knowledge of their strait. So they saluted him with the salam and
said, "O our lord, cloth not our affair concern thee, who art
ruler and the head of us?" The Crab returned their salutation,
replying, "And on you be The Peace! What aileth you and what d'ye
want?" So they told him their case and the strait wherein they
were by reason of the wastage of the water, and that, when it
should be dried up destruction would betide them, adding,
"Wherefore we come to thee, expecting thy counsel and what may
bring us deliverance for thou art the chiefest and the most
experienced of us." The Crab bowed his head awhile and said,
"Doubtless ye lack understanding, in that ye despair of the mercy
of Allah Almighty and His care for the provision of His creatures
one and all. Know ye not that Allah (extolled and exalted be He!)
provideth all His creatures without account and that He
foreordained their daily meat ere He created aught of creation
and appointed to each of His creatures a fixed term of life and
an allotted provision, of His divine All might? How then shall we
burthen ourselves with concern for a thing which in His secret
purpose is indite? Wherefore it is my rede that ye can do naught
better than to seek aid of Allah Almighty, and it behoveth each
of us to clear his conscience with his Lord, both in public and
private, and pray Him to succour us and deliver us from our
difficulties; for Allah the Most High disappointeth not the
expectation of those who put their trust in Him and rejecteth not
the supplications of those who prefer their suit to Him. When we
have mended our ways, our affairs will be set up and all will be
well with us, and when the winter cometh and our land is deluged,
by means of a just one's prayer, He will not cast down the good
He hath built up. So 'tis my counsel that we take patience and
await what Allah shall do with us. An death come to us, as is