XL Of a Minstrel Whose Name Was Saladin1
Saladin was a minstrel who, being in Sicily one day at table with many knights, was washing his hands; and a knight said to him: wash your mouth and not your hands.
And Saladin replied: Messer, I have not spoken of you to-day.
Then as they were strolling about, to rest after eating, Saladin was questioned by another knight, who said: tell me, Saladin, if I wished to tell a story of mine, to whom must I tell it as being the wisest amongst us? Saladin answered: Messer, tell it to whoever appears to you to be the most foolish.
The knights questioned this answer, and begged him to expatiate upon it.
Saladin replied: to fools every fool appears wise because of his resemblance.
Therefore whoever appears most foolish to a fool, will be the wisest, because wisdom is the contrary of folly. To every fool wise men seem fools. Therefore to wise men fools seem truly foolish and full of doltishness.
Notes
1 Perhaps Saladin of Pavia is meant, a poet who lived about 1250.