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The genre of parables has a venerable age. The wisdom of the generations inhabiting the Earth has long been preserved in instructive stories. Eastern parables are noted for their unique flavor. Their heroes are gods, rulers, wandering monks, in a word, bearers of the truth about the world. On the pages of this book, they turn to readers with a word about love, goodness, happiness and the benefits of sciences. They warn against plunging into the abyss of vices, such as slander, greed, human stupidity. The parables and legends included in the book, which existed in the Arab, Chinese and Indian world, are presented in the presentation of the brilliant Russian feuilletonist Vlas Doroshevich.
- Arabian parables and legends
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© Design. LLC "AST Publishing House", 2017
Arabian parables and legends
The Arabs, as you know, are my friend, and everything is Arabic. In arabic The State Duma, - they call it Dum-Dum, - they decided to start, at last, to make laws.
Having returned from their places, from their camps, the selected Arabs shared their impressions. One Arab said:
- It seems that the population is not particularly happy with us. One hinted at it to me. Called us quitters.
Others agreed.
- And I have heard hints. They call us parasites.
“They called me a bum.
- And they fired a stone at me.
And they decided to take up the laws.
- It is necessary to issue such a law at once so that its truth is evident to everyone.
- And so that he does not stir up any disputes.
- So that everyone agrees with him.
- And so that he does not bring a loss to anyone.
- He will be wise and sweet to everyone!
Selected Arabs thought and came up with:
- Let's issue a law that twice two is four.
- Truth!
- And no one is offended.
Someone objected:
“But everyone knows that anyway.
He was reasonably answered:
- Everyone knows that you can't steal. However, the law says this.
And the Arab elect, having gathered in a solemn meeting, decided:
- It is declared by the law, ignorance of which no one can excuse himself, that always and under all circumstances twice two will be four.
Upon learning of this, the viziers - this is how the Arab ministers are called, my friend - were very worried. And they went to the grand vizier, who was as wise as the gray.
They bowed and said:
- Have you heard that the children of misfortune, the chosen Arabs, began to make laws?
The Grand Vizier stroked his gray beard and said:
- I'll stay.
- That they have already issued a law: twice two four?
The Grand Vizier replied:
- I'll stay.
- Yes, but they will reach Allah knows what. They will issue a law so that it will be light during the day and dark at night. So that the water is wet and the sand is dry. And the residents will be sure that the day is light, not because the sun is shining, but because the children of misfortune, the chosen Arabs, decreed this. And that the water is wet and the sand is dry, not because Allah created this, but because they decreed so. People will believe in the wisdom and omnipotence of the chosen Arabs. And they will think about themselves Allah knows what!
The Grand Vizier said calmly:
- Whether Dum-Dum will issue laws or not, I stay. It will exist - I will remain, and it will not exist - I will also remain. There will be two, two, four, or one, or a hundred - I don't care and no matter what happens, I stay, I stay and I stay, as long as Allah wants me to stay.
So spoke his wisdom.
Wisdom is dressed in serenity, as a mullah is dressed in a white turban. And the agitated viziers went to the meeting of the sheikhs ... This is something like their State Council, my friend. We went to the meeting of sheikhs and said:
- This cannot be left like that. It is impossible for the chosen Arabs to take away such power in the country. And you must take action.
And a great conference of sheikhs met, with the participation of the viziers.
The first among the sheikhs, their chairman, stood up, bowed to no one out of importance and said:
- Glorious and wise sheikhs. The children of misfortune, the chosen Arabs, acted as the most skillful conspirators, the most vicious troublemakers, the greatest robbers and the most heinous swindlers: they announced that twice two is four. Thus they made the very truth serve their nefarious purposes. Their calculation is clear to our wisdom. They want to accustom the stupid population to the idea that the truth itself speaks through their mouths. And then, no matter what law they issued, the stupid population will consider everything as true: "after all, it was decided by the selected Arabs, who said that twice two is four." To crush this villainous design and discourage them from legislating, we must abolish their law. But how to do this, when twice two is really four ?!
The sheikhs were silent, setting their beards, and finally turned to the old sheikh, the former grand vizier, the sage, and said:
“You are the father of misery.
So, my friend, the Arabs call the constitution.
- The doctor who made the incision must be able to heal it. Let your wisdom open its mouth. You were in charge of the treasury, compiled a list of income and expenses, lived all your life among numbers. Tell us if there is any way out of the hopeless situation. Is two and two always four?
The sage, the former grand vizier, the father of misfortune, stood up, bowed and said:
- I knew you would ask me. Because, although they call me the father of misfortune, for all their dislike for me, they always ask me in difficult times. So a person who breaks his teeth does not give pleasure to anyone. But when nothing helps from a toothache, they send for him. On the way from the warm coast where I lived, contemplating how the purple sun plunges into the azure sea, stripes of its gold, I recalled all the reports and murals that I made, and found that twice two could be anything. Looking out of necessity. And four, and more, and less. There were reports and murals, where twice two were fifteen, but there were, where twice two were three. Looking at what needed to be proven. Less often, twice two was four. I, at least, do not remember such a case. So says the experience of life, the father of wisdom.
Listening to him, the viziers were delighted, and the sheikhs were in despair and asked:
- But what is, finally, arithmetic? Science or art?
The old sheikh, the former grand vizier, the father of misfortune, thought, was embarrassed and said:
- Art!
Then the sheikhs, in despair, turned to the vizier, who was in charge of scholarship in the country, and asked:
- In your position, you constantly deal with scientists. Tell us, Vizier, what do they say?
The vizier got up, bowed, smiled and said:
- They say: "What do you please." Knowing that your question would not escape me, I turned to the scientists I had left and asked them: "How much is twice two?" They bowed and replied, "As much as you want." So, no matter how much I asked them, I could not get any other answer, except: "as you please" and "as you order." Arithmetic in my schools has been replaced by obedience, just like other subjects.
The sheikhs fell into deep grief. And they exclaimed:
“It does honor, O Vizier, in charge of scholarship, both to the scholars you have left, and to your ability to choose. Perhaps such scholars will lead the youth on the proper path - but they do not lead us out of the difficulty.
And the sheikhs turned to sheikh-ul-Islam.
- Due to your duties, you always deal with mullahs and are close to divine truths. Tell us you the truth. Is twice two always four?
Sheikh-ul-Islam stood up, bowed to all sides and said:
- Venerable, noble sheikhs, whose wisdom is covered with gray hair, like a dead body with a silver cover. Live and learn. Two brothers lived in the city of Baghdad. God-fearing people, but people. And they had a concubine. On the same day, the brothers, who acted in harmony with each other in everything, took concubines for themselves, and on the same day the concubines conceived by them. And when the time of childbirth approached, the brothers said to themselves: "We want our children to be born not from concubines, but from our lawful wives." And they called the mullah to bless their two marriages. Mulla rejoiced in his heart at such a pious decision of his brothers, blessed them and said: “I am crowning your two unions. Now there will be one family of four. " But the minute he spoke, both newlyweds were relieved of the burden. And twice two became six. The family began to consist of six people. This is what happened in the city of Baghdad, and what I know. And Allah knows more than me.
The sheikhs listened with delight to this incident from life, and the vizier in charge of the country's trade stood up and said:
- Not always, however, twice two is six. This is what happened in the glorious city of Damascus. One man, foreseeing the need for a small coin, went to the robber ...
The Arabs, my friend, do not yet have the word "banker." And in the old way they just say "robber."
“I went, I say, to the robber and exchanged two gold pieces for silver piastres. The robber took the exchange and gave the man one and a half gold pieces of silver. But it didn’t happen as the man had expected, and he didn’t need a small silver coin. Then he went to another robber and asked him to exchange silver for gold. The second robber took the same amount for an exchange and gave the man one gold. Thus, two gold pieces, twice exchanged, turned into one. And twice two turned out to be one. This is what happened in Damascus and is happening, sheikhs, everywhere.
The sheikhs, hearing this, came to an indescribable delight:
“This is what life teaches. Real life. And not some chosen Arabs, children of misfortune.
They thought and decided:
- The selected Arabs said that two times two is four. But life refutes them. You can’t make laws that are not life. Sheikh-ul-Islam says that twice two is six, and the vizier in charge of trade pointed out that twice two is one. In order to maintain complete independence, the assembly of sheikhs decides that twice two is five.
And they approved the law decreed by the elected Arabs.
- Let them not say that we do not approve their laws. And they only changed one word. Instead of “four,” they put “five”.
The law read like this:
- It is declared by the law, ignorance of which no one can excuse himself, that always and under all circumstances twice two will be five.
The case went to the conciliation commission. Everywhere, my friend, where there is "misfortune", there are conciliation commissions.
A violent argument arose there. Representatives of the council of sheikhs said:
- Aren't you ashamed to argue over one word? In the whole law, only one word has been changed for you, and you are making such a fuss. Be ashamed!
And the representatives of the selected Arabs said:
- We cannot return without a victory to our Arabs!
They argued for a long time.
Finally, the representatives of the elected Arabs declared emphatically:
- Either you give in, or we will leave!
Representatives of the council of sheikhs consulted among themselves and said:
- Good. We will make an assignment to you. You say four, we say five. Let it not be offensive to anyone. Neither your way nor our way. We concede half. Let two and two be four and a half.
