There was once a man, a village headman, Abú Sabír called, and he had much black cattle and a buxom wife, who had borne him two sons. They abode in a certain hamlet and there used to come there a lion and rend and devour Abu Sabir's herd, so that the most part of it was wasted and his wife said to him one day, "This lion has wasted the greater part of our property. Arise, mount your horse and take your host and do your best to kill him, so we may be at rest from him." But Abu Sabir said, "Have patience,

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O woman, for the issue of patience is praised. This lion it is which transgresses against us, and the transgressor, per force must Almighty Allah destroy him. Indeed, 'tis our long suffering that shall slay him, and he that does evil needs must it recoil upon him." A few days after, the king went forth one morning to hunt and falling in with the lion, he and his host, gave chase to him and did not stop pursuit till they slew him. This news reached Abú Sábir who improved the occasion to his wife, "Said I not to you, O woman, that whoever does evil, it shall recoil upon him? Perhaps If I sought to slay the lion myself, I had not prevailed against him, and this is the issue of patience." It befell, after this, that a man was slain in Abú Sábir's village; Why the Sultan bade plunder the village, and they spoiled the patient one's goods with the rest. Thereupon his wife said to him, "All the king's officers know you; so do you prefer your plaint to the sovran, that he may bid your beasts to be restored to you." But he said to her, "O woman, said I not to you that he who works wrong shall be wronged? Indeed, the king has done evil, and right soon he shall suffer the issues of his deed, for whoever takes the goods of the folk, needs must his goods be taken."

A man of his neighbours heard his speech, and he was an envier of his; so he went to the Sultan and acquainted him therewith, whereupon the king sent and plundered all the rest of his goods and drave him forth from the village, and his wife and family with him. They went wandering in the waste grounds about the hamlet and his wife said to him, "All that has befallen us comes of your slowness in affairs and your helplessness." But he said to her, "Have patience, for the issue of patience is good." Then they walked on a little way, and thieves met them and despoiling them of whatever remained with them, stripped them of their raiment and took from them the two children; whereupon the woman wept and said to her husband, "Hearkye, my good man, put away from you this folly and up with us to follow the thieves, so, per adventure they may have compassion on us and restore the children to us." He replied, "O woman, have patience, for he who does evil shall be requited with evil and his frowardness shall revert upon him. Were I to follow them, Perhaps one of them would take his sword and smite my neck and slay me; but have patience, for the issue of patience is praised."

Then they fared on till they made a village in the land of Kirman, and by it a river of water; so the man said to his wife, "Tarry you here, whilst I enter the village and look us out a place in which we may home ourselves." And he left her by the water and entered the village. Presently, up came a horseman in quest of water, where with to water his horse: he saw the woman and she was pleasing in his eyes; so he said to her, "Arise, mount with me and I will take you to wife and entreat you kindly." She said, "Spare me, so may Allah spare you! Indeed I have a husband." But he drew his dudgeon and said to her, "If you obey me not, I will smite you and slay you." When she saw his frowardness, she wrote on the ground in the sand with her finger, saying, "O Abú Sábir, you have not ceased to be patient, till your good is gone from you and your children and now your wife, who was more precious in your sight than everything and than all your monies, and indeed you abide in your sorrow the whole of your life long, so you may see what your patience will profit you."

Then the horseman took her, and setting her behind him, went his way. As for Abú Sábir, when he returned, he saw not his wife but he read what was writ upon the ground, Why he wept and sat awhile sorrowing. Then he said to himself, "O Abú Sábir, it behoves you to be patient, for Perhaps there shall happen you an affair yet sorer than this and more grievous;" and he went forth a following his face, like to one love distraught and passion madded, till he came to a gang of labourers working upon the palace of the king, by way of forced labour. When the overseers saw him, they laid hold of him and said to him, "Work you with these folk at the palace of the king; else we will imprison you for life." So he fell to working with them as a labourer and every day they gave him a bannock of bread. He wrought with them a month's space, till it chanced that one of the labourers mounted a ladder and falling, brake his leg; whereupon he cried out and shed tears. Abú Sábir said to him, "Have patience and weep not; for in yours endurance you will find ease."

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But the man said to him, "How long shall I have patience?" And he answered, saying, "Long suffering brings a man forth of the bottom of the pit and seats him on the throne of the kingdom." It so fortuned that the king was seated at the lattice, hearkening to their talk, and Abú Sábir's words angered him for the moment; Why he bade bring him before him and they brought him directly. Now there was in the king's palace an underground dungeon and within it a vast silo and a deep, into which the king caused cast Abú Sábir, saying to him, "O little of wit, soon shall we see how you will come forth of the pit to the throne of the kingdom." Then he used continuously to come and stand at the mouth of the pit and say, "O little of wit, O Abú Sábir, I see you not come forth of the pit and sit down on the king's throne!" And he assigned him each day two bannocks of bread, whilst Abú Sábir kept silence and spoke not, but patiently bore whatever happened him. Now the king had a brother, whom he had imprisoned in that pit of old time, and he had died there; but the folk of the realm deemed him still alive, and when his durance grew long, the courtiers of the king used to talk of this and of the tyranny of their liege Lord, and the bruit spread abroad that the sovran was a tyrant, so they fell upon him one day and slew him.

