Original content

English translation

One day the caliph was eating his midday meal, and a roasted lamb had been set before him. A Bedouin arrived from the desert, and the caliph called him forward. The Bedouin sat down and set to eating with utter greed. The caliph said: What an ill-omened wretch you are, that you tear this lamb apart and devour it so eagerly, as though its father had gored you with its horn. The Bedouin replied: That is not so; rather, you gaze upon it with such an eye of compassion, and hold back so from tearing and eating it, as though its mother had suckled you with her milk. The master is so merciful and tender toward his own wealth that he looks with an eye of pity upon every single thing. Should the slightest harm befall his lamb or ewe, he would sacrifice mother and beloved child for their sake. For instance, if the master should set bread and roasted lamb before you at the table, should you one day become his guest — Better that you make a hundred breaches in his teeth with the stone of oppression than that a single breach fall in his bread from your tooth. Better that he take a hundred wounds upon flank and back at your hand than that you fill your own empty belly with his roast.