When the plains of India were burnt up by a long continuance of drought,
Hamet and Raschid, two neighbouring shepherds, faint with thirst, stood
at the common boundary of their grounds, with their flocks and herds
panting round them, and in extremity of distress prayed for water.
On a sudden the air was becalmed, the birds ceased to chirp, and the
flocks to bleat. They turned their eyes every way, and saw a being of
mighty stature advancing through the valley, whom they knew upon his
nearer approach to be the Genius of Distribution. In one hand he held
the sheaves of plenty, and in the other, the sabre of destruction.
The shepherds stood trembling, and would have retired before him; but
he called to them with a voice gentle as the breeze that plays in the
evening among the spices of Sabæa: “Fly not from your benefactor,
children of the dust! I am come to offer you gifts, which only your own
folly can make vain. You here pray for water, and water I will bestow;
let me know with how much you will be satisfied: speak not rashly;
consider, that of whatever can be enjoyed by the body, excess is no less
dangerous than scarcity. When you remember the pain of thirst, do not
forget the danger of suffocation. Now, Hamet, tell me your request.”
“O Being, kind and beneficent,” says Hamet, “let thine eye pardon my
confusion. I entreat a little brook, which in summer shall never be dry,
and in winter never overflow.” “It is granted,” replies the Genius; and
immediately he opened the ground with his sabre, and a fountain bubbling
up under their feet, scattered its rills over the meadows; the flowers
renewed their fragrance, the trees spread a greener foilage, and the
flocks and herds quenched their thirst.
Then turning to Raschid, the Genius invited him likewise to offer his
petition. “I request,” says Raschid, “that thou wilt turn the Ganges
through my grounds, with all his waters, and all their inhabitants.”
Hamet was struck with the greatness of his neighbour’s sentiments, and
secretly repined in his heart, that he had not made the same petition
before him; when the Genius spoke, “Rash man, be not insatiable!
remember, to thee that is nothing which thou canst not use; and how are
thy wants greater than the wants of Hamet?” Raschid repeated his desire,
and pleased himself with the mean appearance that Hamet would make in the
presence of the proprietor of the Ganges. The Genius then retired towards
the river, and the two shepherds stood waiting the event. As Raschid was
looking with contempt upon his neighbour, on a sudden was heard the roar
of torrents, and they found by the mighty stream that the mounds of the
Ganges were broken. The flood rolled forward into the lands of Raschid,
his plantations were torn up, his flocks overwhelmed, he was swept away
before it, and a crocodile devoured him.