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53 - Khusaro,
Shireen and the Fisherman
King
Khusaro of Persia loved fish very much. One day he was sitting in his saloon, he and
Shireen, his wife, that a fisherman came with a great fish. He presented it to
the King. King Khusaro got very happy to see it and ordered his man to
give him 4,000 Dirhams.
Shireen
said to the King - "You have not done good." He asked -
"Why." She said - "Because if you will give such a sum to
one of your courtiers, he will consider it as unworthy and will say,
"He has given me only this much what he gave to the fisherman."
And if you will give him less, then he will say, "He is insulting me
and giving me less than what he gave to the fisherman." Khusaro said
- "You are right, but it would dishonor a King if I go back on his
gift, and the thing is done, is done, it cannot be reverted."
Shireen
said - "If you wish, I can suggest you a way to take back that money
from him." The King asked, "How?" She said - "Call him
back the fisherman, if you please, and ask him if the fish is male or
female. If he says male, you say, "We want a female." and if he
says a female, then you may say, "We want a male."
So the
King sent for the fisherman who was a man of wits, and said to him -
"Is this fish male or female?" The fisherman kissed the ground
and replied - "This fish is an hermaphrodite, neither male, nor
female." Khusaro laughed at his clever reply and ordered to give him
4,000 Dirhams again. So the fisherman went to the treasurer, took his 8,000
Dirhams, put them in a sack and set off to his home. While going home, he dropped a
Dirham on the floor. He took off the bag from his shoulder and bent to
pick it up.
The
King and Shireen were looking at all this. The queen said - "O
King, Didn't you notice the meanness of the man, that he bent to take up
the one Dirham and could not leave it to for any of the servants of the
King?" When he heard this he got very angry with the fisherman, he
said - "You are right."
So he
called the man back and said to him - "How low-minded you are! You
are not a man! How could you put the bag down with all this money just to pick
up one Dirham from the floor, and did not leave it where it fell?"
The fisherman kissed the earth before him and replied - "May Allaah
prolong
the life of the King. In fact, I did not pick it up because of its value, but
I picked it up because on one of its faces the King's face was engraved
and on the other was his name; and I feared lest anybody should
unwittingly set his foot upon it. It will dishonor the name and the
presence of the King, and I will be blamed for this offence."
This
King wondered at his words, and was so pleased with his reply that he
ordered to give him 4,000 Dirham more. The King bade cry across the kingdom
- "Nobody should be guided by women's counsel, because who
follows her council loses."
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