The representatives of the selected Arabs consulted among themselves:
- Still, it's better some law than none.
- Still, we forced them to make a concession.
- And you won't get it anymore.
And they announced:
- Good. Agree.
And the conciliation commission from the elected Arabs and the council of sheikhs announced:
- It is declared by law, ignorance of which no one can excuse himself, that always and under all circumstances, twice two will be four and a half.
This was announced through heralds in all bazaars. And everyone was delighted.
The viziers were delighted:
- They gave a lesson to the chosen Arabs, so that even twice two four proclaim with a look around.
Sheikhs were delighted:
- It didn't work out in their way!
The selected Arabs were delighted:
- Still, the council of sheikhs was forced to make concessions.
Everyone congratulated themselves on the victory.
And the country? The country was overjoyed. Even the chickens - and they had fun.
There are such and such, my friend, in the world Arabian tales.
Fairy tale about a fairy tale
One day
Allah Akbar! By creating a woman, you created a fantasy.
She said to herself:
- Why not? There are many houris in the prophet's paradise, many beauties in the earthly paradise - in the caliph's harem. In the gardens of the prophet I would not have been the last of the houris; among the wives of the padishah, perhaps, I would have been the first of the wives, and among the odalisques - the first of his odalisques. Where corals are brighter than my lips, and their breath is like the air of noon. My legs are slender, and like two lilies - my chest - lilies, on which specks of blood appeared. Happy is he who bows his head on my chest. He will have wonderful dreams. As the moon on the first day of the full moon, my face is bright. How black diamonds burn my eyes, and the one who, in a moment of passion, looks into them close, close - no matter how great he is! - will see himself in them so small, so small that he will laugh. Allah created me in a moment of joy, and all I am is a song to my creator.
She took it and went. Dressed only in her own beauty.
On the threshold of the palace, a guard stopped her with horror.
- What do you want here, a woman who forgot to put on not only a veil!
- I want to see the glorious and powerful Sultan Harun al-Rashid, padishah and caliph, our great ruler. May Allah alone be the ruler of the earth.
- May Allah's will be in everything. What is your name? Shamelessness?
- My name: Truth. I'm not angry with you, warrior. Truth is often mistaken for shamelessness, just as lies are shame. Go and report me.
In the palace of the Caliph, everyone was agitated when they learned that the Truth had come.
- Her arrival often means leaving for many! Said Grand Vizier Jiaffar thoughtfully.
And all the viziers sensed the danger.
- But she is a woman! - said Giaffar. - It is accepted in our country that the one who does not understand anything about it is engaged in any business. That is why eunuchs are in charge of women.
He turned to the great eunuch. Keeper of peace, honor and happiness of the padishah. And he said to him:
- The greatest of eunuchs! There came a woman who relied on her beauty. Delete her. Remembering, however, that all this is happening in the palace. Remove her like a courtier. So that everything is beautiful and decent.
The great eunuch went out onto the porch and looked with dead eyes at the naked woman.
- Do you want to see the Caliph? But the caliph should not see you like that.
- Why?
- In this form they come to this world. In this form, they leave him. But one cannot walk in this form in this world.
- Truth is only good when it is naked truth.
- Your words sound right, like the law. But the padishah is above the law. And the padishah will not see you like that!
- Allah created me this way. Beware, eunuch, condemn or condemn. Condemnation would be madness, condemnation would be insolence.
- I do not dare to condemn or condemn what Allah created. But Allah created the potatoes raw. However, before eating potatoes, they are boiled. Allah created the lamb meat full of blood. But in order to eat lamb meat, it is first fried. Allah made rice as hard as bone. And to eat rice, people boil it and sprinkle it with saffron. What would they say about a person who would eat raw potatoes, raw lamb meat and gnaw on raw rice, saying: "Allah made them so!" So is the woman. In order to be undressed, she must first be dressed.
- Potatoes, lamb, rice! - Truth exclaimed indignantly. - And apples, and pears, fragrant melons? Are they also boiled, eunuch, before they are eaten?
The eunuch smiled the way eunuchs and toads smile.
- The crust is cut off the melon. Skin is removed from apples and pears. If you want us to do the same with you ...
Truth hastened to leave.
- With whom did you speak this morning, at the entrance to the palace and, it seems, spoke harshly? - asked Harun-al-Rashid from the guardian of his peace, honor and happiness. - And why was there such confusion in the palace?
- Some woman, shameless to the point that she wants to walk the way Allah created her, wanted to see you! - answered the great eunuch.
- Pain will give birth to fear, and fear will give birth to shame! - said the caliph. - If this woman is shameless, treat her according to the law!
- We do your will before it is uttered! - said the grand vizier Jiaffar, kissing the ground at the feet of the sovereign. - With a woman it was done!
And the sultan, looking at him with favor, said:
- Allah Akbar!
Allah Akbar! By creating a woman, you created stubbornness.
It occurred to the truth to enter the palace. To the palace of Garun al-Rashid himself.
Truth put on a hair shirt, girded herself with a rope, took a staff in her hand, and again came to the palace.
- I am Conviction! She said sternly to the guard. - In the name of Allah, I demand that I be admitted to the Caliph.
And the guard is horrified - the guards are always horrified when an outsider approaches the caliph's palace - the guard ran in horror to the grand vizier.
“That woman again! - he said. - She is covered with a hair shirt and calls herself the Conviction. But from the eyes I saw that she is the Truth.
The viziers were agitated.
- What disrespect for the Sultan - to go against our will!
And Jiaffar said:
- Exposure? This already concerns the great mufti.
He summoned the great mufti and bowed to him:
- May your righteousness save us! Act piously and courtly.
The Grand Mufti came out to the woman, bowed to her to the ground and said:
- Are you conviction? Blessed be your every step on earth. When the muezzin from the minaret sings the glory of Allah and the faithful gather in the mosque for prayer, come. The sheikh's chair decorated with carvings and mother-of-pearl, I will bow down to you. Expose the faithful! Your place is in the mosque.
- I want to see the Caliph!
- My child! The state is a mighty tree, the roots of which are deeply embedded in the earth. The people are the leaves that cover the tree, and the padishah is the flower that blooms on this tree. And the roots, and the tree, and the leaves - everything so that this flower blooms magnificently. And it was fragrant and adorned the tree. This is how Allah created! Allah wants it! Your words, words of Conviction, are truly living water. Blessed be every dewdrop of this water! But where did you hear, child, that the flower itself should be watered? Water the roots. Water the roots so that the flower blooms more luxuriantly. Water the roots, my child. Go from here in peace, your place is in the mosque. Among ordinary believers. Convict there!
And with tears of anger in her eyes, Truth left the gentle and gentle mufti.
And Harun al-Rashid asked that day:
- This morning, at the entrance to my palace, you spoke to someone, Grand Mufti, and spoke meekly and affectionately, as always - but for some reason there was an alarm in the palace at that time? Why?
The mufti kissed the ground at the feet of the padishah and replied:
- Everyone was worried, and I spoke meekly and kindly, because it was crazy. She came in a hair shirt and wanted you to wear a hair shirt too. It's funny even to think! Is it worth it to be the ruler of Baghdad and Damascus, Beirut and Belbek to wear a hair shirt! This would mean being ungrateful to Allah for his gifts. Such thoughts can only come to the insane.
“You’re right,” said the Caliph, “if this woman is insane, you should treat her with pity, but make sure that she cannot harm anyone.
- Your words, padishah, serve as praise for us, your servants. This is what we did to the woman! - said Giaffar.
And Harun al-Rashid looked with gratitude at the sky, which had sent him such servants:
- Allah Akbar!
Allah Akbar! By creating a woman, you created a cunning.
It occurred to the truth to enter the palace. To the palace of Garun al-Rashid himself.
Truth ordered to get itself motley shawls from India, transparent silk from Brusa, gold-woven fabrics from Smyrna. From the bottom of the sea, she got herself yellow amber. She cleaned herself with feathers of birds, so small that they look like golden flies and are afraid of spiders. She removed herself with diamonds that look like large tears, rubies like drops of blood, pink pearls that appear on the body as a trace of kisses, sapphires that are like pieces of the sky.
And, telling miracles about all these wonderful things, cheerful, joyful, with burning eyes, surrounded by an innumerable crowd that listened to her with greed, delight, with bated breath, she approached the palace.
- I'm a Fairy Tale. I am a Fairy Tale, as colorful as a Persian carpet, like spring meadows, like an Indian shawl. Hear, hear how my wrists and bracelets on my arms and legs are ringing. They ring in the same way as the golden bells ring on the porcelain towers of the Chinese bogdykhan. I will tell you about it. Look at these diamonds, they are like the tears that a beautiful princess shed when the darling went to the ends of the world for fame and gifts for her. I will tell you about the most beautiful princess in the world. I will tell you about a lover who left the same kiss marks on his sweetheart's chest as this pink pearl. And her eyes at this time became matte with passion, large and black, like the night or this black pearl. I will tell you about their caresses. About their caresses on that night when the sky was blue-blue, like this sapphire, and the stars shone like this diamond lace. I want to see the padishah, may Allah send him as many tens of years of life as there are letters in his name, and double their number and double again, because there is no end and limit to Allah's generosity. I want to see the padishah in order to tell him about the forests of palm trees, curled with lianas, where these birds, like golden flies, fly, about the lions of the Abyssinian Negus, about the elephants of Raja Jaypur, about the beauty of the Taj Magal, about the pearls of the ruler of Nepal. I am a Fairy Tale, I am a motley Fairy Tale.
