The Pearl and the Ocean
by: Saadi (c. 1213-1291)
translated by Samuel Robinson
From the Bustan
A drop of rain trickled from a cloud into the ocean. When it beheld the breadth of its waters it was utterly confounded:
"What a place is this Sea, and what am I? If it is existent, verily I am non-existent."
Whilst it was thus regarding itself with the eye of contempt, an oyster received and cherished it in its bosom.
Fortune preferred it to a place of honor; for it became a renowned royal Pearl.
Because it was humble, it found exaltation: it knocked at the door of Nonentity that it might arise into Being.
