The Value of A Kingdom is equal to drinking glass of water

The 'Caliph Haroun',in all his magnificence, was in need of a lesson in the relative nature of power and possession. He asked to the Sage, "Ask a favour of me."

'Shaqiq' asked him whether he would give on-half of his realm to someone who would give him a drink of water, if he were dying of thirst in a desert.

And, continued the Sufi, would he give the other half to someone who enabled him to pass that water, if he had become unable to do so?

'Haroun' said that he would.

Now 'Shaqiq' asked the Caliph to reflect why he valued his kingdom so highly, when it was something which could be given away in return for a drink of water, which itself does not stay with one.