And having heard her stories, the guard forgot to report her to the viziers. But the Fairy Tale was already seen from the windows of the palace.
- There's a fairy tale! There is a motley tale!
And Jiaffar, the grand vizier, said, stroking his beard and smiling:
- She wants to see the padishah? Let her go! Should we be afraid of fiction? Anyone who makes knives is not afraid of knives.
And Harun al-Rashid himself, hearing a cheerful noise, asked:
- What is there? In front of the palace and in the palace? What kind of dialect? What's that noise?
- It's a Fairy Tale! Dressed up Fairy Tale into miracles! Everyone in Baghdad is listening to it now, everyone in Baghdad, young and old, and cannot hear enough. She has come to you, lord!
- Allah may there be one master! And I want to hear what each of my subjects hears. Let her go!
And all the carved, ivory, and mother-of-pearl doors opened before the Tale.
And amid the bows of the courtiers and the prostration of the fallen slaves, the Tale passed to the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He greeted her with an affectionate smile. And the Truth in the form of a Fairy Tale appeared before the Caliph.
He said to her, smiling affectionately:
- Speak, my child, I am listening to you.
Allah Akbar! You have created the Truth. It occurred to the truth to enter the palace. To the palace of Garun al-Rashid himself. Truth will always get its way.
Kizmet!
Behind the high mountains, behind a dense forest lived the Queen Truth.
The whole world was full of stories about her.
Nobody saw her, but everyone loved her. Prophets spoke about her, poets sang about her. At the thought of her, blood burned in my veins. She was dreamed of in a dream.
One she appeared in dreams in the form of a girl with golden hair, affectionate, kind and gentle. Others dreamed of a black-haired beauty, passionate and formidable. It depended on the songs of the poets.
Some sang:
- Have you seen how on a sunny day, like the sea, a ripe cornfield walks in golden waves? This is the hair of the queen of Truth. They pour molten gold down her bare shoulders and back and touch her legs. Her eyes burn like cornflowers in ripe wheat. Rise on a dark night and wait for the first cloud to turn pink in the east, the harbinger of morning. You will see the color of her cheeks. Like an eternal flower, the smile on her coral lips blooms and does not fade. The Truth, which lives there, behind the high mountains, behind the dense forest, always smiles to everyone.
Others sang:
- Like a dark night, the waves of her fragrant hair are black. Eyes shine like lightning. Pale beautiful face. Only the chosen one will smile, a black-eyed, black-haired, formidable beauty who lives there, behind a dense forest, behind high mountains.
And the young knight Khazir decided to see the Queen Truth.
There, behind the steep mountains, behind the thicket of an impenetrable forest, - all the songs were sung, - there is a palace of heavenly blue, with columns of clouds. Happy is the brave, who will not be frightened by the high mountains, who will pass through the dense forest. He is happy when he reaches the azure palace, tired, exhausted, and falls on the steps and sings a call-to-song. A naked beauty will come out to him. Allah has seen such beauty only once! The heart of a young man will be filled with delight and happiness. Wonderful thoughts will boil in his head, wonderful words - on his lips. The forest will open before him, the mountains will bow their peaks and level with the ground in his path. He will return to the world and tell about the beauty of the Queen of Truth. And listening to his inspired story about her beauty, everyone, how many people there are in the world, - everyone will love the Truth. Her alone. She alone will be the queen of the earth, and the golden age will come in her kingdom. Happy, happy is he who sees her!
Khazir decided to go and see the Truth.
He sat on an Arabian horse, white as milk. He pulled himself tight with a patterned belt, hung himself with his grandfather's weapon with a gold notch.
And, bowing to his comrades, women and old knights, who had gathered to admire the young man, he said:
- Wish me a good journey! I am going to see the Queen of Truth and to look into her eyes. I'll come back and tell you about her beauty.
He said, gave the spurs to his horse and galloped off. The horse rushed like a whirlwind over the mountains, spun along the paths along which even a goat could hardly ride, spread out in the air, and flew over the abyss.
And a week later, on a tired and exhausted horse, the knight Khazir drove up to the edge of a dense forest.
At the edge of the forest there were cells, and among them golden bees were buzzing at the bee-house.
Here lived the wise men who had retired from the earth, and thought about heavenly things. They were called: The First Guardians of Truth.
Hearing the horse's footfall, they left the cells and joyfully greeted the young man hung with weapons. The oldest and most venerable of them said:
- Be blessed every visit of a young man to the wise men! Heaven blessed you when you saddled your horse!
Khazir jumped off the saddle, knelt before the wise old man and replied:
- Thoughts are gray hairs of the mind. Greetings to the gray of your hair and your mind.
The old man liked the courteous answer and said:
- The sky has already blessed your intention: you arrived safely to us through the mountains. Do you rule these goat paths? The archangel led your horse by the bridle. The angels supported your horse with their wings as it, spread out in the air, like a white eagle, flew over the bottomless abysses. What good intention brings you here?
Khazir replied:
- I'm going to see Queen Truth. The whole world is full of songs about her. Some sing that her hair is as light as the gold of wheat, others that it is black as night. But all agree on one thing: that the queen is beautiful. I want to see her so that I can tell people about her beauty later. Let everyone, how many people in the world, love her.
- Good intention! Good intention! - praised the sage. “And you could not have done better than by coming to us for this. Leave your horse, enter this cell, and we will tell you everything about the beauty of the Queen of Truth. Your horse will rest for now, and when you return to the world, you will be able to tell people everything about the beauty of the queen.
- Have you seen the Truth? - exclaimed the young man, looking at the old man with envy.
The wise old man smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
- We live at the edge of the forest, and Truth lives over there, behind a dense thicket. The road there is difficult, dangerous, almost impossible. And why should we, the wise, take this road and undertake vain efforts? Why should we go and see the Truth, when we already know what it is? We are wise, we know. Come, and I will tell you all the details about the queen!
But Khazir bowed and put his foot in the stirrup:
- Thank you, wise old man! But I myself want to see the Truth. With my own eyes!
He was already on horseback.
The sage even shook with indignation.
- Don `t move! He shouted. - How? What? Don't you believe in wisdom? Don't you believe in knowledge? Do you dare to think that we can be wrong? You dare not trust us wise men! Boy, puppy, sucker!
But Khazir waved his silk whip.
- Get out of my way! Otherwise I will offend you with a whip, which I did not even offend a horse!
The wise men dashed to the sides, and Khazir raced on a rested horse.
In pursuit of him, the parting words of the wise men were heard:
- So that you disappear, you scoundrel! May heaven punish you for your insolence! Remember, boy, at the hour of death: whoever insults one wise man insults the whole world! To break your neck, you bastard!
Khazir raced on his horse. The forest grew thicker and higher. Curly shrubs moved into the oak grove. A day later, in a shady, cool oak forest, Khazir drove to the temple.
It was a splendid mosque of the kind rarely seen by any mortal. Dervishes lived in it, who humbly called themselves: Dogs of Truth. And whom were called by others: Faithful guards.
When the silent oak grove was awakened by the stamping of a horse, dervishes came out to meet the knight, with the supreme mullah at their head.
- May everyone who comes to the temple of Allah be blessed, - said the mullah, - whoever comes in his youth is blessed for life!
- Blessed! - the dervishes confirmed in chorus.
Khazir quickly jumped off his horse, bowed deeply to the mullah and dervishes.
- Pray for the traveler! - he said.
- Where are you from and where are you heading? The mullah asked.
- I am going to return to the world to tell people about the beauty of Truth.
And Khazir told the mullahs and dervishes about his meeting with the sages.
The dervishes laughed when he told how he had to threaten the wise men with a whip, and the supreme mullah said:
- Not otherwise, as Allah himself instilled in you the idea of picking up the whip! You did well to come to us. What could the wise men tell you about the Truth? What they got with their minds! Fiction! And we have all the information about the Queen of Truth, received directly from heaven. We will tell you everything we know, and you will have the most correct information. We will tell you everything that is said about the Queen of Truth in our sacred books.
Khazir bowed and said:
- Thank you, father. But I did not go to listen to other people's stories or read what is written in the sacred books. I could do this at home too. Neither myself nor the horse was worth the trouble.
Mulla frowned slightly and said:
- Oh well! Don't be stubborn, my boy! After all, I have known you for a long time. I knew you when I was still in the world, when you were very young, and I often held you on my knees. I knew your father Gafiz, and I knew your grandfather Ammelek very well. Your grandfather Ammelek was a fine man. He also thought about the Queen Truth. He had the Koran in his house. But he did not even reveal the Koran, he was content with what he was told about the Truth of the dervishes. He knew that the Quran must have said the same thing - well, that's enough. Why else read a book! Your father Gafiz was also a very good man, but this one was wiser. Whenever he thinks about the Truth, he will take the Koran himself and read it. He will read it and calm down. Well, you went even further. Look what you are. Even the book is not enough for you. He came to ask us. Well done, I praise, I praise! Come on, I'm ready to tell you everything I know. Ready!
