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108
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MARCE, 1891.
asked him the cause of his grief. The poor man narrated to the stranger all that had happened since he set out on his journey, and then asked him whether or not he was justified in saying that Allah did not deal fairly by all his creatures.
"I cannot agree with you there, my friend," replied the stranger," though I fully sympa. thize with you in your sufferings. I am Gabriel, the Angel, deputed by Allah to visit the earth every day and take my own estimate of the good and evil that is wrought there, and am, therefore, in a position to say that Allah is always kind and just to every one, high or low."
But the unhappy water-carrier, who felt himself miserably wronged, was not to be convinced by this. So he said:
"If you are really the Angel Gabriel, I beseech you to go and ask Allah the reason why he should have thrown that purse of gold in the way of that cruel-hearted robber, while I, who am in every respect a much better man, should have been made miserable by having a thorn thrust into my foot."
The Angel consented, but just as he was about to depart, a faqir, who had come up while the foregoing conversation was going on, stopped him, and prevailed upon him by his entreaties to hear his talo also.
"I, too, am struck with the iniquity of Allah," he cried, "for do I not say my prayers regularly five times a day and exhort others to do likewise, and again, do I not beg only in the name of Allah P And still what does Allah give me? Nothing but a bit of bread and a draught of water, and that too not every day, while others, who scoff at prayers and religion, and who never so much as pronounce the name of Allah even once a day, have a merry time of it, and eat and drink and enjoy themselves all their lives. How am I to understand that P"
"Have patience, my friend," said Gabriel; “I shall state your case to Allah and give you his answer to-morrow." So saying he quickly disappeared,
The water-carrier and the mendicant then began to travel together. The next day as the two were walking side by side, Gabriel joined them and said : -
"Here I am again, my friends; I have seen Allah and given him your messages, and now listen to what he has to say to them :
"Firstly, you, my friend the water-carrier, thought it unjust of Allah that he should have given a purse of gold to that wicked man, and that, too, at a time when he least deseryed it; but listen to what Allah has to say to it:
“That same man who now so displeases him by his misbehaviour, does not, as you think, enjoy the favour of Allah, but on the contrary has incurred his deepest resentment as you will see. That man was born ander such happy auspices that, had he feared Allah and done his will, he would have come to be crowned a king by this time. But as he, from his childhood upwards, preferred a career of guilt and infamy, Allah in his rage held aloof every good thing from him, and gave him just enough to satisfy, only to a meagro extent, the demands of his destiny, which even he cannot avert,
“ Thus, yesterday, when he found that purse of gold, he was destined to come by endless wealth ; but Allah judges rightly, and he knew how little that wicked man deserved, so he in his wisdom gave him only a few coins of gold, just a semblance of what would have been his had he been honest and good, and still that fellow in his ignorance blesses his fortune, and does not know what he forfeita only for the pleasure of doing ill.
“And now as for yourself," continued Gabriel; “ Allah says, he has never been kind or unjust to you, but has, on the contrary, been very considerate in his dealings with you. You were, 88ys he, horn under such an evil star that you would have been much more miserable and unhappy in life than you have already been; but as you have always tried to be good and honest, Allah has helped you to pass through all your trials and troubles
