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Tales of the Dervishes by the Same Author TALES OF THE DERVISHES BY THE SAME AUTHOR Oriental Magic Destination Mecca The Secret Lore of Magic The Sufis Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin Wisdom of the Idiots Caravan of Dreams Reflections, The Way of the Sufi The Dermis Proble (forthcoming) CONTENTS page PREFACE II TALES OF THE DERVISHES The Three Fishes 13 The Food of Paradise 15 When the Waters Were Changed 21 The Tale of the Sands 23 The Blind Ones and the Matter of the Elephant 25 The Dog, the Stick and the Sufi 27 How to Catch Monkeys 29 The Ancient Coffer of Nuri Bey 31 The Three Truths 33 The Sultan Who Became an Exile 35 The Story of Fire 39 The Ogre and the Sufi 43 The Merchant and the Christian Dervish 46 The Golden Fortune 48 The Candlestick of Iron 51 Strike on this Spot 55 Why the Clay Birds Flew Away 56 The Gnat Namouss — and the Elephant 58 The Idiot, the Wise Man and the Jug 61 The Wayward Princess 63 The Bequest 66 The Oath 68 The Idiot in the Great City 69 The Founding of a Tradition 70 Fatima the Spinner and the Tent 72 The Gates of Paradise 75 The Man Who Was Aware of Death 77 The Man Who Was Easily Angered 79 The Dog and the Donkey 81 Carrying Shoes 82 The Man Who Walked on Water 84 The Ant and the Dragonfly 86 The Story of Tea 88 The King Who Decided to be Generous 91 The Cure of Human Blood 96 The Dam 100 The Three Dervishes 103 The Four Magic Treasures 108 The Dreams and the Loaf of Bread 111 Bread and Jewels 113 The Limitations of Dogma 11 $ The Fisherman and the Genie 117 The Time, the Place and the People 121 The Parable of the Three Domains 125 Valuable — and Worthless 127 The Bird and the Egg , 130 Three Pieces of Advice 132 The Mountain Path 134 The Snake and the Peacock 136 The Water of Paradise 138 The Horseman and the Snake 140 Isa and the Doubters 142 In the Street of the Perfume-Sellers 143 The Parable of the Greedy Sons 144 The Nature of Discipleship 146 The Initiation of Malik Dinar 148 The Idiot and the Browsing Camel 152 The Three Jewelled Rings 153 The Man with the Inexplicable Life ice The Man Whose Time Was Wrong 158 Maruf the Cobbler 162 Wisdom for Sale 169 The King and the Poor Boy 177 The Three Teachers and the Muleteers 178 Bayazid and the Selfish Man 180 The People Who Attain 181 Wayfarer, Strangeness and Savetime 183 Timur Agha and the Speech of Animals 186 The Indian Bird 189 When Death Came to Baghdad 191 The Grammarian and the Dervish 193 The Dervish and the Princess 194 The Increasing of Necessity 195 The Man Who Looked Only at the Obvious 198 How Knowledge Was Earned 201 The Lamp Shop 205 The Chariot 207 The Lame Man and the Blind Man 209 The Servants and the House 211 The Generous Man 213 The Host and the Guests 215 The King's Son 217 APPENDIX Authors and teachers, in chronological order 219 TO MY TEACHERS WHO TOOK WHAT WAS GIVEN WHO GAVE WHAT COULD NOT BE TAKEN Preface This book contains stories from the teachings of Sufi masters and schools, recorded during the past thousand years. The material has been collected from Persian, Arabic, Turkish and other classics; from traditional teaching-story collections, and from oral sources which include contemporary Sufi teaching centres. It therefore represents 'work material' in current use as well as significant quotations from literature which has inspired some of the greatest Sufis of the past. Teaching material used by Sufis has always been judged solely by the criterion of its general acceptance by Sufis themselves. For this reason no historical, literary or other conventional test can be applied in deciding as to what may be included and what left out. In accordance with the local culture, the audience and the re­ quirements of the Teaching, Sufis have traditionally made use of appropriate selections from their unparalleled riches of transmitted lore. In Sufi circles, it is customary for students to soak themselves in stories set for their study, so that the internal dimensions may be unlocked by the teaching master as and when the candidate is judged ready for the experiences which they bring. At the same time, many Sufi tales have passed into folklore, or ethical teachings, or crept into biographies. Many of them provide nutrition on many levels, and their value as entertainment-pieces alone cannot be denied. II The Three Fishes THREE fishes once lived in a pool. They were: a clever fish, a half- clever fish and a stupid fish. Life continued for them very much as it is for fishes everywhere until one day came—a man. He was carrying a net, and the clever fish saw him through the water. Calling upon his experience, the stories he had heard, and his cleverness, he decided to take action. 