Khazir smiled:
Mulla sighed:
- Who knows! Who knows! Anything can be! Man is not a tree. You look at the shoot - you don't know what will grow: oak, pine or ash.
Khazir was already on horseback.
- Well, that's what! - he said. - Why leave my son what I can do myself?
And he touched the horse. Mulla grabbed him by the reins.
- Stop, wicked! How dare you, after all I've said, keep going? Oh, the wrong dog! So you dare, then, do not believe either us or the Koran!
But Khazir gave spurs to his horse. The horse soared, and the mullah flew to the side. In one leap Khazir was already in the thicket, and the curses of the mullah, the shouts and howls of dervishes rushed after him.
“Damn you, wicked! Damn you, vile offender! Whom did you insult by insulting us? Let the hot nails bite into your horse's hooves with every step! You are going to doom!
- Let your belly burst! Let your insides crawl out like reptiles, like snakes! - howled the dervishes, rolling on the ground.
Khazir continued on his way. And the path became more and more difficult. The forest is becoming more frequent, and the thicket is becoming impassable. We had to make our way at a step, and even then with great difficulty.
Suddenly there was a cry:
- Stop!
And, looking ahead, Khazir saw a warrior who stood with a drawn bow, ready to release a trembling arrow from a tight bowstring. Khazir stopped the horse.
- Who it? Where are you going? Where? And why are you on your way? The warrior asked.
- What kind of person are you? - Hazir asked him in turn. - And by what right do you ask? And for what need?
- And I ask for such a right and for such a need, - answered the warrior, - that I am a warrior of the great padishah. And I was assigned with my comrades and with the leaders in order to guard the sacred forest. Understood? You are at the outpost, which is called the "Outpost of Truth," because it was set up to guard the Queen of Truth!
Then Khazir told the warrior where and why he was going. Hearing that the knight was on his way to the azure palace of Truth, the warrior called his comrades and leaders.
- Do you want to know what Truth really is? - said the main leader, admiring the expensive weapons, the glorious horse and the valiant landing of Khazir. - Good intention, young knight! Good intention! Get off your horse as soon as possible, let's go, I'll tell you everything. In the laws of the great padishah, everything is written, what the Truth should be, and I will willingly read it to you. You can then come back and tell.
- Thank you! - answered Khazir. “But I went to see her with my own eyes.
- Hey! - said the leader. - Yes, we, brother, are not wise men for you, not mullahs and not dervishes! We don't know how to talk a lot. Get off your horse, quickly, without talking!
And the leader took up his saber. The warriors also bowed their spears. The horse, frightened, pricked up its ears, snored and backed away.
But Khazir thrust spurs into his sides, bent down in his bow and, whistling over his head with a crooked saber, shouted:
- Get out of the way, to whom life is still sweet!
Behind him there were only shouts and howls.
Khazir was already flying through the dense thicket.
And the tops of the trees were closing more and more densely overhead. Soon it became so dark that night reigned in the forest during the day. Thorny bushes blocked the road like a solid wall.
The noble horse, exhausted and exhausted, patiently endured the blows of the whip and finally fell. Khazir went on foot to make his way through the forest. The thorny bush tore and tore at the clothes on it. Among the darkness of the dense forest, he heard the roar and rumbling of waterfalls, swam across stormy rivers and was exhausted in the fight against forest streams, cold as ice, mad as animals.
Not knowing when the day ended, when the night began, he wandered around and, falling asleep on the wet and cold ground, tortured and bloody, he heard all around in the forest thicket the howling of jackals, hyenas and the roar of tigers.
So he wandered through the forest for a week and suddenly staggered: it seemed to him that lightning had blinded him.
Straight from the dark, impassable thicket, he went out into a clearing bathed in dazzling sunlight.
Behind a black wall stood a dense forest, and in the middle of a meadow covered with flowers, there was a palace, as if made of heavenly blue. The steps to it sparkled like snow on the tops of the mountains. Sunlight wrapped around the azure and, like a cobweb, clothed it with thin golden lines of wondrous verses from the Koran.
The dress hung in rags on Khazira. Only the gold-engraved weapon was intact. Half-naked, mighty, with a bronze body, hung with weapons, he was even more beautiful.
Khazir, staggering, reached the snow-white steps and, as was sung in the songs, exhausted and exhausted, fell to the ground.
But the dew that covered the fragrant flowers with diamonds refreshed him.
He got up, full of strength again, he no longer felt pain from abrasions and wounds, he did not feel tiredness either in his arms or legs. Khazir sang:
- I came to you through a dense forest, through a dense thicket, through high mountains, through wide rivers. And in the impenetrable darkness of the dense forest, I was as bright as day. The intertwining tops of the trees seemed to me like a gentle sky, and the stars burned for me in their branches. The roar of the waterfalls seemed to me the murmur of rivulets, and the howl of jackals sounded like a song in my ears. In the curses of the enemies, I heard the kind voices of friends, and the sharp bushes seemed to me a soft, gentle fluff. I thought about you! I went to you! Come out, come out, queen of my soul's dreams!
And, hearing the quiet sound of slow steps, Khazir even closed his eyes: he was afraid that he would go blind from the sight of a wonderful beauty.
He stood with a beating heart, and when he mustered up the courage and opened his eyes, there was a naked old woman in front of him. Her skin, brown and wrinkled, hung in folds. Her gray hair was tangled in her hair. The eyes were watering. Hunched over, she barely held on, leaning on a cane. Khazir staggered back in disgust.
- I am the Truth! - she said.
And since the dumbfounded Khazir could not move her tongue, she smiled sadly with her toothless mouth and said:
- And you thought to find a beauty? Yes, I was like that! On the first day of the creation of the world. Allah Himself has seen such beauty only once! But, after all, since then, centuries of centuries have rushed by for centuries. I am as old as the world, I have suffered a lot, but this does not make it any more beautiful, my knight! Not done!
Khazir felt that he was going crazy.
- Oh, these songs are about golden-haired, about black-haired beauty! He moaned. - What will I say now when I return? Everyone knows that I left to see the beauty! Everyone knows Khazir - Khazir will not return alive without fulfilling his word! They will ask me, ask: “What are her curls - golden, like ripe wheat, or dark as night? How do cornflowers or how lightning do her eyes burn? " And I! I will answer: "Her gray hair is like matted hairballs, her red eyes are watering" ...
- Yes Yes Yes! - Truth interrupted him. - You will say it all! You will say that brown skin hangs in folds on crooked bones, that a black, toothless mouth has sunk deeply! And everyone will turn away from this ugly Truth with disgust. No one will ever love me again! Dreaming of a wonderful beauty! No blood will burn in anyone's veins at the thought of me. The whole world - the whole world will turn its back on me.
Khazir stood in front of her, with a mad look, clutching his head:
- What can I say? What can I say?
Truth fell on its knees before him and, stretching out her hands to him, said in a pleading voice:
Truth and lie
Persian legend
Once on the road near a big city, a Liar and a Truthful man met.
- Hello, Liar! - said the Liar.
- Hello, Liar! - answered the Truthful.
- Why are you swearing? - the Liar was offended.
“I’m not swearing. You are lying.
- This is my business. I always lie.
- And I always tell the truth.
- In vain!
The liar laughed.
- Great thing is to tell the truth! See, there is a tree. You will say: "there is a tree." That's what every fool would say. Unsophisticated! To lie, you need to think of something, but to come up with it, you still need to use your brains, and to use them you need to have them. If a person is lying, then the mind reveals. And the truth is, therefore, the fool speaks. Can't think of anything.
- You are all lying! - said the Truthful. - There is nothing higher than the truth. Truth adorns life!
- Oh? - the Liar laughed again. - If you want, let's go to the city, let's try.
- Let's go to!
- Who will make more people happy: you are with your truth, whether I am with my lies.
- Come on. Come on.
And they went to the big city.
It was noon, and therefore it was hot. It was hot, and therefore there was not a soul on the streets. Only the dog crossed some road.
The Liar and the Truthful entered the coffee shop.
- Hello, kind people! - they were greeted by people sitting like sleepy flies in a coffee shop and relaxing under a canopy. - It's hot and boring. And you are road people. Tell us, did you meet anything interesting along the way?
- I have not seen anything or anyone, good people! - answered the Truthful. - In this heat, everyone is hiding in their homes and in coffee houses. In the whole city only a dog ran across the road.
- And here I am, - said the Liar, - just met a tiger on the street. The tiger ran across my path.
All suddenly came to life. Like flowers worn out by the heat, if they are sprinkled with water.
- How? Where? What tiger?
- What kind of tigers are there? - answered the Liar. - Big, striped, bared teeth - that's it! He released his claws - here! On the sides of his tail thrashing - evidently angry! I shook as he walked around the corner. I thought I would die on the spot. Yes, glory to Allah! He did not notice me. Otherwise I shouldn't speak to you!
- There is a tiger in the city!
One of the visitors jumped up and shouted loudly:
- Hey, master! Make me some more coffee! Fresh! I'll sit in a coffee shop until late at night! Let the wife scream at home at least until the veins on her neck burst! Here's another! As well as going home when the tiger walks the streets!
