716 - Thou art all on this side, (therefore) do not idly boast of that side: since thou hast not (died) the death (to self), do not agonise thyself in vain.

How the jackal fell into the dyeing-vat and was dyed with many colours and pretended amongst the jackals that he was a peacock.

721 - A certain jackal went into the dyeing-vat, stayed in the vat for a while,

722 - And then arose, his skin having become particoloured, saying, ‘I have become the Peacock of ‘Illiyyín.’’

723 - His coloured fur had gained a charming brilliance, and the sun shone upon those colours.

724 - He beheld himself green and red and roan and yellow, (so) he presented himself (gleefully) to the jackals.

725 - They all said, “O little jackal, what is the matter, that thou hast in thy head manifold exultation?

726 - Because of exultation thou hast turned aside from us (with disdain): whence hast thou brought this arrogance?”

727 - One of the jackals went to him and said, “O so-and-so, hast thou acted deceitfully or hast thou (really) become one of those whose hearts rejoice (in God)?

728 - Thou hast acted deceitfully to the end that thou mayest jump on to the pulpit and by thy palaver give this folk (the feeling of) regret.

729 - Thou hast striven much, (but) thou hast not felt any (spiritual) ardour; hence from deceit thou hast exhibited a piece of impudence.”

730 - (Spiritual) ardour belongs to the saints and prophets; on the other hand, impudence is the refuge of every impostor;

731 - For they draw the people's attention to themselves, saying, “We are happy (with God),” though within (at heart) they are exceedingly unhappy.

How a braggart greased his lips and moustache every morning with the skin of a fat sheep's tail and came amongst his companions, saying, “I have eaten such and such (viands).”

732 - A person, who (on account of his poverty) was lightly esteemed, used to grease his moustaches every morning,

733 - And go amongst the munificent (the rich), saying, “I have eaten some wellgreased food at the party.”

734 - He would gaily put his hand on his moustache as a sign, meaning, “Look at my moustache!

735 - For this is the witness to the truth of my words, and this is the token of my eating greasy and delicious food.”

736 - His belly would say in soundless (mute) response, “May God destroy the plots of the liars!

737 - Thy boasting hath set me on fire: may that greasy moustache of thine be torn out!

738 - Were it not for thy foul boasting, O beggar, some generous man would have taken pity on me;

740 - God hath said, “Do not move ear or tail crookedly: their veracity shall profit the veracious.”

741 - Ne recurvatus in antro dormiveris, O tu qui passus es nocturnam pollutionem: reveal that which you have, and act straight;

742 - Or if you tell not your fault, at least refrain from (idle) talk: do not kill yourself by ostentation and trickery.

745. God hath said, “From birth unto death they are tried every year twice.”

748 - He (the boastful hypocrite), by his pretension, desires to be (reputed) rich, (but) his belly is execrating his moustache,

749 - Crying, “Display that which he is hiding! He has consumed me (with anguish): O God, expose him!”

753 - That belly became the adversary of his moustache and secretly had recourse to prayer,

754 - Crying, “O God, expose this idle brag of the base, in order that the pity of the noble may be moved towards me.”

755 - The belly's prayer was answered: the ardency of need put out a flag.

756 - God hath said, “Though thou be a profligate and idolater, I will answer when thou callest Me.”

757 - Do thou cleave fast unto prayer and ever cry out: in the end it will deliver thee from the hands of the ghoul.

758 - When the belly committed itself to God, the cat came and carried off the skin of that sheep's tail.

759 - They ran after the cat, (but) she fled. The child (of the braggart), from fear of his scolding, changed colour (turned pale).

760 - The little child came into (the midst of) the company and took away the prestige of the boastful man.

761 - It said, “The sheep's tail with which every morning you greased your lips and moustaches,

762 - The cat came and suddenly snatched it away: I ran hard, but the effort was of no use.”

763 - Those who were present laughed from astonishment, and their feelings of pity began to be moved again.

