In this allegory from Attar's Mosibat Nameh, King Mahmud explains that his vast army and elephants exist solely to secure his daily loaf of bread. The madman retorts that he enjoys his bread in peace without any of these burdens. The story contrasts the heavy, anxiety-ridden price of worldly power with the light, carefree contentment of spiritual poverty and detachment, illustrating the irrationality of worldly accumulation.