In Attar's Elahi Nameh, the tale of Sultan Sanjar and the ascetic Rukn al-Din Akkaf serves as a sharp critique of royal taxation and the inherent exploitation in worldly kingship. When Sanjar visits the ascetic, Rukn al-Din rebukes him for his systemic extortion of the poorest subjects, illustrated by the imagery of taking a cut from an old woman who spins thread with her heart's blood just to buy meager supplies like fat and onions. By characterizing the king's wide-scale taxation (taking a goat from every flock) as a form of begging ('geda'i') that is worse than actual poverty, Attar subverts the traditional glory of kingship, portraying the Sultan not as a self-sufficient provider, but as a parasite reliant on the suffering of the most vulnerable.