The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi - Part 6
- Story 1
- How an inquirer asked about a bird that was supposed to have settled on the wall of a city, “Is its head more excellent and estimable and noble and honourable or its tail ?”
- Thief came and sat down beside him, and whenever the tinder caught he put it out.
- How the King revealed to the Amírs and those who were intriguing against Ayaz the reason of his superiority to them in rank and favour and salary, in such a manner that no argument or objection was left for them.
- Story of the person whose ram was stolen by some thieves. Not content with that, they stole his clothes too by means of a trick.
- Story of the lover who, in hope of the tryst promised by his beloved, came at night to the house that he had indicated. He waited part of the night; he was overcome by sleep. His beloved came to fulfill his promise and found him asleep, he filled his lap with walnuts and left him sleeping and returned.
- Story 2
- Story of the minstrel who began to sing this ode at the banquet of the Turkish Amír: “Are You a rose or a lily or a cypress or a man ? I know not. What do You desire from this bewildered one who has lost his heart? I know not”— and how the Turk shouted at him, “Tell of that which you know !” — and the minstrel’s reply to the Amír.
- Commentary on his saying (Hadith) — peace be upon him ! — "Die before you die." ‘O friend, die before your death if you desire life; for by so dying Idrís became a dweller in Paradise before us.’
- Story of the person who was giving the drum-call for the sahúr at the gate of a certain palace at midnight.
- Story 3
- The Story of Bilal’s crying “One ! One !” in the heat of the Hejaz, from his love for Mustafá, on whom be peace, in the forenoons when his master, by Jewish fanaticism, used to flog him with a thorny branch under the sun of the Hijaz;
- Story of Hilal, who was a devoted servant to God. Possessed of spiritual insight and was not a mere imitator. He had concealed himself in being a slave to creatures,
- Story 4
- Story of the old woman who used to depilate and rouge her ugly face, though it could never be put right and become pleasing.
- Story 5
- How the Cadi was incensed by the slap of the poor man and how the Sufi taunted the Cadi.
- Story of Sultan Mahmud and the Hindu boy.
- Story 6
- Story of the Turk and the Tailor as a parable. How the Turk boasted and wagered that the tailor would not be able to steal anything from him.
- A Story setting forth that patience in bearing worldly affliction is easier than patience in bearing separation from the Beloved.
- Is this rougher and nastier, or divorce ? Is this more odious to you, or separation ?”
- Story 7
- The remainder of the Story of the fakir who desired his daily bread without work as a means.
- Story of the treasure-scroll, “Beside a certain domed building turn your face towards the qibla (Mecca) and put an arrow to the bow and shoot: the treasure is at the spot where it falls.”
- Story 8
- Story of the disciple of Shaykh Hasan Kharraqání.
- He was in this when suddenly the renowned Shaykh appeared before him, riding on a lion.
- The evidentiary miracle of Hud, on whom be peace, in the deliverance of the true believers of the community at the moment when the Wind descended.
- Story 9
- Story of the three travelers, a Moslem, a Christian, and a Jew, who obtained some food at a hostelry. The Christian and the Jew had already eaten their fill, so they said, “Let us eat this food tomorrow.” The Moslem was fasting, and he remained hungry because he was overpowered.
- Story of the camel and the ox and the ram who found a bunch of grass on the road, and each said, “I will eat it.”
- Story 10
- Story of the attachment between the mouse and the frog: how they tied their legs together with a long string, and how a raven carried off the mouse, and how the frog was suspended and lamented and repented of having attached himself to an animal of a different species instead of sorting with one of his own kind.
- Story 11
- Story of the night-thieves with whom Sultan Mahmud fell in during the night, saying, “I am one of you”; and how he became acquainted with their affairs, etc.
- Story of the sea-cow: how it brings up the royal pearl from the depths of the ocean and at night lays it on the seashore and feeds in the resplendence and lustre thereof; and how the trader comes forth from his hiding-place and, when the cow has gone some distance away from the pearl, covers the pearl with loam and black clay and runs off and climbs a tree; and so on to the end of the story and exposition.
- Story of ‘Abdu ’l-Ghawth and his being carried off by the peris and staying among them for years, and how after years he returned to his town and his children, but could not endure to be parted from the peris, because he was really their congener and spiritually one with them.
- Story 12
- Story of the man who had an allowance from the Police Inspector of Tabriz and had incurred debts in expectation of that allowance, since he was unaware of his death. The gist is that his debts were paid, not by any living person, but by the deceased Inspector, as has been said, “He that died and found peace is not dead: the dead one is the man dead among the living.”
