Sanai was court poet to King Bahram of Persia.
One day Sanai overheard an old Sufi scoffing at Bahram. "He's the world's greatest fool! His wealth is beyond counting, yet he wages war to gain more." Then the old man added, "And his poet is a fool too!"
"What do you mean?" asked Sanai.
"He squanders his God-given talent on an earthly king when he could sing the praises of heaven's own king."
"I am that poet," shouted Sanai, "and I have indeed been a fool, but I renounce my old ways and will now serve the king of kings."
Inspired by: Sufi Stories from Around the World by Debjani Chatterjee
Notes: This is story 1 in the book. You can read more about Sanai at Wikipedia. Some great detective work here on a bit of Sanai that appears at the end of the film The Shape of Water: Who wrote the poem at the end of “The Shape of Water”?
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