“I’ll go to the rich man Hassan,” said another. - Although he is a relative of me, he is not very hospitable, one cannot say. Today, however, as I begin to tell about the tiger in our city, he will become generous, treat him with a lamb and pilaf. I would like to tell in more detail. Let's eat for tiger's health!
- And I'll run to the wali! - said the third. - He sits with his wives, may Allah add years to him, and their beauty! And nothing, tea, knows what is going on in the city! We must tell him, let the anger be replaced by mercy! Vali has been threatening me for a long time: "I will put you in jail!" Says like I'm a thief. And now he will forgive, and even reward with money - that the first one made such an important report to him!
By lunchtime, the whole city was only talking about a tiger roaming the streets.
A hundred people saw him personally:
- How not to see? As I see you now, I saw you. Only, he must have been full, did not touch.
And in the evening, and the victim of the tiger was found.
It so happened that on that very day the wali servants caught a thief. The thief began to defend himself and even hit one of the servants. Then the servants brought down the thief and were so zealous that the thief went to do the evening prayer before the throne of Allah.
The servants were frightened of their zeal. But only for one moment. They ran to the wali, threw themselves at their feet and reported:
- Mighty wali! Misfortune! A tiger appeared in the city and a thief ate to death!
- I know that the tiger has appeared. Another thief told me about this! - Vali answered. - And what the thief ate, the trouble is not great! As expected! Once the tiger has appeared, he must eat someone. The light is wisely arranged! It's good that a thief!
So since then, the inhabitants, seeing the servants of the wali, crossed to the other side.
Since the tiger appeared in the city, the wali servants began to fight more freely.
The inhabitants were almost all locked up.
And if someone came to tell the news about the tiger, he was greeted with honor in every house, treated with what they could better:
- Fearless! The tiger is in the city! And you walk the streets!
A poor man, a young man Kazim, appeared to the rich man Hassan, leading by the hand Hassan's daughter, the beautiful and rich bride Rohe. Seeing them together, Hassan shook with anger.
- Or there are no more stakes in the world? How dare you, a beggar scoundrel, contrary to all laws, rules and decencies, dishonor my daughter, the daughter of the first rich man: go along the street with her?
- Thank the prophet, - Kazim answered with a deep bow, - that at least somehow my daughter came to you! Otherwise you would only see her in a dream. Your daughter was almost eaten by the tiger now!
- How so? - Hassan shook with fright.
“I was passing by the fountain, where our women usually take water,” Kazim said, “and I saw Rohe's daughter with pus. Although her face was covered, - but who does not recognize the chamois by the gait and the slenderness of the palm tree? If a person, having traveled all over the world, sees the most beautiful eyes, he can safely say: "This is Rohe, daughter of Hassan." He won't be wrong. She walked with a jug to fetch water. Suddenly a tiger jumped out from around the corner. Terrible, huge, striped, bared teeth - that's it! he released his claws - here! It hits itself on the sides with its tail - it means - angry.
- Yes Yes Yes! So you are telling the truth! Hassan whispered. - Everyone who saw the tiger describes it that way.
- What did you experience, what did Rohe feel, - ask her herself. And I felt one thing: "I'd rather die, but not Rohe." What will the earth be without her? Now the earth is proud of the sky - many stars are burning in the sky, but Rohe's eyes are burning on the earth. I rushed between the tiger and Rohe and framed my chest to the beast: "Torment!" A dagger flashed in my hand. Allah must have had mercy on me and saved my life for something very good. The dagger's brilliance, or something, the tiger got scared, but only whipped itself on the striped sides, jumped so that it jumped over the house, and disappeared. And I - I'm sorry! - I came to you with Rohe.
Hassan clutched his head.
- Well, it's me, you old fool! Don’t be angry with me, dear Kazim, just as you don’t get angry with a madman! I am sitting, an old donkey, and such a dear, honored guest is standing in front of me! Sit down, Kazim! What to treat you to? What to treat? And as you are welcome, let me, brave man, serve you!
And when Kazim, after countless bows, refusals and entreaties, sat down, Hassan asked Rohe:
- Are you very frightened, my goat?
- And now the heart is still trembling like a wounded bird! - answered Rohe.
- What, how can I reward you? - exclaimed Hassan, again addressing Kazim. - You, the most valiant, brave, best young man in the world! What treasures? Demand from me what you want! Allah is the witness!
- Allah is among us! He is a witness! - Kazim said with reverence.
- Allah is the witness of my oath! - confirmed Hassan.
- You are rich, Hassan! - said Kazim. “You have a lot of treasures. But you are richer than all people in the world, because you have Rohe. I want, Hassan, to be as rich as you! Listen, Hassan! You gave Rohe life, and that's why you love her. Today I gave Rohe life, and therefore I have the right to love her too. Let us both love her.
“I don’t know, really, how Rohe…” Hassan was confused.
Rohe bowed deeply and said:
- Allah is the witness of your oaths. Do you really think that your daughter will put her father to shame before Allah and make him a perjurer?
And Rohe bowed again with obedience.
“All the more so,” Kazim continued, “grief ties the tongue in a knot, joy unties it,“ especially since Rohe and I have loved each other for a long time. Only I did not dare to ask you for it. I am a beggar, you are a rich man! And every day we converged at the fountain to mourn our bitter lot. That is why I found myself near the fountain today when Rohe came.
Hassan darkened:
- This is not good, children!
- And if we did not converge at the fountain, - Kazim answered, - the tiger would eat your daughter!
Gassap sighed.
- May the will of Allah be in everything and always. We are not going, he is leading us!
And he blessed Rohe and Kazim.
And everyone in the city praised the courage of Kazim, who managed to get himself such a rich and beautiful wife.
They were so glorified that even the wali himself was jealous:
- I need to get something from this tiger too!
And he sent a letter to Tehran with a messenger.
“Grief and joy change like nights and days! - Wali wrote to Tehran. - By the will of Allah, the dark night hanging over our glorious city gave way to a sunny day. Our glorious city was attacked by a fierce tiger, huge, striped, with claws and teeth such that it’s scary to look. He jumped over houses and ate people. Every day my faithful servants reported to me that the tiger had eaten a man. And sometimes he ate two or three, and sometimes four a day. Terror attacked the city, but not me. I decided in my heart: "It would be better if I die, but I will save the city from danger." And one went on a tiger hunt. We met with him in a back alley where no one was. The tiger hit itself with its tail on the sides, to get even more furious, and rushed at me. But since since childhood I have not been engaged in anything except noble occupations, then I know how to wield a weapon no worse than a tiger's tail. I struck my grandfather's crooked saber between the eyes of the tiger and cut his terrible head in two. Through this I saved the city from terrible danger. What I am in a hurry to notify. Tigrov's skin is currently being dressed, and when it is dressed, I will send it to Tehran. Now I don't send the unworked ones out of fear that the tiger's skin might turn sour on the way from the heat. "
- Look! - Wali said to the clerk. - Be careful when you start rewriting! And then you drink instead of "when it will be dressed" - "when it will be bought!"
From Tehran, the wali sent praise and a golden robe. And the whole city was glad that the brave wali was so generously rewarded.
There was only talk about the tiger, the hunt and the reward. Tired of all this Truthful person. He began to stop everyone at all intersections:
- Well, what are you lying? What are you lying? There never was a tiger! The Liar invented it! And you are cowardly, boasting, rejoicing! We walked with him, and we never came across any tiger. A dog was running, and even then not mad.
And the talk went in the city:
- There was a Truthful person! He says there was no tiger!
This rumor got through to the wali. He ordered Wali to call the Truthful Man to him, stamped his feet on him, shouted:
“How dare you spread false news in the city!
But the Truthful Man with a bow replied:
“I’m not lying, but telling the truth. There was no tiger - and I am telling the truth: there was not. A dog was running, and I am telling the truth: a dog.
- The truth ?! Vali chuckled. - What is truth? Truth is what the strong says. When I talk to the check, what the check says is true. When I speak to you, what I say is true. Do you want to always tell the truth? Buy yourself a slave. Whatever you tell him, everything will always be true. Tell me, do you exist?
- I exist! - Truthful answered with confidence.
- But in my opinion - no. If I order you to put you on a stake now, it will turn out that I have told the purest truth: there is no you in the world! Understood?
The truthful one stood his ground:
- But all the same I will speak the truth! There was no tiger, the dog was running! How could I not speak when I saw it with my own eyes!
- Through the eyes?
Vali ordered his servants to bring a golden robe sent from Tehran.
- What is it? - Wali asked.
- Golden robe! - answered the Truthful.
- And what was he sent for?
- For the tiger.
- Would they send a golden robe for the dog?
- No, they wouldn't.
- Well, that means that now you saw with your own eyes that there was a tiger. If you have a robe, then there was a tiger. Go and tell the truth. There was a tiger, because the robe itself saw for it.
- Yes, in fact, really ...
Then the wali got angry.
- The truth is that they are silent! He said instructively. - If you want to tell the truth, be quiet. Go and remember.
And the Truthful Man went with great dishonor.
That is, in their hearts, everyone respected him very much. And Kazim, and go, and everyone thought: "But one person in the whole city speaks the truth!"
But everyone kept away from him: who wants to, to a Truthful person assent, to be known as a Liar ?!
And no one would let him on the doorstep.
- We do not need lies!
