The Events of Mushtāqī 11.3

11.3

He then asked if it recovered of itself, or if medicine had been administered. He was told that medicine had been given. He then asked what medicine. The people said, what the physicians prescribed. The King thought it might be something that was prohibited by religion, and therefore they would not tell what it was. He ordered the horse to be turned out of his stable, and left free in the jungle. He was told that such a horse should not be set at large in the forest, but should be given to somebody. The King again said, why should he allow to others what he did not approve of for himself. On one occasion one of the neighbours of Shaikh Mahmud Nu'man, who was with the Sultan, left the city of Dehli, as other people had left that city and had returned successful. He told Shaikh Mahmud that, having remembered the King, he had come from Dehli; for he had his daughter to marry, and he wanted the Shaikh to get the King to give him something. The Shaikh said he would give him as much as he required. But the man refused, saying that as other people had received the King's bounty, he also hoped to obtain something from him, and that he would gain respect among the people of his tribe by obtaining the bounty of the King of Mandu. The Shaikh said, what he was going to give, the recipient might represent as having been received from the King; for who would know that the King had not given it?