that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
I do not recollect whether, in any other part of this work, I have given the following story from the Hatem Tai Nameh. Hatem Tai was an Arabian nobleman, who flourished some time before the Mahommedan era; he was reputed the most generous and liberal man in all the east. One day he slew one hundred camels, and made a feast, to which all the Arabian lords and all the peasantry in the district were invited. About the time of the feast he took a walk towards a neighbouring wood, to see if he could find any person whom he might invite to partake of the entertainment which he had then provided. Walking along the skirt of the wood, he espied an old man coming out of it, laden with a burden of faggots; he accosted him and asked if he had not heard of the entertainment made that day by Hatem Tai. The old man answered in the affirmative. He asked him why he did not attend and partake with the rest. The old man answered: "He that is able to gain his bread even by collecting faggots in the wood, should not be beholden even to Hatem Tai." This is a noble saying, and has long been a rule of conduct to the writer of this note.