The Truthful Man came out of the city in a mountain. And towards him comes the Liar, fat, ruddy, cheerful.
- What, brother, are they being driven from everywhere?
- For the first time in your life, you told the truth! - answered the Truthful.
- Now let's count! Who made more happy ones: you with your truth or I with my lie. Kazim is happy - he married a rich man. Vali is happy - he received a robe. Everyone in the city is happy that the tiger did not eat him. The whole city is happy that he has such a brave wali. And through whom? Through me! Who have you made happy?
- Talk with you! - the Truthful waved his hand.
“And even you yourself are unhappy. And I - look! They drive you everywhere from the doorway. What can you say? What exists in the world? What everyone knows without you? And I say things that no one knows. Because I'm making it up. It's interesting to listen to me. That is why I am welcome everywhere. One respect to you. And everything else to me! Both the reception and the refreshments.
- From me and one respect is enough! - answered the Truthful.
The liar even jumped for joy:
- For the first time in my life I lied! Pretty?
- I lied, brother! There is something, after all, and you want!
Wrong heels
The wise Jiaffar, the caring ruler of the city, noticed that the streets and bazaars of Cairo were wandering, staggering, people with pale, as if wax, faces, large drops of sweat on their foreheads and dull eyes. Despicable opium smokers. There were many, very many. This worried the caring ruler of the city. And he summoned all the most respected, noble and richest people of Cairo to his meeting.
After treating them with sweet coffee, Turkish delight, dates stuffed with pistachios, rose petal jam, amber honey, wine berries, raisins, almonds and nuts in sugar, he got up, bowed and said:
- Holy Mufti, honored mullahs, respected qadi, honorable sheikhs and all of you who have placed nobility, power or wealth above people! Only Allah, in bearing wisdom, knows why this madness exists. But all of Cairo smokes opium. People are like water, and discontent is like the fog that rises above the water. People are dissatisfied with life here on earth, and are looking for another in the dreams that the cursed poppy juice brings to them. I called you to ask your wisdom for advice: what should we do in such trouble?
All were politely silent. Only one someone said:
- To arrange a better life for people here in the world!
But they looked at him like he was a fool.
The mufti himself rose, bowed and said:
- The people of Cairo are sloths. There are many thieves among them. They are crooks, cheaters, deceivers. And if each of them does not sell their own father, it is only because there are no buyers. But they are godly. And this is the most important thing. It is to their piety that one must turn. Only thought is strong against desires. And thought is a fragrant smoke that comes from fiery words. Words burn and blaze, thoughts flow from them and the minds of listeners are clouded with incense. Let me, caring and wise ruler of the city, address the pious people of Cairo with fiery words about the dangers of smoking opium.
The caring ruler of the city replied:
- Allah gave man a language to speak. I allow you to address the residents with whatever words you like, as long as these words are not against the police. You can say anything about Allah, but nothing about the police. Allah is almighty and will himself be able to punish the guilty. This is his sacred cause. But I won't let the police touch me. In all other respects, the tongue is as free as a bird. And the words are like birdsong.
On the following Friday, in the largest mosque in Cairo, the mufti climbed a dais and said:
- Creations of Allah! You smoke opium because it is one of the joys in life. Give it up because it’s only one of the joys in life. What is life? What does the prophet tell us about her, may peace and blessing be upon him? Do not get carried away by the joys of this life, perishable and transient, because there you will find eternal joys that have no end and no interruption. Don't get carried away with wealth. Mountains of diamonds, rubies, turquoises are waiting for you there. There are tents woven with gold from precious shawls, down, softer than a swan's, pillows are stuffed, and they are soft, like a mother's knees. Do not get carried away with food and drink. There is food waiting for you, which you will eat forever, not knowing satiety. And the fresh spring water smells like roses. Don't get carried away with hunting. The forests are full of wonderful birds, indescribable beauty, as if covered with precious stones. And a gazelle will look at you from every bush. And you will shoot them with golden arrows without missing, riding on your horses, fast and light as the wind. Don't get carried away by women. There you will serve you obedient houris, beautiful, forever young, not knowing old age, not knowing worries, except for one thing: to be pleasant to you. Their eyes are full of love, and their words are full of music. Their sighs fill the air with the scent of flowers. When they dance, they are like lilies swinging on their stems. Your opium gives you it only for a moment, but there, there it is forever!
And the better the holy mufti spoke about paradise, the more the desire flared in the hearts of the listeners to know this paradise as soon as possible and to see it at least for one moment.
The more the mufti preached, the more and more opium smoking spread in Cairo.
Soon there was not a single pious person left who did not smoke.
If a person with a blooming face and clear eyes met on the street or in the bazaar, the boys grabbed stones:
“Here is a wicked man who never goes to the mosque! He has not heard how our holy mufti describes paradise, and does not want to see this paradise even for a moment.
All this alarmed the caring ruler of the city of Jiaffar.
He summoned the noblest and noblest inhabitants of the city to a meeting, treated them to coffee and sweets, as demanded by him and their dignity, bowed and said:
- Piety is piety, but to inspire people with good thoughts with the help of words seems to me contrary to nature. A person accepts and spews out the food he has taken from different parts of his body. The same should be the case with spiritual food. The head is the stomach, where thoughts are digested, and from the mouth they fly out in the form of words. Since thoughts exit from this end of the body, it means that they must enter from the other end. From this I conclude that good thoughts should be instilled with sticks on the heels. This business is no longer a mufti, but a zaptiev. This is how I understand my responsibilities.
All were politely silent.
The wise and holy dervish who was present at the meeting stopped eating sweets and said:
- You're right. But you have to stick the proper heels!
“I’m going to pound those heels that should be!” - said Giaffar.
On the same day, the heralds at all the bazaars and crossroads of the streets of Cairo with a drumbeat at the top of their lungs shouted the order of the caring ruler of the city:
- It is announced to all the good and pious inhabitants of Cairo, - may Allah protect this city for thousands of millennia, - that from now on it is forbidden for all, men, women and eunuchs, youths, adults, old people, noblemen, slaves, rich and poor, to smoke opium, since smoking opium is not only unhealthy, but unpleasant for the boss. Anyone who is convicted of smoking opium, right there, on the spot, immediately, without any further ado, will receive as many sticks on his heels as he can tolerate. And even a little more. About what the ruler of the city Jiaffar - may Allah send him as much happiness as he sent wisdom - has given a proper order to all zaptiya. Let those who have heels think!
Jiaffar gathered his notes to him and said to them:
- From now on, as soon as you see a person with a pale face, sweat and dull eyes, hit him on the heels, like a tambourine. Without any mercy. Go, and may Allah help you in this.
The Zaptias gazed cheerfully at the caring ruler of the city. The police are always happy to fulfill the will of their superiors.
And they said:
- Allah send the inhabitants more heels, and the heels of the hands will be enough.
For days and even nights, Jiaffar, sitting in his house, heard the cries of those who had good thoughts hammered into their heels, and rejoiced:
- Extirpate!
The zaptias, as he noticed, began to dress better, their lips and cheeks were shiny with lamb fat - apparently, they ate a young lamb every day - and many even got themselves rings with turquoise.
But opium smoking did not diminish. Coffee houses were full of people who saw paradise with their soulful eyes, but with bodily eyes they looked dim and did not see anything.
- Are you hitting those heels? - the caring ruler of the city asked the head of the zaptiev, remembering the words of the wise and holy dervish.
- Master! He answered, kissing the ground at his feet. - We act according to your wise order: as soon as we see a person in sweat, with a pale face and dull eyes, without any mercy we hit him on the heels.
Jiaffar ordered to send a donkey for the wise and holy dervish.
The wise and holy dervish came with great honor. Jiaffar met him barefoot, because the head of the sage is the house of Allah, and one must approach the dwelling of Allah barefoot.
He bowed to the dervish to the ground and told his grief.
“Ask your wisdom for advice and convey it to my simplicity.
Dervish came to the house of the caring ruler of the city, sat down in a place of honor and said:
- My wisdom is now silent, because the stomach speaks. Wisdom is smart and knows that the stomach cannot be shouted down. He has such loud voice that when he screams, all thoughts fly out of his head, like frightened birds from a bush. I tried to tame him, but this rebel can be dealt with only by fulfilling all his requirements. This rebel listens less to the arguments of reason than anyone else. On the way to your place, I met a lamb, but with such a fat tail, which would be nice to see in an adult ram. In my stomach, the thought occurred to me: "It would be nice to see him fried." But reason replied: "We are going to the caring Giaffar, and there a lamb, mending nuts, is waiting for us." The stomach fell silent until we met a chicken, a chicken so fat that she could hardly walk from laziness. "It would be nice to stuff this chicken with pistachios!" - thought the stomach, but the mind answered him: "Caring Giaffar, probably already did it." At the sight of the pomegranate tree, the stomach began to scream: “Where are we going and what are we looking for when happiness is around us? In the heat, what kind of society can be more pleasant than a ripe pomegranate in the shade of a tree? " Reason reasonably replied: "At the caring Giaffar, not only ripe pomegranates await us, but also orange peels, boiled in honey, and all sorts of sorbet that a caring person can think of." So I drove and all the way I thought about kebabs, pilaf, kidneys, roasted chickens with saffron, and soothed my stomach that we’ll probably find all this with you. And in abundance. Now, when I see nothing but you, my stomach screams so loudly that my wisdom is silent for fear of not being heard even by me.
