THE TRIBE.
The next day Nadir returned to seek the sage, and thus addressed
him:--"Father, man is not like the flower, fixed upon a stem, he can of
himself advance towards his destiny; ought he then, like the Rose, to
wait until the traveller demands his perfume? Tell me, oh! father, what
is the destiny which God has assigned to man; what is the happiness to
which it is the will of Heaven that he should aspire?"
"My son," replied the sage, "the virtue as well as the happiness of
the plant consists in patience. There, in the retreat in which God
has placed it, let it await his will, and if it die without having
been made use of, if its salutary properties return with it into the
earth, still let it not murmur; for God has seen it, and the Most High
rejoices in his own works.
"The animal is destined for action, but in the interest, and under the
direction of man. Obedience is his duty, it is the merit which will be
accounted to him, the blessing of which he may avail himself. The horse
whose submissive ardour obeys with joy the signal of his master, feels
neither the whip nor the spur.
"Man, my son, has received the power of voluntary action. Let him not
suffer either his deed or his will to perish uselessly, but let him
earnestly seek out the portion of labour assigned to him by God in
the work of the Universe. Let him submit to it with docility, under
the guidance of the Most High, who deigns to make him the instrument
of His decrees; and let him accept with resignation the measure of
success, which it may be the will of Heaven to bestow."
"Oh! my father," demanded Nadir, "how, amidst this array of human
activities, amidst this immense variety of labours which the world
spreads out before me, how may I always distinguish the portion of the
work to which it is the will of Heaven that I should devote my powers?"
"Always look around and see in what direction thou canst do the most
good, without doing any evil.
"Ask of the creatures of God such assistance as they can render thee,
without acting in contradiction to the destiny imposed upon them by
their Father, and thine.
"Gather the fruit of the vine, but break not its stem to form thy
staff. For the stem of the vine, left to its natural destiny, will
still for many years offer a grape to the parched lips of the pilgrim.
When thou no longer needest the axe, take not its handle to feed the
flame of thy hearth, for though no longer useful to thee, the handle of
the axe is not the less destined to fulfil a long service.
"Go, my son, be active as the fire that never sleeps, docile as the
courser to the impulse of the hand which guides him, resigned as the
solitary plant."
Such were the counsels of the sage; and Nadir departed to begin life.
Nadir was beautiful as the moon, when from the blue vault of heaven she
silently looks down upon the earth; agile and proud as the stag, at
the head of a troop of fawns and young deer; compassionate as a mother
to the cries of her child. His words reverberated in the depths of the
heart like the cymbal, whose every sound responds to the step of the
warrior, burning with impatience to reach his enemy; and when his voice
burst forth in song, or when his hand swept the lyre, it seemed as if
one were transported to the borders of fountains where the sound melts
away in rapture, to the harmonious voices of earth and air.
One day he had to make his choice between two paths. "The first," it
was said, "will conduct you to the abodes of a happy people, rich in
the joys of life, and skilful in using them: your talents and beauty
will there secure to you pleasure, glory, and fortune. By following the
other, you will find a tribe of savage men, wild as their native woods,
hard as the rocks they scale." The young blood of Nadir rushed towards
the spot where difficulty and labour awaited him. He recollected the
words of the sage, and found them grateful to his heart. "There," he
said, "is a good that I can accomplish, these happy people have no need
of me." And he bent his steps towards the savage tribe.
For three days a terrible lion had spread desolation and terror
throughout their neighbourhood: all night its roaring was heard around
their dwellings: in the day he pounced silently upon his prey. The
timid maiden, gathering wild roots, dreaded to see him spring from
behind each bush; the mother dared not leave her child within the hut;
and the warrior, who went forth with spear in hand, looked anxiously
around, fearing to seek the game which he had wounded in the cavern
or the pit, lest he should meet the terrible animal ready to dispute
it with him. Nadir arrived; the temper of his scimitar, the vigour of
his arm, the courage of his soul triumphed over the lion. The people
worshipped him as a god: the heads of the tribe came to him and said,
"Thou art stronger than we are: command us; and with us thou shalt be
the master of this people."
Nadir reflected: "I can impose wise laws upon this people: but, if they
submit to them by force, they will act in opposition to the destiny
which God has appointed for man, which is, to act in accordance with
his own will." Therefore, before disclosing to them his thoughts, Nadir
listened to theirs; and their thoughts, on the lips of Nadir, became a
music enchanting to their ears. He did not force them to exchange the
spear for the plough, nor the toil of the wandering huntsman for that
of the industrious labourer; but he headed their chase, and at their
feasts purchased at the price of fatigue and danger: he expatiated, in
glowing language, on the luxury of fruits improved by culture, of cakes
made from wheaten flour, of the presents conferred by the goat, who
gives to man her milk, when he ceases to demand her blood. Clad like
them, in the skins of the wild beasts he had slain, he taught the young
men to place them on their shoulders with more elegance; and the women
were eager to fashion them with grace, in order to give pleasure to the
young men. Labour introduced among this people abundance, sociability,
and innocent gaiety; and they sang: "Nadir is a gift more precious than
a son to his mother; for he renders us happy without having ever caused
us pain."
