O son, a hundred thousand tests await thee, whoever thou art who sayest "I am a prince of the gate." If the vulgar detect not such a one by tests, yet the skilled wayfarers seek of him a sign.

When a man makes pretension to be a tailor, the master places before him a piece of silk, saying, "Cut out a large head-dress," and failure in the test leads him to the pillory. If all the evil men were not tested, every catamite would through fraud pass for a Rustam. Suppose he wears the semblance of one clad in mail, yet when wounded he is at once taken captive.

~ RUMI ~