Jiaffar was surprised:
- Do the wise and saints think about such things as kebabs and pilaf?
Dervish laughed:
- Do you really think that delicious things are made for fools? Saints should live for their own pleasure, so that everyone wants to become a saint. And if the saints live badly, and only sinners live well, everyone will prefer to be a sinner. If the saints die of hunger, only a fool would want to be a saint. And then the whole earth will be filled with sinners, and the prophet's paradise - with only fools.
Hearing such wise and just words, caring Jiaffar hastened to prepare a treat for the dervish that would correspond to his wisdom and would be worthy of his holiness.
The wise and holy dervish ate everything with the greatest attention and said:
- Now let's get down to business. Your grief is that you hit the wrong heels.
And fell asleep, as every wise man does after a good dinner.
Caring Giaffar thought for three days.
What could the wise words of a saintly man mean? And finally, he joyfully exclaimed:
- Found real heels!
He summoned all the zaptians of the city to him and said:
- My friends! You complain that the heels of the villagers defeated the hands of the police. But it happened because We were hitting the wrong heels. Wanting to destroy the trees, We cut off the leaves, but we must dig up the roots. From now on, beat without mercy, not only those who smoke, but also those who sell opium. All owners of coffee houses, taverns and baths. Do not spare sticks, Allah created whole forests of bamboo.
The Zaptias gazed cheerfully at the caring ruler of the city. The police are always happy to receive orders from their superiors. And they said:
- Master! We only regret one thing. That the residents have only two heels. If there were four, we could prove our diligence twice as strong!
A week later, Giaffar saw with joyful amazement that the zaptios were dressed very well, everyone rode donkeys, and no one walked - even the poorest, married to only one wife, married four.
And the smoking of opium did not diminish.
The caring Giaffar fell into doubt:
- Is a wise and holy person really wrong?
And he went to the dervish himself. Dervish greeted him with bows and said:
“Your visit is a great honor. I pay for her with lunch. Whenever you come to me, instead of inviting me to your place, it seems to me that an excellent dinner is being taken away from me.
Jiaffar understood and served the saint and wise a dish with silver coins.
“Fish,” he said, “it's only fish. You can't make eggplants out of it. Eggplant is only eggplant. A lamb is only a lamb. And money is fish, eggplant and lamb. Everything can be done out of money. Could these coins replace your lunch?
The wise and holy dervish looked at the dish with silver coins, stroked his beard and said:
- A platter of silver coins is like pilaf, which you can eat as much as you like. But a caring owner adds saffron to pilaf!
Jiaffar understood and sprinkled the silver coins on top with gold ones.
Then the dervish took the dish, with honors led the caring ruler of the city into his house, listened attentively to him and said:
- I'll tell you, Giaffar! Your grief is in one thing: you hit the wrong heels! And opium smoking in Cairo won't stop until you knock off the proper heels!
- But what kind of heels are they?
The wise and holy dervish smiled:
- You just loosened the soil and sowed seeds, and you are waiting for the trees to grow immediately and bear fruit for you. No, my friend, we must come more often and water the trees more abundantly. You gave me a good dinner, for which I thank you again, and you brought me money, for which I look forward to the opportunity to thank you again. Happy to stay, Giaffar. I look forward to your invitations or visits, as you please. You are the master, I will obey you.
Jiaffar bowed to the sage, how one should bow to a saint. But a storm raged in his soul.
“Maybe,” he thought, “in paradise this saint will be right there, but on earth he is completely uncomfortable. He wants to make me a goat, which comes into the house itself to be milked! This will not happen! "
He ordered to drive away all the inhabitants of Cairo and said to them:
- Scoundrels! If only you looked at my zaptiev! They are fighting against smoking opium, and see how Allah invisibly helps them. The most unmarried of them became very married some week. And you? You smoke everything you have on opium. Soon your wives will have to be sold for debt. And you will only have to become eunuchs in order to somehow maintain your miserable existence. From now on, all of you will be hit on the heels with bamboos! The whole city is to blame, the whole city will be punished.
And then he gave the order to the zaptyas:
- Hit everyone, right and wrong! The wise and holy dervish says that there are some heels that we cannot find. So that there is no mistake, beat everyone. So we will knock on the door at which we should. The guilty heels will not slip away from us, and everything will stop.
A week later, not only all the zaptias were beautifully dressed, but also their wives.
And opium smoking in Cairo did not stop. Then the caring ruler of the city came to despair, ordered to fry, bake, boil, cook for three days, sent a donkey for a wise and holy dervish, met him with a dish filled with only gold coins, treated him and treated him for three days, and only on the fourth he got down to business ... He told his grief.
The wise and holy dervish shook his head:
- Woe is yours, Jiaffar, everything remains the same. You're not hitting the right heels.
Jiaffar jumped up:
- I'm sorry, but this time even I will contradict you! If there is even one guilty heel in Cairo, she now has as many sticks as she should! And even more.
Dervish answered him calmly:
- Sit down. Standing does not make a person smarter. Let's reason calmly. First you ordered to hit on the heels of pale people, sweaty and with dull eyes. So?
- I plucked leaves from harmful trees.
- Zaptii pounded on the heels of people who, all in sweat from work, pale from fatigue and eyes dimmed from fatigue, were returning home from work. You heard the screams of these people in your house. And they took baksheesh from smokers of opium. That is why the zaptikas and began to dress better. Then you ordered to beat on the heels of those who sell opium, owners of coffee houses, baths, taverns?
- I wanted to get to the roots.
- The zaptias began to pound on the heels of those owners of coffee houses, taverns and baths who did not sell opium. "Trade and pay us baksheesh!" Because of this, everyone began to trade in opium, smoking intensified, and the two became very married. Then you ordered to beat completely on all heels?
- When they want to catch the smallest fish, they throw in the most frequent net.
- The Zaptias started taking baksheesh from everyone. "Pay and shout so that the caring ruler of the city hears how we are trying!" And if you don't pay, sticks on your heels. That's when not only the zaptias, but also their wives, dressed up.
- What should I do? - the caring ruler of the city grabbed his head.
- Don't grab your head. This does not make her more resourceful. Give the order: if they still smoke opium in Cairo, beat them on the heels with sticks.
Jiaffar rose in thought.
- Holiness is holiness, and law is law! - he said. - I allow you to say anything, but not against the police.
And he ordered to give the dervish, in spite of all his wisdom and holiness, thirty sticks on the heels.
Dervish endured the sticks, wisely and justly, thirty times shouted that he was in pain.
He sat on a donkey, hid the money in a bag, rode off ten paces, turned around and said:
- The fate of every person is written in the book of destinies. Your fate: Always hit the wrong heels.
Green bird
Grand Vizier Mugabedzin summoned his viziers and said:
- The more I look at our management, the more I see our stupidity.
Everyone was dumbfounded. But no one dared to object.
- What are we doing? - continued the grand vizier. - We punish atrocities. What could be more stupid than this?
Everyone was amazed, but no one dared to object.
- When a vegetable garden is plowed out, the bad grasses are weeded out together with the root. We only cut the bad grass when we see it - this only makes the bad grass grow even thicker. We are dealing with deeds. And where is the root of the deeds? In thoughts. And we must know thoughts in order to prevent evil deeds. Only by knowing thoughts will we know who is a good person and who is bad. From whom you can expect what. Only then will vice be punished and virtue rewarded. In the meantime, we only cut the grass, and the roots remain intact, which is why the grass only grows thicker.
The viziers looked at each other in despair.
- But the thought is hidden in the head! - said one of them, braver. - And the head is such a bone box that when you break it, the thought flies away.
- But the thought is such a fidget that Allah himself created a way out for her - the mouth! - objected the grand vizier. - It cannot be that a person, having a thought, does not express it to someone. We must know the innermost thoughts of people, such that they express only to the closest ones, when they are not afraid to be overheard.
- We need to increase the number of spies!
The Grand Vizier just chuckled:
- One person has a fortune, the other works. But here is a man: he has no capital either, and does nothing, but eats, as Allah send to everyone! Everyone will immediately guess: this is a spy. And he will start to beware. We already have a lot of spies, but there's no use. Increasing their number means ruining the treasury, and nothing more!
The viziers were at a standstill.
- I give you a week of time! - Mugabedzin told them. - Either in a week you will come and tell me how to read other people's thoughts, or you can get out! Remember, this is about your locations! Go!
Six days have passed. The viziers, when meeting each other, only shrugged their shoulders.
- Made it up?
- Better spies could not invent anything! And you?
- Better spies nothing in the world can be!
There lived a certain Abl-Eddin at the court of the grand vizier, a young man, a joker and a mockingbird. He didn’t do anything. That is, nothing worthwhile.
Invented various jokes on respectable people. But since the higher ones liked his jokes, and he joked at the lower ones, Abl-Eddin got away with everything. The viziers turned to him.
- Instead of inventing nonsense, invent something clever!
Abl-Eddin said:
- It will be more difficult.
And he set such a price that the viziers immediately said:
- Yes, this is not a stupid person!
They added up, counted out his money, and Abl-Eddin said to them:
- You will be saved. And how - is it all the same to you? Does it really matter to a drowning man how he is pulled out: by the hair or by the leg.