Nevertheless, there were some among them who rebelled against the
power which the people had delegated to Nadir. First in this number
was a young man named Sibal: he was seized. The chiefs who recognized
the superiority of Nadir, and the old men, to whom he had taught the
science of counsel, exclaimed, "Let Sibal die, that his death may be a
warning to others!"
But Nadir replied: "Has he not received from God a destiny more suited
to his nature than that of dying for the benefit of others, like the
grain which they grind for food?" He ordered Sibal to be brought into
his presence, and said, "Why dost thou seek to reject my laws? Is thy
heart not strong enough to bear them?"
"Thy laws, like the honey of the bee," said Sibal, "may be sweet to
him who has made them; but I cannot feed upon the honey from another's
hive."
"Let him who is also capable of making honey," replied Nadir, "assist
those who are occupied in filling the hive. Aid me in giving laws to
this people, and govern them with me, if thou art competent; if thou
art more competent, govern them in my stead."
Sibal fell prostrate before him. The words of Nadir had sunk deep into
his heart, even as the shower which awakens the germs still sleeping
in the bosom of the earth, and he said: "Oh, Nadir! I am worthy of
something better than the death to which they would have condemned me;"
and as the father begets the sons who increase his power, so Nadir
taught wisdom to Sibal, and the wisdom of Sibal increased the strength
of Nadir; and the life of Sibal was before the eyes of this people an
example, which would have been lost by his death: for the voice of each
morning raises a hymn to the glory of the sun, but the earth forgets in
a few hours the cloud which passes away in storm.
The wonders accomplished by Nadir were related at the Court of the
Sophi, on whom this tribe depended; and the Court wished to draw him
to itself, as it does everything precious. He went, therefore, to the
Court of the Sophi. There he beheld Zuléiman, who had distinguished
himself in arms. He had surpassed every warrior in valour, every chief
in discipline. The Sophi had just delegated to him the government of a
province which he had conquered. "Govern it in peace," he said, "since
thou hast gained it by war." But Zuléiman was only fit for subjugating
men; a thing which may be done so long as war lasts. The huntsman
traces out, according to his pleasure, the enclosure within which he
wishes to shut up and pursue the beasts of the forest; but the shepherd
leads his flocks to the pastures which they themselves prefer.
Zuléiman did not crush his people by his avarice; he did not subject
them to unworthy favourites, neither did he force them to respect a
degrading idleness; on the contrary, he required them to adorn their
towns with religious edifices; he obliged them to construct, upon
the path of the traveller, fountains, shaded by palm-trees; and to
send their children to schools, in which they might be well educated.
But since, in the means he took to obtain their obedience, he did not
consult their character, but his own, they did not adapt their wills
to his laws; but as the branch, of which the child forms his bow, when
subjected to a curve contrary to its nature, wounds the hand which
forces it, or, breaking loose, darts from his grasp; so they, being
constrained by force to bend to his laws, obeyed his rule with hatred,
or evaded it by stratagem.
"These men," said Zuléiman, "are perverse. I sow amongst them the good
seed of virtue, and they return to me the tares of vice."
"Brave Zuléiman," replied Nadir, "men become perverse through hatred of
a rule opposed to their inclinations. Think not to conduct them to good
by laws at variance with the powers which God has bestowed upon them
for its attainment. The will of a tyrant is like a thunderbolt hurled
against a rock: the rock turns it off, and it strikes a temple."
One day a slave was labouring with his axe on the gnarled trunk of an
oak which he wished to fell. It had already wearied his arm, and he
demanded time for repose, but in vain; Zuléiman would not grant it.
Then the slave, summoning his remaining strength, raised his axe--but
only to let it fall in vengeance on the head of Zuléiman. Nadir hurried
to the spot, and found him expiring. Zuléiman said to him: "If I sought
to precipitate events, it was only that the short period of life might
still leave me time for the accomplishment of great deeds."
"Oh! Zuléiman," replied Nadir, "nothing can be truly great, but that
which accords with the destiny traced out for man by the finger of Him
who alone is great." But Nadir mourned for Zuléiman: for he had been
powerful in action, and only failed by depending too much on obedience.
Nadir also visited the Palace of Massour. He beheld him, like a fruit,
nourished by the prodigality of a too fertile soil, by the abundance
of the fountains, and the moist freshness of the shade; the purifying
breath of heaven, the generous ardour of the sun, have never penetrated
its retreat. Swelled with useless juice, insipid and discoloured, it
hangs, bearing down by its weight the branch which supports it. Such
appeared Massour. Life was to him dull and weary; for he knew not how
to restore its vigour. In vain he sought for novelty in his luxuries:
the cup of pleasure was filled to the very brim; to pour in more was
but to make it overflow, without increasing its contents.
Massour, too, was threatened by misfortune; and he beheld it as we
behold a phantom, which chills us with terror, though we know it is but
a phantom. His riches no longer gave him joy; yet to preserve these
riches, he abandoned, though with tears, to the hatred of a powerful
enemy, the friend who had implored his aid.
Then Nadir departed from the Palace of Massour, saying, "God has given
activity to man, as he has given the current to the waters, to preserve
them from corruption."