CHAPTER LXICOUNSELS AND ADMONITIONS[771]
Myson, I will now give thee sage counsel: do thou give ear to my advice and store it up in thy mind; for so shalt thou find future salvation and present success.
Monition the First.Be not a liar. Although it is said, and commonly believed, that all sportsmen are liars, still do thou employ no falsehood. Shayk͟h Saʿdī says:—
“Truth-speaking God hath high in favour setNor will he e’er the truthful man forget.”[772]
“Truth-speaking God hath high in favour setNor will he e’er the truthful man forget.”[772]
“Truth-speaking God hath high in favour setNor will he e’er the truthful man forget.”[772]
“Truth-speaking God hath high in favour set
Nor will he e’er the truthful man forget.”[772]
Second.Act not perfidiously with thy friends and companions. Should the hawk of a rival “put in” its partridge and “fall at mark,” and none see it but thee, conceal not the fact from the enquiring owner; nay, more, go thyself and point out to him the lost hawk, for perhaps some day he may be able to return the favour.
Third.Steal not the hawk or hound of an acquaintance, for theft is one of the vilest qualities in a man. Moreover thou wilt live in dread lest the owner should come along and proclaim thee dog-stealer and hawk-stealer. If thou findest a lost hawk, proclaim it or return it to the owner,[773]so shalt thou lay up great merit for thyself in the world to come, and also prove thy nobility of mind in this. Just think of the enormity of ensnaring a lost hawk and bearing it home, while the anxious and distressed owner wanders in the snow, from peak to peak, calling her and searching for her—you in your snug home the while.
As noble deeds are recompensed in kindSo evil acts an ill requital find.
As noble deeds are recompensed in kindSo evil acts an ill requital find.
As noble deeds are recompensed in kindSo evil acts an ill requital find.
As noble deeds are recompensed in kind
So evil acts an ill requital find.
Certainly the Almighty will not be pleased, and before many days elapse, some retaliation[774]will overtake thee. My boy, copulatingwith the penis of others is poor sport: refrain or you’ll fall into evil repute.
Fourth.Should an enemy loose a hawk and the hawk happen to come into thy possession, take it thyself and return it to him; for thy generous action will remove his enmity, and, should it not do so, men will extol thee and revile him: if thou do not act thus, then leave his hawk alone and make as though thou hadst not seen it, for often have I seen an evil man quarrel with his comrades about a single partridge, and the next day the lost hawk of a comrade having by chance fallen into his evil clutches he has killed it and buried it. Do thou avoid such practices, else neither in this world nor the next wilt thou escape punishment.
“Rend’ring evil for evil is easy to do;If you’re manly do good to the man that wrongs you.”
“Rend’ring evil for evil is easy to do;If you’re manly do good to the man that wrongs you.”
“Rend’ring evil for evil is easy to do;If you’re manly do good to the man that wrongs you.”
“Rend’ring evil for evil is easy to do;
If you’re manly do good to the man that wrongs you.”
FOOTNOTES:[771]This chapter has been somewhat abridged.[772]Eastwick’s translation.[773]In India it was lawful to trap a man’s pigeon but not to keep his lost hawk. In India if a hawk is caught the whole village knows it, and the news at once spreads for a radius of thirty miles. I once lost a hawk in Dera Ghazi Khan which was caught in Kapurthala, but the news of its capture soon reached me. Such instances are common.[774]Qiṣāṣ, “exact retaliation”; an eye for an eye.
[771]This chapter has been somewhat abridged.
[771]This chapter has been somewhat abridged.
[772]Eastwick’s translation.
[772]Eastwick’s translation.
[773]In India it was lawful to trap a man’s pigeon but not to keep his lost hawk. In India if a hawk is caught the whole village knows it, and the news at once spreads for a radius of thirty miles. I once lost a hawk in Dera Ghazi Khan which was caught in Kapurthala, but the news of its capture soon reached me. Such instances are common.
[773]In India it was lawful to trap a man’s pigeon but not to keep his lost hawk. In India if a hawk is caught the whole village knows it, and the news at once spreads for a radius of thirty miles. I once lost a hawk in Dera Ghazi Khan which was caught in Kapurthala, but the news of its capture soon reached me. Such instances are common.
[774]Qiṣāṣ, “exact retaliation”; an eye for an eye.
[774]Qiṣāṣ, “exact retaliation”; an eye for an eye.