Ch 07 On The Effects Of Education Story 18

I noticed the son of a rich man, sitting on the grave of his father and quarreling with a dervish-boy, saying: ‘The sarcophagus of my father’s tomb is of stone and its epitaph is elegant. The pavement is of marble, tesselated with turquois-like bricks. But what resembles thy father’s grave? It consists of two contiguous bricks with two handfuls of mud thrown over it.’ The dervish-boy listened to all this and then observed: ‘By the time thy father is able to shake off those heavy stones which cover him, mine will have reached paradise.’

         An ass with a light burden  
         No doubt walks easily.  
         A dervish who carries only the load of poverty  
         Will also arrive lightly burdened at the gate of death  
         Whilst he who lived in happiness, wealth and ease  
         Will undoubtedly on all these accounts die hard.  
         At all events, a prisoner who escapes from all his bonds  
         Is to be considered more happy than an amir taken prisoner.