Concept

Jami's tale dramatizes an ideal of benevolence (كرم and احسان) in which the giver expects, and will accept, nothing in return. The Bedouin, though owning little beyond his camels, slaughters one for his guests on each successive day, insisting that the cauldron of his bounty must boil fresh daily rather than lean on the previous night's leftovers. When the departing guests leave behind a purse of gold dinars and silver dirhams as repayment, he confronts them at spear-point until they take it back. The moral is that true generosity is unconditional: to accept any payment for hospitality would sully its purity, so the host defends the honor of his selfless giving even by threat of force.