Sayyid Jamal and the Shah

Sayyid Jamāal al-Dīn Asadābādi was playing with an apple in the presence of Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh. The Shāh objected to his playing with an apple before him. He replied, “The Sultān plays with [the lives of] twenty million people. Am I not allowed to play with one apple?” [In the Presence of Bahjat, vol 2, p412]