In this tale from Jami's Haft Awrang, a Sufi crossing the desert on the foot of trust in God (tawakkul) is welcomed by a Bedouin host. The host's chained slave, whose beautiful hudi (camel-driver's song) had so enraptured the camels that they raced until they perished, pleads with the arriving guest to intercede on his behalf. Because the guest holds an almost sacred status in the host's eyes, his petition for the slave is honored and the offense forgiven. Allegorically the episode dramatizes two linked Sufi ideals: hospitality (mihman-nawazi) and intercession (shafa'at). The guest stands for a favored soul or prophetic figure whose plea the Ultimate Host, God, will not refuse, so that divine mercy overrides strict retribution. The destructive force of the slave's singing also points to the overwhelming, even ruinous, power of beauty and ecstatic listening (sama') upon the receptive soul.