a human being who has just set down such a fortune from your shoulders for the sake of a single dirham, yet you begrudged leaving it when some vagrant might have lived on it?”

Khusraw became annoyed, then had the fisherman brought back once more and repeated, “You man of low ambition, are you not a human being who has set down such wealth for a single dirham and felt sorry to leave it when some paupers might have made do with it?”

The fisherman kissed the ground and said, “May the king’s prosperity endure! I did not pick up that dirham because I consider it precious. I lifted it only because one side bears the king’s name and the other his likeness; I feared that someone unaware might tread upon it, showing disrespect to the king’s name and image, and I would be held liable for the offense.”

Khusraw marvelled at his words and ordered that another 4,000 dirhams be given to him, so the fisherman left with a total of 12,000 dirhams. Khusraw then instructed a herald to proclaim: “Let no one conduct his affairs by women’s counsel, for whoever relies on their opinions or follows their advice will lose two dirhams for every one.”

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—says: The cultivation of the world and the procreation of Adam’s children depend upon women, yet no building can stand without foresight and planning. It is said: “Consult them, but act contrary to what they advise.” A vigilant, virtuous man must therefore take precautions when seeking a wife and arranging a match, and he should marry off his daughter—especially once she has reached maturity—lest disgrace, defect, spiritual illness, and heartache befall him. In truth, every calamity, ruin, and trial that a man encounters comes because of women, as the poet said:

1. Through women’s temptation a youth may disobey the All-Merciful, or tremble before the sultan;
2. Were it not for them, the thief would never sell his soul for the cheapest price;
3. Because of them Adam—and Joseph as well—were reproached in the decisive Revelation for disobedience;
4. Likewise Hārūt in Babylon was cast head-down, suspended by his hair from the trunks;
5. Majnūn of Banū ʿĀmir went mad for women’s sake, roaming the deserts of Sind—wondrous are women!
6. All afflictions come from them, and as for loyalty, from them it shall never come for all eternity.