764 - They invited him (to eat) and kept him full-fed, they sowed the seed of pity in his soil.

765 - When he had tasted honesty from the noble, he without arrogance (humbly) became devoted to honesty.

How the jackal which had fallen into the dyer’s vat pretended to be a peacock.

766 - (In the fashion) that parti-colored jackal came secretly and tapped on the lobe of the rebuker’s ear.

767 - “Prithee look at me and at my colour: truly the idolater possesses no idol like me.

768 - Like the flower-garden I have become many-hued and lovely: bow in homage to me, do not withdraw from me (in aversion).

769 - Behold my glory and splendour and sheen and radiance and colour! Call me the Pride of the World and the Pillar of the Religion!

770 - I have become the theatre of the Divine Grace, I have become the tablet on which the Divine Majesty is unfolded.

771 - O jackals, take heed, do not call me a jackal: how should a jackal have so much beauty?”

772 - Those jackals came thither en masse, like moths around the candle.

773 - “Say then, what shall we call thee, O creature of (pure) substance?” He replied, “A peacock (brilliant) as Jupiter.”

774 - Dost thou display thyself like that?”

775 - “No,” said he: “not having gone into the desert, how should I tread (the valley of) Mina?”

776 - “Dost thou utter the cry of peacocks?” “Nay,” said he. “Then, Master Bu’l-‘Alam thou art not a peacock.

777 - The peacock’s garment of honour comes from Heaven: how wilt thou attain thereto by means of colours and pretences?”

Story of the snake-catcher who thought the frozen serpent was dead and wound it in ropes and brought it to Baghdád.

976 - Listen to a tale of the chronicler, in order that you may get an inkling of this veiled mystery.

977 - A snake-catcher went to the mountains to catch a snake by his incantations.

978 - Whether one be slow or speedy (in movement), he that is a seeker will be a finder.

979 - Always apply yourself with both hands (with all your might) to seeking, for search is an excellent guide on the way.

980 - (Though you be) lame and limping and bent in figure and unmannerly, ever creep towards Him and be in quest of Him.

981 - Now by speech and now by silence and now by smelling, catch in every quarter the scent of the King.

982 - Jacob said to his sons, “Make search for Joseph beyond (all) bounds.

983 - In this search earnestly direct your every sense towards every side, like one that is ready.”

984 - He (Jacob) said, “Do not despair of God's breath (mercy)”; go thou (also) to and fro as one that has lost his son.

985 - Inquire by means of the sense of the mouth, and lay your ears on the four roads of that (which ye seek).

986 - Whenever a sweet scent comes, smell in that direction, for ye are acquainted with that direction.

988 - All these lovely things are from a deep Sea: leave the part and keep thine eye (fixed) upon the Whole.

992 - Smell (all the way) from the part to the Whole, O noble one; smell (all the way) from opposite to opposite, O wise one.

993 - Assuredly wars bring peace; the snake-catcher sought the snake for the purpose of friendship.

994 - Man seeks a snake for the purpose of friendship and cares for one that is without care (for him).

995. He (the snake-catcher) was searching round about the mountains for a big snake in the days of snow.

996 - He espied there a huge dead dragon, at the aspect whereof his heart was filled with fear.

997 - (Whilst) the snake-catcher was looking for snakes in the hard winter, he espied a dead dragon.

1003 - The snake-catcher took up that snake and came to Baghdád for the sake of (exciting) astonishment.

1004 - In quest of a paltry fee he carried along a dragon like the pillar of a house,

1005 - Saying, “I have brought a dead dragon: I have suffered agonies in hunting it.”

1006 - He thought it was dead, but it was living, and he did not see it very well.

1007 - It was frozen by frosts and snow: it was alive, but it presented the appearance of the dead.

1030 - Till (at last) the would-be showman arrived at Baghdád, that he might set up a public show at the cross-roads.

1031 - The man set up a show on the bank of the Tigris, and a hubbub arose in the city of Baghdád.

