Re: does anyone know of the source for...

["Sam Hobbs" <samhobbs@mindspring.com>]

Doesn't appear the man with no feet played any
part in the stories except to be seen. The stories
immediately before and after this story are not
related:
Sa'di (1184-1292):
The Gulistan, c. 1256 CE
most common translation:
Story 19
I never lamented about the vicissitudes of time or
complained of the turns of fortune except on the
occasion when I was barefooted and unable to
procure slippers. But when I entered the great
mosque of Kufah with a sore heart and beheld a man
without feet I offered thanks to the bounty of
God, consoled myself for my want of shoes and
recited:
'A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man
Less valuable than a blade of fresh grass on the
table And to him who has no means nor power A
burnt turnip is a roasted fowl.
alternate translation:
XIX
I had never complained of the vicissitudes of
fortune, nor murmured at the ordinances of heaven,
excepting on one occasion, that my feet were bare,
and I had not wherewithal to shoe them. In this
desponding state I entered the metropolitan mosque
at Khufah, and there I beheld a man that had no
feet. I offered up praise and thanksgiving for
God's goodness to myself, and submitted with
patience to my want of shoes.---In the eyes of one
satiated with meat a roast fowl is less esteemed
at his table than a salad; but to him who is
stinted of food a boiled turnip will relish like a
roast fowl.
Regards,
Sam