The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

PROFITABLE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMEDAN KINGS. 65
"the sin of him that is slain by a prophet be not very
"great he will not be slain."
CCL. Another of the kings said, "He that will not
"condescend to ask a gift of me is not worthy of a gift,"
whereupon a sage who was ready-witted said, "He
"that asketh and receiveth lacketh more than what he
"gaineth, but a truly graceful act on thy part would
"be to give before thou art asked."
CCLI. A certain sage asked the Queen, saying,
"Persuade the king to fulfil a certain thing [for me]."
And the Queen said, "Instead of asking me to persuade
"the king thou shouldst try to persuade him thyself,
"and let him make answer to thy petition." The sage
said, "Nay my lady, when the tops of the branches of
"a tree which are laden with fruit are high and out of
"reach it is meet for a man to lay hold upon the
"lower parts of the branches and to pull them down
"[to him], so that he can easily pluck the fruit and eat
"thereof," whereby he gave it to be understood that
the head of a woman is man.