In Attar's 'The Tale of Sultan Mahmud and the Washerman' (حکایت سلطان محمود و گازر), the ten yards of canvas (karpas/کرباس) and ten bricks (khesht/خشت) serve as memento mori, symbolizing the ultimate material needs of every human being upon death: a burial shroud and a grave. Through the words of the humble washerman and brickmaker, Sultan Mahmud—and by extension the reader—is reminded of the futility of worldly greed and the universal equality brought by death.