Stories of Masnavi

First Story

In a simple story that follows, Rumi illustrates the fact that man is unable to achieve the truth if he relies only on his senses. It reads:

An elephant was brought to the city from India for the people to see. It was kept in a dark place where an anxious crowd had gathered to see the creature they had never seen before. In the total darkness surrounding the animal, a few people decided to realize what the animal looked like by touching it.

Each person began to touch a different part of the elephant's body and made his judgment of what an elephant looked like. The one who had touched the elephant's trunk said it was similar to a drainpipe. Another who had touched the ear assumed that it was like a fan. The one who had touched the animal's foot said an elephant was similar to a pillar. The last one who had felt the elephant's back said that it looked like a flat board.

Then the men began to argue with one another as each one believed his own concept of what an elephant was like to be true. Rumi concludes that if the four men could have had a candle to break through the darkness, they would have been able to see the elephant as it was and there would have been no argument.

Relying totally on our limited senses and thus making superficial judgments, Rumi emphasizes, is the underlying basis for most of the human misconceptions in life. Therefore judging things through our senses can be only part of the truth.

Second Story

Four Moslem Indians enter a mosque to perform the required daily prayer (NAMAZ). At the same time the person responsible for calling the public from the top of the mosque's minaret also enters the praying area.

One of the four men interrupts his prayer and asks this man, "Have you called the people to prayer?" "Is it the right time to pray?" asks the second man. At this time another of the four turns to the first one and says, "Don't you know that you should not speak while you're praying?"

And finally the last man also interrupts his prayer and thanks Allah for not having spoken like other three!

Thus all of the four men's prayers had lost their religious value since each of them had spoken when he was not supposed to, and they had also criticized each other.

Rumi concludes that all those who see the shortcomings of others before considering their own are the most misled.

Third Story

In another simple story, "The Jackal," Rumi clarifies how wrong it is for one to become unduly proud and see oneself different from others.

A jackal jumped into a few barrels of paint, staying long enough so that his natural color would change completely. When he came out, his skin was covered with wonderful colors that looked even more beautiful in the rays of the shining sun.

The jackal looked at himself admiringly and became convinced that he had been transformed into a colorful peacock. He became overjoyed and with great vanity went and showed the other jackals his admirable colors.

They asked him what had happened that made him so happy, and why he was behaving so arrogantly toward them. "Well, why don't you just look at me carefully?" he responded, and asked if they had ever seen anything so beautiful and colorful as he was. He also said that he could add to the beauty of a garden and fill the air with fragrance. He asked them not to call him a jackal any longer, and boasted that there was no one who could be so pretty as he was.

"What should we call you then?" they asked. "A peacock, that is what you can call me," the colorful jackal said.

They objected and wondered how it could be, since a peacock adds to the beauty of nature a thousand times more with its glorious colors. They wanted to know if he could move around as gracefully as a peacock. The answer was negative. Then, they told him, "You cannot be a peacock by wearing new colors," as no one can escape his nature by merely changing his appearance.

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