"Do you want to spin tales and trick men out of their money? Do you want to impersonate all kinds of people and characters? Do you want your deceptions to get you past guards and judges? If you want to learn to be a Rogue, then you can find no better teacher than Abū Zayd al-Sarūjī. This Abū Zayd is actually a literary character - he is the con man who appears throughout the pages of Maqamat al-Hariri,"
"Let storms rage, and men run riot: unmoved, the Rogue looks upon tumult. His assembly is full of gaiety and spirits, his meals appear promptly and his conversation sparkles. Whenever he stops, he finds something worth picking up; and it cannot insinuate himself without earning some profit or other. He belongs to no nation and fears no king. He and his brethren are like "the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap," yet home they fly with bellies full."
Maqamat al-Hariri contains fifty episodic tales centered on Abū Zayd al-Sarūjī, a resourceful trickster who cons hosts, judges, and bystanders. Story 49 stages a deathbed scene in which Abū Zayd critiques conventional livelihoods—agriculture, manufacturing, commerce, and government—and urges his son to pursue rogueship instead. Abū Zayd portrays the rogue as carefree, sociable, profitable, untethered to nation or king, and adept at seizing opportunities. He likens rogues to birds that do not sow yet return well fed. The son responds with enthusiasm and requests instruction in the specific skills required for such a life.
Read at Medievalists.net
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