Page 27 - Records of Bahrain (4) (i)_Neat

Appointment oj Shaikh Hamad b.'Isa Al Khalifah, 1923 17

10
If you will follow these four precepts and people
curse you, as people will curse a Hakim, go on your way
without flinching. If they praise you to your face, ex­
amine yourself and ask 1n your heart "Where 0 Hamad: hast
thou erred ?" And in conclusion, my friend, (and here I
took him by the hand), blessings and prosperity on your rule.

NOTE.
The speech was well received and Shaikh Hamad, though
he might have resented some of this public plain-speaking

appeared genuinely delighted with it. Even Yusuf bin Ahmed
Kanon, our caustic critic, was moved to enthusiasm and said
that Hamad should have kissed my hands and head for the
Arabic advice. Read in cold blood and in an English trans­
lation it sounds silly in the extreme but one must recollect
the primative folk to whom it was addressed.