There was a vendor named Salem living in one of the villages. Salem had a small cart pulled by a horse. Salem would load his cart with vegetables, fruits, and firewood, and everything the village people needed for household supplies. He would pass between houses and sell to people. Salem’s horse continued this work every day for many long years. In the last days, Salem found that his horse had become weak and old in age. He was walking slowly and getting tired quickly.
Salem realized he wouldn’t be able to pass all the village houses in one day with his old horse. People would wait a day or two before the vegetables, fruits, and firewood reached them, and his earnings would decrease. Therefore, he thought to buy a young, strong horse so he would walk fast, pass all houses every day, sell more, and earn more. Indeed, Salem bought a strong, young horse. He didn’t find a place in the house to accommodate the two horses. Therefore, Salem prevented the big horse from entering the house and left him outside to go wherever he liked and search for food and drink for himself in the streets and fields.
In the village, there was a just judge who loved people and ruled between them with justice. He would hang a rope outside his palace. If anyone wanted to meet him, he would pull the rope, ringing a bell inside the palace, inviting him to enter to meet him. He would listen to his complaint, search for his request, and help him if he could. That day, the judge asked the guard to buy a new rope because the rope had become old. The guard wanted to know the rope’s length, so he grabbed it and it broke.
The guard saw Salem’s cart walking from afar and hurried behind it. He asked Salem for a new rope. Salem said to him: I don’t have a new rope now. I will bring you a rope tomorrow. The guard feared someone would come to the judge, try to pull the rope to ring the bell, and not find the rope, making the judge angry with him. The guard gathered some branches and tree parts and made a rope from them, saying: This rope will do for today, and tomorrow I’ll put the new rope I’ll buy from Salem.
The old horse felt hungry and walked looking for food. He approached the judge’s palace and found the rope made of grass. He started eating from it, pulled it, and rang the bell. The judge looked and saw the horse. He recognized him and said in wonder: This is Salem’s horse. What brought him to my palace? Could this horse have a problem? The judge asked the guard to bring him into the wide garden and hurry to Salem and invite him to meet him immediately.
Salem entered the judge’s palace, afraid. The judge said to him: Why did you expel your horse?! Salem told him the story. The judge was affected and said to Salem: Have you forgotten how your old horse served you faithfully all these years? And how he served all the village people?
Are you pleased that people would treat you the same way when you grow old and become a weak old man? This poor horse will stay in my garden resting, not working, doing what he wants and eating what he loves. As for you, you must be more merciful and do good to one who did good to you, so Allah is pleased with you, has mercy on you, and blesses your sustenance!