of the palm and made it a home for himself and his wife. Beside it he built a mosque, where he secluded himself, making a show of devotion, worship, and renunciation of the world. The wood pigeon would see him praying and keeping his devotions, and his heart was moved by such austerity. He asked him, “How many years have you lived like this?” “Thirty years,” he replied. “What do you eat?” “Whatever falls from the palm.” “What do you wear?” “Thorns, whose roughness serves me well.” “And why did you choose this place rather than another?” “I chose it beside a path so that I might guide the lost and instruct the ignorant.” The wood pigeon said, “I had thought you quite otherwise, but now I long to share in what you possess.” The hedgehog replied, “I fear your deeds may belie your words, and you will be like the farmer who, when sowing time came, neglected to sow his seed, saying, ‘I fear the season for sowing has already passed, and I should only squander my money by sowing in haste.’ But when harvest time came and he saw the people reaping, he regretted what he had lost through his neglect and delay, and died of sorrow and remorse.”

The wood pigeon said to the hedgehog, “What must I do to free myself from worldly attachments and devote myself to worshipping my Lord?” The hedgehog replied, “Begin preparing for the life to come, and content yourself with no more provisions than you need.” The wood pigeon said, “How can I do that? I am a bird, and cannot leave the palm that provides my food. Even if I could, I should not know where to settle.” The hedgehog answered, “You can shake down enough fruit from the palm to feed yourself and your wife for a year, and settle in a nest beneath the tree, where you may seek sound guidance. Then gather all the fruit you have shaken down and store it against a time of want. When the fruit is gone and the wait grows long, live on no more than will sustain you.” The wood pigeon said, “May God reward you for reminding me of the life to come and guiding me to the right path.” Then he and his wife laboured at shaking down the fruit until nothing remained on the palm. The hedgehog, delighted to find so much to eat, filled his dwelling with the fruit and stored it for his own provisions. He said to himself, “When the wood pigeon and his wife need food, they will ask me for it and covet what I have, trusting in my piety and self-denial. As they listen to my counsel and admonitions, they will draw close, and I shall seize them and eat them. Then I shall have this place to myself, and whatever fruit falls from the palm will be enough for me.”

After shaking down all the fruit, the wood pigeon and his wife descended from the palm and found that the hedgehog had carried everything into his burrow. The wood pigeon said to him, “O righteous hedgehog, wise preacher and faithful counsellor, we can find no trace of the fruit, and we know of no other fruit on which to live.” He replied, “Perhaps the winds have carried it away. To turn from sustenance to the Sustainer is the very essence of salvation, for He who fashioned mouths will not leave them without food.” He continued to admonish them in this fashion, displaying his piety in fine and flowery phrases, until they trusted him and drew near. They entered the mouth of his burrow, feeling safe from his deceit, whereupon he sprang to the entrance and snapped his teeth. When the wood pigeon saw his treachery plainly revealed, he said, “How different tonight is from last night! Do you not know that the oppressed have a defender? Beware of cunning and deceit, lest you suffer the fate of the tricksters who plotted against the merchant.” The hedgehog asked, “And what was that?” The wood pigeon replied, “I have heard that a merchant from a city called Sindah, a man of great wealth, packed his loads and prepared his wares, then set out for another city to sell them there. Two rogues followed him, carrying a little money and merchandise and pretending to be merchants themselves. They travelled with him, and when they reached their first stopping place, they agreed to trick him and take all he had. But each secretly planned to betray the other as well, saying to himself, ‘If I trick my companion after we have tricked the merchant, I shall have everything my own way and take all the money.’ Thus each harboured evil intentions towards the other. Each took some food, put poison in it, and offered it to his companion, and so they killed one another. They had been in the habit of sitting and talking with the merchant, and when they were slow to return, he went in search of them to discover what had happened. He found them both dead and understood that they had been swindlers who meant to deceive him, but whose deceit had recoiled upon themselves. The merchant escaped unharmed and took everything they had with them.”

