LOKMAN IS THE MOST celebrated sage of the East. So great is his fame there that there is still a saying, "To teach wisdom to Lokman," which is the equivalent of "Carrying coals to Newcastle." In Islam his fame equals that of Solomon in the Christian-Jewish world. Mohammed quoted him as an authority and named the thirty-first chapter of the Koran after him.

Much that is said about him is legendary. The Arabs say that he lived about 1100 B.C., was a coal-black Ethiopian with woolly hair, and was the son of Baura, who was a son or a grandson of a sister of Job. Lokman is often confused with Aesop, who was' also a Negro, and who, it appears, adapted Some of Lokman's fables to his own use. Aesop lived about 500 years later than Lokman.

Of Lokman's intimate life all we know are what may be deduced from his proverbs and from the anecdotes about him. The following are some of them:

Some choice fruit was missing from the master's garden and Lokman was accused by his fellow slaves of being the thief. To prove his innocence Lokman took an emetic and threw up his food. At his request the master forced his accusers to do likewise, whereupon it was proved that they were the guilty ones.

On another occasion the caravan with which he was traveling was held up by brigands. Unmoved by the tears and lamentations of the merchants and their wives, the robbers were taking everything when one of the victims, as a last resort, told Lokman that he ought to give the thieves lessons in good conduct and wisdom. He felt sure, he said, that Lokman by Iris eloquence could make them return at least a part of their goods, to which Lokman replied, "It would be a greater pity to prostitute lessons of wisdom to rascals incapable of understanding and appreciating them; there is no file that can clean iron of its rust after the rust has eaten through."

When asked how he came to possess such great wisdom, Lokman replied, "It is in seeing the actions of vicious and wicked people and comparing them with what my conscience tells me regarding such actions that I have learnt what I ought to avoid and what I ought to do. The wise and prudent man will draw a useful lesson even from poison itself, whilst the precepts of the wisest man mean nothing to the thoughtless."

Given a bitter melon by his owner, Lokman ate it with apparent relish. Astonished at his act of obedience, the master asked him how he had been able to eat such a distasteful fruit. Lokman replied, "I have received so often of your kindness that it is not astonishing I have eaten the single bitter fruit that you have given me in my life." His master, touched by this reply, set him free.

One of the most beautiful of Lokman's fables is the following: A drop of water escaping from a cloud was falling into the sea. Ashamed and confused in seeing itself about to be lost in that vast immensity it said, "What am I in comparison with this vast ocean. Certainly my existence is less than nothing in this abyss without limit."

But as it dropped into the ocean it was swallowed by an oyster and in time it became a magnificent pearl. The oyster was caught and the pearl was found and sold to a great king who wore it in the center of his crown, where, on state occasions, its beauty held the attention of the noblest in the land.

Among his best-known fables are the following:

A hare meeting a lioness one day said reproachfully, "I have always a great number of children while you have but one or two now and then."

The lioness replied, "It is true but my one child is a lion."

A fly buzzing around full of its own importance finally lit on the horns of the bull and said, "Let me know if I am too heavy for you and I will take myself off."

The bull replied, "Who are you? I did not know when you came, nor shall I know when you leave."

A Negro one-day took off his clothes and began rubbing his skin with snow. When asked why he did it he replied, "Perhaps I will whiten myself."

A wise man passing said, "Cease tormenting yourself because your body will rather blacken the snow than lose its own color."

To illustrate that some persons are deaf to all appeals save those involving their own interests. Lokman related the following fable:

A blacksmith had a dog that slept soundly while he was hammering on the forge, but as soon as he began eating the dog awoke. The master said, "O wicked dog, why does the sound of the hammer whose noise shakes the earth not trouble your sleep while the little noise I make in eating does?"

Those who strive for high office and attain it should not complain if they encounter difficulties, Lokman said, illustrating with the fable of the flag and the carpet. The first, in a dispute with the second, complained that although both were in the service of the same master, it was he who always did the harder work. "I am carried," said the flag, "by valets in front of the battle to be shot at, always bearing the heat and the brunt of the day, while you are never exposed to fatigue. You rest in a palace among beautiful slaves; you enjoy luxuries; you are as brilliant as noon, and perfumed like the jasmine."

The carpet replied, "It is true, but I repose humbly on the floor never rearing my head to the sky as you. Whoever wishes to enjoy glory ought to know that in return he must expose himself to a thousand pains and dangers."

Lokman is also credited with the Fables of the Sun and the Wind, and of the Peacock and the Jackdaw.

According to tradition, David, King of Israel, wished to name him his heir, but Lokman refused, preferring to be known as a simple hakim, or wise man.

The prestige of this Negro slave who lived 3000 years ago is still great in the East. His influence on the philosophy and morality of the West is hardly less potent. That Lokman served as a model for all the fabulists who came after him is incontestable.

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