42 INDOOR STUDIES 



den of Sadi of Shiraz, witli an eye to its application 

 to his own case; but as lie evidently found it not 

 in, but under, Sadi's lines, it has an especial sig- 

 nificance, and may fitly close this paper : — 



"They asked a wise man, saying: ' Of the many 

 celebrated trees which the Most High God has 

 created, lofty and umbrageous, they call none azad, 

 or free, excepting the cypress, which bears no fruit; 

 what mystery is there in this 1 ' He replied : ' Each 

 has its appropriate produce and appointed season, 

 during the continuance of which it is fresh and 

 blooming, and during their absence dry and with- 

 ered: to neither of which states is the cypress 

 exposed, being always floiirishing; and of this na- 

 ture are the azads, or religious independents. Fix 

 not thy heart on that which is transitory; for the 

 Dijlah or Tigris will continue to flow through Bag- 

 dad after the race of caliphs is extinct: if thy hand 

 has plenty, be liberal as the date- tree; but if it 

 aifords nothing to give away, be an azad, or free 

 man, like the cypress. ' " 



