About This Video
Saadi writes: Once, a king ordered that a prisoner be executed. In that desperate moment, when all hope was lost, the poor captive began to curse the king and speak harshly. For as it is said: “When a person gives up on life, he speaks whatever is in his heart.” When there is no escape left, a man may seize the edge of a sharp sword. When despair grips a person, his tongue grows long — like a defeated cat that turns to attack the dog. The king asked, “What is he saying?” One of the kind-hearted ministers replied, “My lord, he recites from the Holy Book: ‘Those who restrain their anger and forgive others.’” The king’s heart softened, and he forgave the prisoner. But another minister, who envied the first, said, “My king, we must not speak falsely before you. The man was not praying — he was cursing you!” The king frowned and said, “The first man’s lie was more pleasing to me than your truth, for his words were rooted in kindness, and yours in malice.” And Saadi concludes with the old saying: “A lie that brings peace is better than a truth that causes harm.” He adds: When the king does what he himself says, how shameful if his words are not kind. And then, as a reminder of life’s impermanence, Saadi recalls the inscription once written on the palace arch of the ancient king Fereydun: O brother, this world remains with no one. Set your heart upon the Creator — that is enough. Trust not in the kingdom of this world; for it has raised many like you — and then destroyed them. When the pure soul departs, what difference if one dies on a throne or on the bare earth?