ABSTRACT
IT is related-but Allah knows all!—that there were once in a certain village a man and wife who believed in God and had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was born with a hard head and a wilful temperament, the girl with a tender soul and delicious little feet. When the man was about to die, he called his wife to him, saying: ‘I recommend you with my last breath to look after our son, the light of our eye. Whatever he does, do not scold him; whatever he says, do not contradict him; and, above all, let him have his own way in a life which I trust will be long and prosperous.’ His weeping wife promised obedience, and the good man died happy.