The king said, “Shahrazad, you have opened my eyes to something I had overlooked. Will you not tell me more such tales?” She replied, “I have heard, O King, that there was once a man who owned a monkey. He was a thief, and never entered any market in his city without returning with a handsome profit. Now it happened that another man took some pieces of cloth to market to sell. He went about crying his wares, but no one made him an offer, and everyone to whom he showed them refused to buy. The thief with the monkey chanced to see this man, who had put the pieces of cloth into a bundle and sat down to rest from his exertions. The monkey began to perform before him, distracting him with the spectacle, while the thief made off with the bundle. Then he took the monkey to a deserted spot, opened the bundle, and saw the pieces of cloth. He wrapped them in a costly cloth and went to another market, where he offered the bundle and its contents for sale on condition that it should not be opened. Its low price tempted people, and one man, struck by the richness of the wrapping, bought it on those terms and took it home to his wife. When she saw it, she asked, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘Valuable merchandise that I bought for less than it is worth, so that I can sell it at a profit.’ She said, ‘You dupe! Would such merchandise be sold below its value unless it were stolen? Do you not know that a man who buys something without examining it is making a mistake, and is like the weaver?’ He asked her, ‘And what happened to him?’

“She replied, ‘I have heard that there was a weaver in a certain village who could barely earn his daily bread, despite all his toil. One day a rich man who lived nearby gave a banquet and invited the people to it. The weaver attended and saw that those dressed in fine clothes were served exquisite dishes, while the master of the house treated them with great respect because of their handsome attire. He said to himself, “If I exchanged my trade for one that required less effort and paid better, I could amass a fortune and buy fine clothes. Then my standing would rise, and I should be held in high esteem.” He noticed one of the entertainers at the feast climb a lofty wall, leap to the ground, and spring to his feet. “I must do as he has done,” he said to himself. “Surely I am no less capable.” So he climbed the wall and threw himself down, but when he struck the ground his neck broke, and he died. I have told you this only to keep evil from gaining a hold over you and tempting you to meddle in what is not your business.’ Her husband replied, ‘Not every learned man is saved by his knowledge, nor does every ignorant man perish through his ignorance. I have seen a snake charmer, skilled and versed in the ways of serpents, bitten and killed by a snake, while a man who knows nothing of them or their habits may overcome one.’ So he disregarded his wife, bought the goods, and made a habit of such dealings, purchasing things from thieves for less than their value, until at last he fell under suspicion and was ruined. In his time there was a sparrow who visited a king of the birds every day, coming and going so constantly that he was the first to enter his presence and the last to leave. Now it happened that a flock of birds assembled on a high mountain, and they said to one another, ‘Our numbers have grown, and so have our quarrels. We must have a king to oversee our affairs, so that we may be united and our differences brought to an end.’ The sparrow passed by and advised them to make the peacock king—the very king whom he used to visit. They chose the peacock and set him over them. He treated them well and appointed the sparrow his secretary and minister, so that at times the sparrow would leave his side to attend to affairs.

“One day the sparrow was absent, and the peacock became greatly troubled. While he was fretting, the sparrow appeared, and the peacock asked him, ‘What has delayed you, when you are the closest of all my followers?’ The sparrow replied, ‘I saw something that puzzled and frightened me.’ ‘What did you see?’ asked the peacock. The sparrow said, ‘I saw a man with a net, which he set up near my nest, securing its pegs and scattering grain in the middle. Then he sat down some distance away. I stayed to watch what he would do, and as I watched, fate and destiny brought a crane and his wife down into the middle of the net. They began to cry out, and the hunter rose and took them. This distressed me, and that is why I have been absent from you, O King of the Age. I shall no longer live in that nest, for fear of the net.’ The peacock replied, ‘Do not leave your home, for caution is powerless against fate.’ The sparrow obeyed him, saying, ‘I shall be patient and stay, in obedience to the king.’ Yet he remained watchful for his own safety. He brought food to the peacock, who ate his fill and drank water after his meal; then the sparrow departed. One day, as he was looking about, he saw two sparrows fighting on the ground. He said to himself, ‘How can I be the king’s minister and allow sparrows to fight in my neighbourhood? By God, I shall make peace between them!’ He went over to reconcile them, but the hunter cast his net over them all, and the sparrow was caught in its midst. The hunter rose, seized him, and handed him to a companion, saying, ‘Keep a firm hold on him. He is fat; I have never seen a finer bird.’ The sparrow said to himself, ‘I have fallen into the very danger I feared, while the peacock alone remained safe. My caution could not save me when fate descended, for no wary creature can escape what is decreed. How well the poet said:

“‘What is not to be, no artifice can bring to pass; and what is to be shall surely come. All that is destined will arrive in its appointed hour, while the ignorant man is ever the loser.’” The king said, “Shahrazad, tell me more of these tales.” She replied, “Tomorrow night, if the king—may God exalt him—spares my life.” Then dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, ceasing her permitted speech.