- How Jafar, may God be well-pleased with him, advanced alone to capture a fortress, and how the king of the fortress consulted as to the means of repelling him, and how the vizier said to the king, “Beware ! Surrender and do not be so foolhardy as to hurl yourself upon him; for this man is aided and possesses in his soul a great collectiveness from God,” etc.
- Parable of the man who sees double. like the stranger in the town of Kash, whose name was ‘Umar. Because of this they passed him on from one shop to another. He did not perceive that all the shops were one in this respect that they would not sell bread to Umar.
- Story 13
- How the Khwárizmsháh, while riding for pleasure, saw an exceedingly fine horse in his cavalcade; and how the king’s heart fell in love with the beauty and elegance of the horse; and how the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk caused the horse to appear undesirable to the king; and how the king preferred his word to his own sight, as the Hakim, may God have mercy upon him, has said in the Iláhí-náma.
- Story of the Sadr-i Jahan of Bukhara. Any beggar who begged with his tongue was excluded from his universal and unstinted charity.
- He said to the Sadr-i Jahan, “how I have received, O you who did shut the doors of generosity against me !”
- He replied, “but until you died, O obstinate man, you got no bounty from me.”
- Story of two brothers, one of whom had a few hairs on his chin while the other was a beardless boy. They went to sleep in a house for celibates. One night, as it happened, the boy piled bricks over his buttocks. At length, a crawler (sodomizer) crept and craftily and softly took off the bricks from his back. The boy awoke and began to quarrel, saying, “Where are these bricks ? Where have you taken them to? Why did you take them ?” He replied, “Why did you put these bricks there ?” etc.
- Story 14
- How a cadi was infatuated with the wife of Juhi and remained in a chest, and how the cadi’s deputy purchased the chest; and how next year Juhi’s wife came again, hoping to play the same trick last year, the cadi said, “Set me free and seek someone else”; and so on to the end of the story.
- Expounding the Tradition that Mustafá said, the blessings of God be upon him: “When I am the protector of any one, ‘Alí too is his protector (Mowla),” so that the Hypocrites asked sarcastically, “Was not he satisfied with the obedience and service rendered by us to himself that he bids us render the same service to a snivelling child ?” etc
- Story 15
- Anecdote of a king who brought a learned doctor into his banquet-hall by force and made him sit down. The cup-bearer offered him wine and held out the goblet to him, the doctor averted his face and began to look sour and behave rudely. The king said to the cup-bearer,
- "Come, and put him in a good humour.” The cup-bearer beat him on the head several times and made him drink the wine, etc.
- Story of Imra’u ’l-Qays, who was the king of the Arabs and exceedingly handsome: he was the Joseph of his time, and the Arab women were desperately in love with him, like Zalikha. He had the poetic genius— “Halt, let us weep in memory of a beloved and a dwelling-place.” Since all the women desired him with soul, one may well wonder what was the object of his love-songs and lamentations.
- Story of the person who dreamed that his hopes of opulence would be fulfilled in Cairo and that there was a treasure in a certain house in a certain quarter of that city. When he came to Cairo, someone said to him, “I have dreamed of a treasure in such and such a quarter and such and such a house in Baghdad”; and he named the quarter and house in which this person lived. The latter perceived, however, that the information concerning the treasure in Cairo had been given to him in order to make him realize that, he must not seek anywhere but in his own house, this treasure would really and truly be gained only in Cairo.
- The reason why the answer to the true believer’s prayer is delayed.
- When two persons, one of them a decrepit old man and the other a beardless, come to an admirer of handsome boys,
- And both ask for bread, he will at once fetch the unleavened bread and bid the old man take it;
- But how should he give bread to the other, by whose figure and cheeks he is pleased ? Nay, he will delay him.
- And say to him, “Sit down a while, it will do no harm; for the new bread is baking in the house."
- Story 16
- Story of the King who enjoined his three sons, saying, “In this journey through my empire establish certain arrangements in such-and-such a place and appoint certain viceroys in such-and-such a place, but for God’s sake, for God’s sake, do not go to such-and-such a fortress and do not roam around it.”
- How in the pavilion of the fortress adorned with pictures they saw a portrait of the daughter of the King of China and how all three lost their senses and fell into distraction and made inquiries, asking, “Whose portrait is this ?”
- Story 17
- How God addressed Azrael, saying, Of all these creatures whose souls you have seized, whom did you pity most ?” and the answer given by Azrael to the Lord.
- "His thanks, O honoured servant, were this that he became Nimrod and the burner of Khalíl Ebrahim,”
- The miracles of Shayban Ra’i, May God sanctify his venerable spirit !
- It was on the model of Hud’s circle of refuge, in which his followers were safe from the sarsar wind.
- The injunctions given by a certain person that after he died his property should be inherited by whichever of his three sons was the laziest.