'There are few places to hide in this pool,' he thought. 'I shall therefore play dead.' He summoned his strength and jumped out of the pool, landing at the feet of the fisherman, who was rather surprised. But as the clever fish was holding his breath, the fisherman supposed that he was dead: and threw him back. This fish now glided into a small hole under the bank. Now the second fish, the half-clever one, did not quite under­ stand what had happened. So he swam up to the clever fish and asked him all about it. 'Simple,' said the clever fish, 'I played dead, so he threw me back.' So the half-clever fish immediately leaped out of the water, at the fisherman's feet. 'Strange,' thought the fisherman, 'they are leaping about all over the place.' And, because the half-clever fish had forgotten to hold his breath the fisherman realized that he was alive and put him into his satchel. He turned back to peer into the water, and because he had been slightly confused by the fishes jumping on to dry land in front of him, he did not close the flap of his bag. The half-clever fish, when he realized this, was just able to ease himself out and, flipping over and over, got back into the water. He sought out the first fish and lay panting beside him. Now the third fish, the stupid one, was not able to make any­ thing at all of this, even when he heard the first and second fishes' 13 TALES OF THE DERVISHES versions. So they went over every point with him, stressing the importance of not breathing, in order to play dead. 'Thank you so much: now I understand,' said the stupid fish. With these words he hurled himself out of the water, landing just beside the fisherman. Now the fisherman, having lost two fish already, put this one into his bag without bothering to look at whether it was breathing or not. He cast the net again and again into the pool, but the first two fish were crouched into the depression under the bank. And the flap on the fisherman's bag this time was fully closed. Finally the fisherman gave up. He opened the bag, realized that the stupid fish was not breathing, and took him home for the cat. It is related that Hussein, grandson of Mohammed, trans­ mitted this teaching-story to the Khajagan ('Masters') who in the fourteenth century changed their name to the Naqsh- bandi Order. Sometimes the action takes place in a 'world' known as Karatas, the Country of the Black Stone. This version is from Abdal (The Transformed One') Afifi. He heard it from Sheikh Mohammed Asghar, who died in 1813. His shrine is in Delhi. 14 The Food of Paradise YUNUS, the son of Adam, decided one day not only to cast his life in the balance of fate, but to seek the means and reason of the pro­ vision of goods for man. 'I am', he said to himself, 'a man. As such I get a portion of the world's goods, every day. This portion comes to me by my own efforts, coupled with the efforts of others. By simplifying this pro­ cess, I shall find the means whereby sustenance comes to mankind, and learn something about how and why. I shall therefore adopt the religious way, which exhorts man to rely upon almighty God for his sustenance. Rather than live in the world of confusion, where food and other things come apparently through society, I shall throw myself upon the direct support of the Power which rules over all. The beggar depends upon intermediaries: charitable men and women, who are subject to secondary impulses. They give goods or money because they have been trained to do so. I shall accept no such indirect contributions.' So saying, he walked into the countryside, throwing himself upon the support of invisible forces with the same resolution with which he had accepted the support of visible ones, when he had been a teacher in a school. He fell asleep, certain that Allah would take complete care of his interests, just as the birds and beasts were catered for in their own realm. At dawn the bird chorus awakened him, and the son of Adam lay still at first, waiting for his sustenance to appear.
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