KHUSRAU AND SHIRIN AND THE FISHERMAN
King Khusrau[FN#128] Shahinshah of Persia loved fish; and one
day, as he sat in his saloon, he and Shirin his wife, there came
a fisherman, with a great fish, and he laid it before the King,
who was pleased and ordered the man four thousand
dirhams.[FN#129] Thereupon Shirin said to the King, "Thou hast
done ill." Asked he, "And why?", and she answered, "Because if,
after this, though give one of thy courtiers a like sum, he will
disdain it and say, ‘He hath but given me the like of what he
gave the fisherman.' And if thou give him less, the same will
say, ‘He despiseth me and giveth me less than he gave the
fisherman.'" Rejoined Khusrau, "Thou art right, but it would
dishonour a king to go back on his gift; and the thing is done."
Quoth Shirin, "If thou wilt, I will contrive thee a means to get
it back from him." Quoth he, "How so?"; and she said, "Call
back, if thou so please, the fisherman and ask him if the fish be
male or female. If he say, ‘Male,' say thou, ‘We want a female,'
and if he say, ‘Female,' say, ‘We want a male.'" So the King
sent for the fisherman, who was a man of wit and astuteness, and
said to him, "Is this fish male or female?" whereupon the
fisherman kissed the ground and answered, "This fish is an
hermaphrodite,[FN#130] neither male nor female." Khusrau laughed
at his clever reply and ordered him other four thousand dirhams.
So the fisherman went to the treasurer and, taking his eight
thousand dirhams, put them in a sack he had with him. Then,
throwing it over his shoulder, he was going away, when he dropped
a dirham; so he laid the bag off his back and stooped down to
pick it up. Now the King and Shirin were looking on, and the
Queen said, "O King, didst thou note the meanness of the man, in
that he must needs stoop down to pick up the one dirham, and
could not bring himself to leave it for any of the King's
servants?" When the King heard these words, he was exceeding
wroth with the fisherman and said, "Thou art right, O Shirin!"
So he called the man back and said to him, "Thou low-minded
carle! Thou art no man! How couldst thou put the bag with all
this money off thy back and bend thee groundwards to pick up the
one dirham and grudge to leave it where it fell?" Thereupon the
fisherman kissed the earth before him and answered, "May Allah
prolong the King's life! Indeed, I did not pick up the dirham
off the ground because of its value in my eyes; but I raised it
off the earth because on one of its faces is the likeness of the
King and on the other his name; and I feared lest any should
unwittingly set foot upon it, thus dishonouring the name and
presentment of the King, and I be blamed for this offence." The
King wondered at his words and approved of his wit and
shrewdness, and ordered him yet another four thousand dirhams.
Moreover, he bade cry abroad in his kingdom, saying, "It behoveth
none to be guided by women's counsel; for whoso followeth their
advice, loseth, with his one dirham, other twain."[FN#131] And
here is the tale they tell of
