_ 'l'argent'] is handsome; the sun never shines on the
inauspicious man without money."[42] Before leaving home the merchant
purchased at great cost in the bazaar a wonderful parrot, that could
discourse eloquently and intelligently, and also a sharak, a species of
nightingale, which, according to Gerrans, "imitates the human voice in
so surprising a manner that, if you do not see the bird, you cannot help
being deceived"; and, having put them into the same cage, he charged his
spouse that whenever she had any matter of importance to transact she
should first obtain the sanction of both birds.
[42] "He that has money in the scales," says Saadi, "has
strength in his arms, and he who has not the command of
money is destitute of friends in the world."--Hundreds
of similar sarcastic observations on the power of wealth
might be cited from the Hindu writers, such as: "He who
has riches has friends; he who has riches has relations;
he who has riches _is even a sage_!" The following
verses in praise of money are, I think, worth
reproducing, if only for their whimsical arrangement:
Honey,
Our Money
We find in the end
Both relation and friend;
'Tis a helpmate for better, for worse.
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