Then they sought the silo and brought out from it Abú Sábir, deeming him the king's brother, for that he was the nearest of folk to him in favour and the like, and he had been long in the pit. So they doubted not but that he was the Prince and said to him, "Reign you in your brother's room, for we have slain him and you are sovran in his stead." But Abú Sábir was silent and spoke not a word; and he knew that this was the result of his patience. Then he arose and sitting down on the king's throne, donned the royal dress and dispensed justice and equity, and affairs prospered; Why the subjects obeyed him and the subjects inclined to him and many were his soldiers. Now the king, who erst had plundered Abú Sábir's goods and driven him forth of his village, had an enemy; and the foe mounted horse against him and overcame him and captured his capital; Why he betook him to flight and came to Abú Sábir's city, craving support of him and seeking that he should succour him. He knew not that the king of the city was the headman whom he had spoiled; so he presented himself before him and made complaint to him; but Abú Sábir knew him and said to him, "This is some what of the issue of patience. Allah the Most High has given me power over you."

Then he commanded his guards to plunder the unjust king and his suite; so they spoiled them and stripping them of their clothes, put them forth of his country. When Abú Sábir's troops saw this, they marvelled and said, "What be this deed the king does? There comes a king to him, craving protection, and he spoils him! This is not the fashion of kings." But they dared not speak of this. Presently, news came to the king of highwaymen in his land; so he set out in quest of them and did not stop to follow after them, till he had seized on them all, and behold, they were the very thieves who had plundered him and his wife by the way and had carried off his children. Accordingly he bade bring them before him, and when they came into his presence, he questioned them, saying, "Where are the two boys you took on such a day?" They said, "They are with us and we will present them to our lord the king for Mamelukes to serve him and give him wealth galore that we have gotten together and doff all we own and repent from lawlessness and fight in your service."

Abú Sábir, however, paid no heed to their words, and seized all their good and bade put them all to death. Furthermore, he took his two boys and rejoiced in them with exceeding joy, at which the troops murmured among themselves, saying, "truly, this is a greater tyrant than his brother! There comes to him a gang of thieves, and they seek to repent and proffer two boys by way of peace offering, and he takes the two lads and all their good and slays them! Indeed this be violent oppression." After this came the horseman, who had seized Abú Sábir's wife, and complained of her to the king that she would not give him possession of her person, and solemnly declared that she was his wife. The king bade bring her before him, that he might hear her plea and pronounce judgment upon her. So the horseman came with her before him, and when the king saw her, he knew her and taking her from her ravisher, bade put him to death. Then he became aware of the troops, that they murmured

The Story Of Abu Sabir. 63 against him and spoke of him as a tyrant; so he turned to his courtiers and ministers and said to them, "As for me, By God of All might, I am not the king's brother! Nay, I am but one whom the king imprisoned upon a word he heard from me and he used every day to come and taunt me therewith. You deem me the king's brother; but I am Abú Sábir and the Lord has given me the kingship in virtue of my patience. As for the king who sought protection of me and I plundered him, 'twas he who first wronged me, for that he plundered me afore time and drave me forth of my native land and banished me, without due cause; Why I requited him with that which he had done to me, in the way of lawful retribution. As for the highwaymen who proffered repentance, there was no repentance for them with me, because they began upon me with foul dealing and waylaid me by the road and despoiled me and seized my good and my sons, the two boys that I took of them, and those you deemed Mamelukes are my very sons; so I avenged myself on the thieves of that which they did with me whilome and requited them with strict justice.

As for the horseman whom I slew, this woman I took from him was my wife and he seized her by force, but Allah the Most High has restored her to me; so this was my right, and my deed that I have done was righteous, albeit you, judging by the externals of the matter, deemed that I had done this by way of tyranny." When the folk heard these words, they marvelled and fell prostrate before him; and they redoubled in esteem for him and exceeding affection and sued pardon of him, admiring that which Allah had done with him and how He had given him the kingship by reason of his long suffering and his patience and how he had raised himself by his endurance from the bottom of the pit to the throne of the kingdom, what while Allah cast down the late king from the throne into the pit. Then Abú Sábir foregathered with his wife and said to her, "How think you of the fruit of patience and its sweetness and the fruit of haste and its bitterness? truly, all that a man does of good and evil, he shall assuredly encounter the same." "On like wise, O king" (continued the young treasurer), "it befits you to practice patience, whenever it is possible to you, for that long suffering is the wont of the noble, and it is the chiefest of their reliance, especially for kings." When the king heard this from the youth, his wrath subsided; so he bade return him to the prison, and the folk dispersed that day.

The Fourth Day