Mahmud from Ghazna, while walking through the garden, tripped over a blind dervish who was sleeping under a bush. As soon as he woke up, the dervish shouted:
- Hey, you clumsy ignoramus! Do you have no sense that you are stepping on the sons of men!
Mahmud's companion, who was one of his courtiers, said:
“Your blindness is matched only by your stupidity!” Since you cannot see, you must be careful when accusing anyone of being headless.
“If you want to say by this,” replied the dervish, “that I should not criticize the Sultan, then you should realize your short-sightedness.”
Mahmud was amazed that the blind beggar knew that he was in the presence of the Sultan. And he said softly:
- O dervish, why on earth should the Sultan listen to abuse from you?
“Precisely because,” said the dervish, “that isolating people from the criticism that is due to them is responsible for their downfall.” Burnt metal shines brightest, a knife that has been struck with a whetstone cuts best, and only a well-trained hand can lift a load.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru