It is related that a Hermit of pure disposition, abstemious and
virtuous, had made his cell in one of the environs of Baghdad, and
passed his morning and evening hours in the worship of the All-wise
King, and by these means had shaken his skirt clear from the dust of
worldly affairs. He had bowed his head in the corner of contentment
under the collar of freedom from care, and rested satisfied with the
portion that was supplied to him from the invisible world.
One of his sincere disciples got knowledge of the poverty and fastings
of the Holy Man, and by way of offering, brought to the hermitage a she
buffalo, young and fat, with whose delicious milk the palate of desire
was oiled and sweetened.
A thief beheld the circumstance, and his hungry appetite was excited;
and he set off for the cell of the recluse. A demon, too, joined him
in the likeness of a man. The thief asked him: "Who art thou, and
whither goest thou?" He replied: "I am a demon, who have assumed this
shape, and, putting on this guise, am going to the hermitage of the
recluse, for many of the people of this country, through the blessing
of his instruction, have begun to repent and to be converted and the
market of our temptations has become flat. I wish to get an
opportunity and kill him. This is my story which thou hast heard; now,
tell me, who art thou and what is thy story?" The thief replied:
"I am a man whose trade is roguery, and I am occupied night and day
with thinking how to steal some one's goods and impose the scar of
affliction on his heart. I am now going, as the recluse has got a fat
buffalo, to steal it and use it for my own wants." The demon said;
"Praise be to God that the bond of kinship is strong between us, and
this alone is sufficient to ally us, since the object of both is to
assail him."
They then proceeded on their way, and at night reached the cell of the
recluse. The latter had finished the performance of his daily worship,
and had gone to sleep, just as he was, on his prayer-carpet. The thief
bethought himself, that if the demon attempted to kill him he would
probably awake and make an outcry; and the other people who were his
neighbours, would be alarmed, and in that case it would be impossible
to steal the buffalo. The demon, too, reflected that if the thief
carried off the buffalo from the house, he must of course open the
door. Then the noise of the door would very likely awaken the recluse,
and he should have to postpone killing him. He then said to the thief:
"Do thou wait and give me time to kill the hermit, and then do thou
steal the buffalo." The thief rejoined: "Stop thou till I steal the
buffalo, and then kill the hermit."
This difference was prolonged between them, and at last the words of
both came to wrangling. The thief was so annoyed that he called out to
the recluse: "There is a demon here who wants to kill thee." The
demon, too, shouted: "Here is a thief, who wants to steal thy buffalo."
The hermit was roused by the uproar, and raised a cry, whereupon the
neighbours came, and both the thief and the demon ran way; and the life
and property of the Holy Man remained safe and secure through the
quarrel of his enemies.
When the two hostile armies fall to strife,
Then from its sheath what need to draw the knife?