Parable 4. Tricks of life

 
The news that a famous sage-seer had arrived in Baghdad, the capital of the caliphate, spread quickly throughout the region. The young ruler himself expressed a desire to meet the elder in person, and invited him to his palace.
The seer accepted the invitation and came to see the ruler.
 “Honored One!” said the ruler to the elder. “Only recently did I become the head of the state. Tell me, is there a difference between fate and life?”
 “Oh, great ruler! A person writes their own fate by the decisions they make. It gives two answers: either retribution or reward.”
 “So life isn’t the same as fate?”
 “No, great ruler! Life plays games with us, sets up tricks. We write our fate in how we respond to these tricks, by this decision or that.”   
 “Tell me, wise seer, what is to be feared most?”
 “Oh, great ruler! Most of all you should fear decisions that don’t require effort. That’s where the tricks in life lurk and retribution follows.”
 “And, what is there to rejoice about most of all, sir?”
 “Oh, great ruler! Rejoice most about decisions that require effort. No tricks in life are attempted there, and rewards follow.” 
On noticing the bewilderment in the ruler’s eyes, the elder said:
 “Oh, great ruler! I can help you understand what I’m saying. If you agree, let’s put on the shabby clothes of poor wanderers and go out. Take only a purse with a hundred gold coins.”
After putting on old garments, the ruler and the elder went out into the city.
The wise man led the ruler around the outskirts of the city for three long days, in total silence. The ruler was overwhelmed by hunger and thirst. His legs wobbled from exhaustion.
Finally, the elder knocked on the door of an upscale house.
 “Who are you, and what do you want, you ragamuffins?” the owner of the house asked rudely through the cracked-open door.
 “We are poor wanderers, sir! For three days, we haven’t had a crumb to eat and are dying of thirst. Would you let us spend the night and give us a piece of bread? Tomorrow morning we will bless you and leave!”
 “Clean the stable, feed the sheep, and then you’ll get a piece of bread. You can spend the night there, in the stable.”
In the evening, exhausted from fatigue, they shared a piece of stale bread and lay down on straw, right there next to the sheep.
 “We thank you, sir, for your concern,” said the wise man in the morning and handed the purse of gold coins to the rich man.
The astonished owner snatched the purse from the elder’s hands and hurriedly slammed the door in the face of the bewildered ruler.
In the evening, they knocked on the door of an old, sagging wooden house. A young man opened the door, and four children appeared from behind his back.
 “Hello, gentlemen! What can I do for you?” the owner asked politely.
 “We are poor wanderers. We haven’t eaten or slept in three days! Would you let us stay the night in your stable?”
 “How can I let you sleep next to cattle, gentlemen? My house is cramped and old, but we will share our beds with you. We can’t afford any delicacies, but we’ll share what we enjoy with you equally. Welcome,” – the master of the house opened the door wide and invited the travelers in.
 “My children and wife and I will go to the field to work, and you rest. Bread and cheese and milk are on the table,” said the owner early in the morning as he closed the door behind him.
When everyone had gone, the wise man said to the ruler:
 “Now, we need to set this house on fire. Thankfully, the wood is old and rotten. Almost nothing will be salvageable.”
The distraught ruler did not utter a word, but he set the house on fire as the elder had instructed.
 “Now, my ruler, our interaction has come to an end.”
 “But tell me, wise seer! Why did you give the money to that rich man who only let us sleep with the sheep, and told me to set fire to the house of this unfortunate family who shared all they had with us?”
 “I showed you what we were talking about,” – the elder smiled. “The rich man lacked the resources to put all his money into one business that would fail and make him a pauper. That’s how much gold was in your purse. Isn’t that a trick in life? The rich man didn’t make the effort, so retribution is exacted.”   
 “And what about the poor man’s family?”
 “They will run to the ashes and start raking through the remains of their house, hoping to salvage at least some things from the fire.  As they rake, they will find a huge chest of gold that was buried under their house. Isn’t that the reward for making a decision that took effort?”