King Khusrau Shahinshah of Persia loved fish; and one day, as he sat in his saloon, he and Shírin his wife, there came a fisherman, with a great fish, and he laid it before the King, who was pleased and ordered the man four thousand dirhams. Thereupon Shirin said to the King, "You have done ill." he asked, "And why?", and she answered, "Because if, after this, you give one of your courtiers a like sum, he will disdain it and say, He has but given me the like of what he gave the fisherman.' And if you give him less, the same will say, 'He despises me and gives me less than he gave the fisherman.' " Rejoined Khusrau, "You are right, but it would dishonour a king to go back on his gift; and the thing is done." Shirin, said, "If you will, I will contrive you a means to get it back from him." He said, "How so?"; and she said, "Call back, if you so please, the fisherman and ask him if the fish be male or female. If he say, 'Male,' say you, 'We want a female,' and if he say, 'Female,' say, 'We want a male.' "

So the King sent for the fisherman, who was a man of wit and acuteness, and said to him, "Is this fish male or female?" whereupon the fisherman kissed the ground and answered, "This fish is an hermaphrodite, neither male nor female." Khusrau laughed at his clever reply and ordered him other four thousand dirhams. So the fisherman went to the treasurer and, taking his eight thousand dirhams, put them in a sack he had with him. Then, throwing it over his shoulder, he was going away, when he dropped a dirham; so he laid the bag off his back and stooped down to pick it up. Now the King and Shirin were looking on, and the Queen said, "O King, did you note the meanness of the man, in that he must needs stoop down to pick up the one dirham, and could not bring himself to leave it for any of the King's servants?" When the King heard these words, he was exceeding wroth with the fisherman and said, "You are right, O Shirin!" So he called the man back and said to him, "You low minded fellow! You are no man! How could you put the bag with all this money off your back and bend you groundwards to pick up the one dirham and grudge to leave it where it fell?"

Thereupon the fisherman kissed the earth before him and answered, "May Allah prolong the King's life! Indeed, I did not pick up the dirham off the ground because of its value in my eyes, but I raised it off the earth because on one of its faces is the likeness of the King and on the other his name; and I feared lest any should unwittingly set foot upon it, thus dishonouring the name and presentment of the King, and I be blamed for this offence." The King wondered at his words and approved of his wit and shrewdness, and ordered him yet other four thousand dirhams. Moreover, he bade cry abroad in his kingdom, saying, "It behoves none to be guided by women's counsel; for whoever follows their advice, loses, with his one dirham, other twain." And here is the tale they tell of