1032 - “A snake-catcher has brought a dragon: he has captured a marvellous rare beast.”

1033 - Myriads of simpletons assembled, who had become a prey to him as he (to it) in his folly.

1036 - Myriads of idle babblers assembled, forming a ring, sole against sole.

1038 - When he (the snake-catcher) began to move the cloth (which covered the dragon), the people in the crowd strained their throats (necks),

1039 - And (saw that) the dragon, which had been frozen by intense cold, was underneath a hundred kinds of coarse woollen cloths and coverlets.

1041 - During the delay (interval) of expectation and coming together, the sun of ‘Iráq shone upon the snake.

1042 - The sun of the hot country warmed it; the cold humours went out of its limbs.

1043 - It had been dead, and it revived: from astonishment (at feeling the sun's heat) the dragon began to uncoil itself.

1045 - With amazement they started shrieking and fled en masse from its motion.

1046 - It set about bursting the bonds, and at that loud outcry (of the people) the bonds on every side went crack, crack.

1047 - It burst the bonds and glided out from beneath—a hideous dragon roaring like a lion.

1048 - Many people were killed in the rout: a hundred heaps were made of the fallen slain.

1051 - The dragon made one mouthful of that dolt: blood-drinking (bloodshed) is easy for Hajjáj.

1057 - Keep the dragon in the snow of separation; beware, do not carry it into the sun of ‘Iráq.

1058 - So long as that dragon of thine remains frozen, (well and good); thou art a mouthful for it, when it gains release.

1061 - Lead it manfully to the (spiritual) warfare and battle: God will reward thee with access (to Him).

1116 - A (mystical) bewilderment is needed to sweep (such) thought away: bewilderment devours (all) thought and recollection.

1117 - The more perfect he is in science, the more backward he is in reality and the more forward in appearance.

1123 - This company washed their hearts (clean) of (the exoteric) kinds of knowledge, because this knowledge does not know this Way.

1124 - (In order to tread this Way) one needs a knowledge whereof the root is Yonder, inasmuch as every branch is a guide to its root.

1127 - Therefore do not seek to be in front: be lame on this side, and be the leader at the moment of return.

1130 - Say, like the angels, “We have no knowledge,” to the end that “Thou hast taught us” may take thy hand (come to thy aid).

1118 - He (God) hath said, “(Verily, to Him we are) returning”; and the return is in the same wise as a herd turns back and goes home.

1119 - When the herd has turned back from (after) going down to water, the goat that was the leader (now) falls behind (becomes the hindmost),

1151 - The man transcending space, in whom is the Light of God— whence (what concern of his) is the past, the future, or the present?

1251 - The mention of Moses has become a chain (obstruction) to the thoughts (of my readers), (for they think) that these are stories (of that) which happened long ago.

1252 - The mention of Moses serves for a mask, but the Light of Moses is thy actual concern, O good man.

1253 - Moses and Pharaoh are in thy being: thou must seek these two adversaries in thyself.

1254 - The (process of) generation from Moses is (continuing) till the Resurrection: the Light is not different, (though) the lamp has become different.

1255 - This earthenware lamp and this wick are different, but its light is not different: it is from Yonder.

1256 - If thou keep looking at the glass (lantern), thou wilt be lost, because from the glass arise the numbers of (the plurality inherent in) dualism;

1257 - But if thou keep thy gaze (fixed) upon the Light, thou wilt be delivered from dualism and the numbers (plurality) of the finite body.

The elephant was in a dark house: some Hindús had brought it for exhibition.

1259 - The elephant was in a dark house: some Hindús had brought it for exhibition.

1260 - In order to see it, many people were going, every one, into that darkness.

1261 - As seeing it with the eye was impossible, (each one) was feeling it in the dark with the palm of his hand.

The disagreement as to the description and shape of the elephant.

1262 - The hand of one fell on its trunk: he said, “This creature is like a water-pipe.”

