A hedgehog once too up his abode by the side of a date-palm, whereon
roosted a wood-pigeon and his wife that had built their next there and
lived a life of ease and enjoyment. So he said to himself, "This
pigeon-pair eateth of the fruit of the date tree and I have no means of
getting at it; but needs must I find some fashion of tricking them.
Upon this he dug a hole at the foot of the palm tree and took up his
lodgings there, he and his wife; moreover, he built an oratory beside
the hole and went into retreat there and made a show of devotion and
edification and renunciation of the world. The male pigeon saw him
praying and worshipping, and his heart was softened towards him for his
excess of devoutness; so he said to him, "How many years hast thou been
thus?" Replied the hedgehog, "During the last thirty years." "What is
thy food?" "That which falleth from the palm- tree." "And what is thy
clothing?" "Prickles! and I profit by their roughness." "And why hast
thou chosen this for place rather than another?" "I chose it and
preferred it to all others that I might guide the erring into the right
way and teach the ignorant!" "I had fancied thy case," quoth the
wood-pigeon, "other than this, but now I yearn for that which is with
thee." Quoth the hedgehog, "I fear lest thy deed contradict thy word
and thou be even as the husbandman who, when the seed-season came,
neglected to sow, saying, Verily I dread lest the days bring me not to
my desire and by making hast to sow I shall only waste my substance!'
When harvest-time came and he saw the folk earing their crops, he
repented him of what he had lost by his tardiness and he died of
chagrin and vexation." Asked the wood-pigeon, "What then shall I do
that I may be freed from the bonds of the world and cut myself loose
from all things save the service of my Lord?" Answered the hedgehog,
"Betake thee to preparing for the next world and content thyself with a
pittance of provision." Quoth the pigeon, "How can I do this, I that am
a bird and unable to go beyond the date-tree whereon is my daily bread?
And even could I do so, I know of no other place wherein I may wone."
Quoth the hedgehog, "Thou canst shake down of the fruit of the
date-tree what shall suffice thee and thy wife for a year's provaunt;
then do ye take up your abode in a nest under the trunk, that ye may
prayerfully seek to be guided in the right way, and then turn thou to
what thou hast shaken down and transport it all to thy home and store
it up against what time the dates fail; and when the fruits are spent
and the delay is longsome upon you, address thyself to total
abstinence." Exclaimed the pigeon, "Allah requite thee with good for
the righteous intention wherewith thou hast reminded me of the world to
come and hast directed me into the right way!" Then he and his wife
worked hard at knocking down the dates, till nothing was left on the
palm-tree, whilst the hedgehog, finding whereof to eat, rejoiced and
filled his den with the fruit, storing it up for his subsistence and
saying in his mind, "When the pigeon and his wife have need of their
provision, they will seek it of me and covet what I have, relying upon
thy devoutness and abstinence; and, from what they have heard of my
counsels and admonitions, they will draw near unto me. Then will I make
them my prey and eat them, after which I shall have the place and all
that drops from the date-tree to suffice me." presently, having shaken
down the fruits, the pigeon and his wife descended from the tree-top
and finding that the hedgehog had removed all the dates to his own
place, said to him, "O hedgehog! thou pious preacher and of good
counsel, we can find no sign of the dates and know not on what else we
shall feed." Replied the hedgehog, "Probably the winds have carried
them away; but the turning from the provisions to the Provider is of
the essence of salvation, and He who the mouth-corners cleft, the mouth
without victual hath never left." And he gave not over improving the
occasion to them on this wise, and making a show of piety and cozening
them with fine words and false until they put faith in him and accepted
him and entered his den and had no suspicion of his deceit. Thereupon
he sprang to the door and gnashed his teeth, and the wood-pigeon,
seeing his perfidy manifested, said to him, "What hath to-night to do
with yester-night? Knowest thou not that there is a Helper for the
oppressed? Beware of craft and treachery, lest that mishap befal thee
which befel the sharpers who plotted against the merchant." "What was
that?" asked the hedgehog. Answered the pigeon:—I have heard tell this
tale of