, I lay
down to sleep. Then in my sleep one stood by me, and said, "God has at
this very hour taken to himself the soul of such an ascetic, and has
chosen you to fill his place on earth. Rise and go to the river bank,
there you will meet a ferryman in his boat; demand from him the bequest.
He will give you a garment, a staff and a water-skin; take them, and
live as their first owner lived."'

"Such was his story. He then bade me farewell, and went his way. But I
wept bitterly over my own loss, in that I had not been chosen in his
place as successor to the dead saint, and thought that such a favour
would have been more worthily bestowed on me than on him. But that same
night, as I slept, I heard a voice saying unto me, 'Schakran, is it
grief to thee that I have called an erring servant of Mine to
repentance? The favour is My free gift, and I bestow such on whom I
will, nor yet do I forget those who seek Me.' I awoke from sleep, and
repented of my impatient ambition."

Zu'n Nun had a disciple who had made the pilgrimage to the Kaaba forty
times, and during forty years had passed all his nights in devotional
exercises. One day he came to Zu'n Nun and said, "During the forty years
that I have practised austerity, nothing of the unseen world has been
revealed to me; the Friend (_i.e._, God) has not spoken to me, nor cast
upon me a single look. I fear lest I die and leave this world in
despair. Thou, who are the physician of sick souls, devise some means
for my cure." "Go," Zu'n Nun replied, "this evening, omit your prayers,
eat as much as you like, and go to sleep. Doubtless, if the Friend does
not look upon you with an eye of mercy, He will at any rate look upon
you with an eye of anger." The dervish went away, but said his prayers
as usual, saying to himself that it would be wrong to omit them. Then he
ate to satiety, and went to sleep. In his dreams he saw the Prophet, who
said to him, "O Dervish, the Friend sends thee his salutation, and says,
'Surely that man is pusillanimous who, as soon as he has arrived at My
court, hastens to return; set thy feet on this path like a brave man,
and then We will give thee the reward for all the austerities which
thou hast practised for forty years, and make thee reach the goal of thy
desires.'"

Perhaps someone may ask why Zu'n Nun told his disciple to omit his
prayers. We should consider that sheikhs are physicians knowing the
remedy for every kind of disease. Now there are many d