1263 - The hand of another touched its ear: to him it appeared to be like a fan.

1264 - Since another handled its leg, he said, “I found the elephant's shape to be like a pillar.”

1265 - Another laid his hand on its back: he said, “Truly, this elephant was like a throne.”

1266 - Similarly, whenever any one heard (a description of the elephant), he understood (it only in respect of) the part that he had touched.

1267 - On account of the (diverse) place (object) of view, their statements differed: one man entitled it “dál,” another “alif.”

1268 - If there had been a candle in each one's hand, the difference would have gone out of their words.

1269 - The eye of sense-perception is only like the palm of the hand: the palm hath not power to reach the whole of him (the elephant).

1270 - The eye of the Sea is one thing, and the foam another: leave the foam and look with the eye of the Sea.

1271 - Day and night (there is) the movement of foam-flecks from the Sea: thou beholdest the foam, but not the Sea.

1273 - O thou that hast gone to sleep in the body's boat, thou hast seen the water, (but) look on the Water of the water.

1274 - The water hath a Water that is driving it; the spirit hath a Spirit that is calling it.

1279 - And if he speak in the likeness of a form, thou wilt stick to that form, O youth.

1282 - How shouldest thou drag thy foot away? Thy life is from this mud: ’tis mighty hard for this life of thine to go (on the Way to God).

1285 - Thou, like seeds, art in bondage to the milk of earth: seek to wean thyself by (partaking of) the spiritual food.

1287 - To the end that thou mayst become able, O Soul, to receive the Light, and that thou mayst behold without veils that which (now) is hidden,

1289 - (’Twas) thus thou camest into being from non-existence. Say now, how didst thou come? Thou camest drunken (unconscious).

1290 - The ways of thy coming are not remembered by thee, but we will recite to thee a hint (thereof).

1291 - Let thy mind go, and then be mindful! Close thine ear, and then listen!

1292 - Nay, I will not tell (it), because thou still art unripe: thou art in (thy) springtime, thou hast not seen (the month of) Tamúz.

1293 - This world is even as the tree, O noble ones: we are like the half-ripened fruit upon it.

1294 - The unripe (fruits) cling fast to the bough, because during (their) immaturity they are not meet for the palace.

1295 - When they have ripened and have become sweet—after that, biting their lips, they take (but) a feeble hold of the boughs.

1296 - When the mouth has been sweetened by that felicity, the kingdom of the world becomes cold (unpleasing) to Man.

1307 - Do not speak, so that the Spirit may speak for thee: Get into Noah's ark. leave off swimming!

1308 - (Be not) like Canaan, who was swimming and saying, “I do not want the ark of Noah, (who is) my enemy.”

1309 - (Noah said), “Hey, come and sit in thy father's ark, that thou mayst not be drowned in the Flood, O despicable one!”

1310 - He answered, “Nay, I have learned to swim: I have lighted a candle other than thy candle.”

1313 - He said, “Nay, I will go up that high mountain: that mountain will protect me from every hurt.”

1329 - Neither did the father become weary of admonishing Canaan, nor did a single breath (word) enter the ear of that graceless man.

1330 - They were (engaged) in this talk when a fierce billow dashed upon Canaan's head, and he was shivered to fragments.

1331 - Noah said, “O long-suffering King, my ass is dead, and Thy Flood hath carried away the load.

1332 - Many times Thou didst promise me, saying, ‘Thy family shall be saved from the Deluge.’

1333 - I (in) simple (faith) fixed my heart on hope of Thee: why, then, has the Flood swept my garment away from me?”

1334 - He (God) said, “He was not of thy family and kinsfolk: didst not thou thyself see (that) thou art white, he blue?”

1335 - When the worm (of decay) has fallen upon thy tooth, it is not a tooth (any more): tear it out, O master.

1337 - He (Noah) said, “I am quit of aught other than Thy Essence; he that has died in Thee is not other (than Thou).

Ya Ali Madad