Mantic uttaïr, Anecdote of Another Spiritual Madman

The hoopoe spoke again: “Another madman was naked and hungry in the middle of the road. Now it was winter; it was raining heavily, and the poor madman was drenched by the rain and snow, for he had neither shelter nor home. At last he took refuge in a ruined palace. When he had stepped off the road and entered these ruins, a tile fell upon his head and split his skull, so that the blood flowed from it like a stream. Then the man turned his face toward heaven and said: ‘Would it not be better to beat the royal drum than to strike my head with a brick?’”