C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Sa’dī’s Interview with Sultan Ābāqā-ān
By Sa’dī (c. 1213–1291)
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“‘In the end you will be able to carry nothing from this world but blessings or curses: now farewell.’”
The Sultan directed him to compose the purport of this in verse, on which he immediately repeated the following stanzas:—
“Sacred be the revenue of the king who protects his subjects from injury; for it is the earned hire of the shepherd.
“But poison be the portion of the prince who is not the guardian of his people; for whosoever he devours is a capitation tax exacted from the followers of Mohammed.”
Ābāqā-ān wept, and several times said: “Am I the guardian of my subjects or not?” To which the Shaikh as often replied: “If you are, the first stanza is in favor of you; but if not, the second is applicable.”
On taking his final leave, Sa’dī repeated the following verses:
“A king is the shadow of the Deity; and the shadow must be attached to the substance on which it depends.
“His people are incapable of doing good except under his all-governing influence.
“Every good action performed on earth is affected by the justice of its rulers.
“His kingdom cannot abound in rectitude, whose counsel is erroneous.”
Ābāqā-ān highly applauded the above and the preceding verses; [and the Persian biographer adds a remark, that] “in these times none of the learned men or Shaikhs of the age would venture to offer such even to a shopkeeper or butcher; which accounts indeed for the present state of society!”