Abl-Eddin went to the grand vizier and said:
- I can solve the task you have set.
Mugabedzin asked him:
- When you demand peaches from a gardener, you do not ask him: how will he grow them? He will put dung under the tree, and this will make sweet peaches. So is the state affair. Why do you need to know ahead of time how I will do it. My work is your fruit.
Mugabedzin asked:
- What do you need for this?
Abl-Eddin replied:
- One. Whatever nonsense I may invent, you have to agree to it. At least you were taken by the fear that you and I would be sent to the madmen for this.
Mugabedzin objected:
- I suppose I'll stay in my place, but they'll put you on a stake!
Abl-Eddin agreed:
- As you wish. One more condition. Barley is sown in autumn and harvested in summer. You will give me a deadline from the full moon. On this full moon I will sow, on that full moon I will sow.
Mugabedzin said:
- Good. But remember, this is about your head.
Abl-Eddin just laughed.
- A person is impaled, but they say that it comes about the head.
And he handed the prepared paper to the Grand Vizier for signature.
The Grand Vizier only grabbed his head, reading it:
- You, I see, terribly want to sit on a stake!
But, faithful to this promise, he signed the paper. Only the vizier, administering justice, gave the order:
- Sharpen the stake more reliably for this fellow.
The next day, heralds in all the streets and squares of Tehran proclaimed, with the sound of trumpets and drums:
“Residents of Tehran! Have fun!
Our wise ruler, the ruler of rulers, possessing the courage of a lion and as bright as the sun, gave, as you know, the management of all of you to the caring Mugabedzin, may Allah prolong his days without end.
Sim Mugabedzin announces. So that the life of every Persian flows in pleasantness and pleasure, let everyone in the house have a parrot. This bird, equally entertaining for both adults and children, serves as a true decoration of the house. The richest Indian rajas have these birds for consolation in their palaces. Let the house of every Persian be decorated in the same way as the house of the richest Indian rajah. Little of! Every Persian should remember that the famous "peacock throne" of the ruler of rulers, taken by his ancestors in the victorious war from the Great Mogul, is decorated with a parrot made of one, unheard-of size, an emerald. So, at the sight of this emerald-colored bird, everyone will involuntarily remember the peacock throne and the ruler of rulers sitting on it. The caring Mugabedzin handed over the care of the supply of parrots to all good Persians to Abl-Eddin, from whom the Persians can acquire parrots at a fixed price. Execute this order before the coming of the next new moon.
Residents of Tehran! Have fun! "
The inhabitants of Tehran were given a miracle. The viziers secretly argued among themselves: who had gone mad more? Abl-Eddin by writing such a paper? Or Mugabedzin, who signed it?
Abl-Eddin ordered a huge transport of parrots from India, and since he sold them for twice as much as he bought, he made good money.
Parrots sat on perches in all houses. The Vizier, Administrator of Justice, sharpened the stake and carefully covered it with tin. Abl-Eddin walked merry.
But now the period from full moon to full moon has passed. A full, brilliant moon rose over Tehran. The Grand Vizier called Abl-Eddin to him and said:
- Well, my friend, it's time to get on the stake!
- Look, don't put me somewhere more honorable! Abl-Eddin replied. - The harvest is ready, go and reap! Go and read minds!
And with the greatest pomp, riding on a white Arab horse, by the light of torches, accompanied by Abl-Eddin and all the viziers, Mugabedzin set off for Tehran.
- Where do you want to go? Abl-Eddin asked.
- At least in this house! - pointed out the grand vizier.
The owner was dumbfounded to see such magnificent guests.
The grand vizier nodded his head affectionately. And Abl-Eddin said:
- Have fun, good man! Our caring grand vizier came to see how you are doing, is it fun, is the green bird giving you pleasure?
The owner bowed at his feet and replied:
- Ever since the wise gentleman ordered us to have a green bird, fun has not left our house. I, my wife, my children, all my acquaintances will not get enough of the bird! Praise to the great vizier who brought joy to our home!
- Wonderful! Wonderful! Abl-Eddin said. - Bring and show us your bird.
The owner brought a cage with a parrot and placed it in front of the grand vizier. Abl-Eddin took pistachios from his pocket and began to pour them from hand to hand. Seeing the pistachios, the parrot stretched, bent down sideways, looked with one eye. And suddenly he shouted:
- Fool is the great vizier! What a fool the great vizier! What a fool! What a fool!
The Grand Vizier jumped up as if stung:
- Ah, vile bird!
And beside himself with rage, he turned to Abl-Eddin:
- Number! On the count of this villain! Have you invented how to disgrace me ?!
But Abl-Eddin bowed calmly and said:
“The bird didn’t invent it on its own! So she often hears it in this house! This is what the owner says when he is sure that no one else is eavesdropping on him! In the face he praises you wise, but for the eyes ...
And the bird, looking at the pistachios, continued to yell:
- The grand vizier is a fool! Abl-Eddin is a thief! Thief Abl-Eddin!
“You hear,” Abl-Eddin said, “the master's innermost thoughts!
The Grand Vizier addressed the owner:
- Truth?
He stood pale, as if he had already died.
And the parrot continued to shout:
- The grand vizier is a fool!
- Yes, kill the damned bird! - shouted Mugabedzin.
Abl-Eddin twisted the parrot's neck.
- And the owner for a stake!
And the grand vizier addressed Abl-Eddin:
- Get on my horse! Sit down, they tell you! And I will lead him by the bridle. So that everyone knows how I can execute bad thoughts and appreciate the wise!
Since then, according to Mugabedzin, he "read in other people's heads better than in his own."
As soon as his suspicion fell on some Persian, he demanded:
- His parrot.
Pistachios were placed in front of the parrot, and the parrot, looking at them with one eye, told everything that was in the owner's soul. What was most often heard in intimate conversations. He scolded the Grand Vizier, swore at Abl-Eddin. The vizier, administering justice, did not have time to hew the stakes. Mugabedzin weeded the garden so that soon there would be no cabbage left in it.
Then the noblest and richest people Tehran came to Abl-Eddin, bowed to him and said:
- You invented a bird. Think of her and the cat. What should we do?
Abl-Eddin chuckled and said:
- It is difficult to help fools. But if you come up with something clever the next morning, and I'll come up with something for you.
When Abl-Eddin went out to his waiting room the next morning, its entire floor was lined with gold pieces, and the merchants stood in the waiting room and bowed.
- This is not stupid! Abl-Eddin said. “I’m surprised that such a simple thought didn’t occur to you: strangle your parrots and buy new ones from me. And teach them to say: “Long live the great vizier! Abl-Eddin is the benefactor of the Persian people! " That's all.
The Persians, sighing, looked at their gold pieces and left. Meanwhile, envy and anger were doing their job. The spies — and there were many of them in Tehran — were disbanded by Mugabedzin.
- Why should I feed the spies when the Tehranians themselves feed the spies who are with them! - the grand vizier laughed.
The spies were left without a piece of bread and spread bad rumors about Abl-Eddin. These rumors reached Mugabedzin.
- All Tehran curses Abl-Eddin, and for him the Grand Vizier. "We ourselves have nothing to eat," say the Tehrans, "and then feed the birds!"
These rumors fell on good soil.
The statesman is like food. While we're hungry, the food smells good. When we eat, and look disgusting. The same is the state person. A statesman who has already done his job is always a burden.
Mugabedzin was already burdened by Abl-Eddin:
“Didn't I shower this upstart with honors too much? Was he too proud? I would have come up with such a simple thing myself. It's a simple matter!
Rumors of a murmur among the people came on time. Mugabedzin summoned Abl-Eddin to him and said:
“You have done me a disservice. I thought you'd do something useful. You only brought harm. You lied to me! Thanks to you, there is only murmur among the people and discontent grows! And all because of you! You are a traitor!
Abl-Eddin bowed calmly and said:
- You can execute me, but you will not want to deny me justice. You can put me on a stake, but first we will ask the people themselves: is they murmuring and is they dissatisfied? You have the means to know the innermost thoughts of the Persians. I gave you this remedy. Turn it against me now.
The next day, Mugabedzin, accompanied by Abl-Eddin, accompanied by all his viziers, drove through the streets of Tehran: "To listen to the voice of the people."
The day was hot and sunny. All the parrots were sitting at the windows. At the sight of the brilliant procession, the green birds goggled and shouted:
- Long live the grand vizier! Abl-Eddin is the benefactor of the Persian people!
So they drove through the whole city.
- These are the innermost thoughts of the Persians! This is what they say to each other at home when they are sure that no one is eavesdropping on them! Abl-Eddin said. - You heard with your ears!
Mugabedzin was moved to tears.
He dismounted from his horse, embraced Abl-Eddin and said:
- I am guilty before you and before myself. I obeyed the slanderers! They will sit on the stake, and you mount my horse, and I will again lead him by the bridle. Sit down, they tell you!
Since then, Abl-Eddin did not go out of favor with the grand vizier anymore.
The greatest honor was shown to him during his lifetime. A magnificent marble fountain was erected in his honor with the inscription:
"Abl-Eddin - the benefactor of the Persian people."
The Grand Vizier Mugabedzin lived and died in deep confidence that he: "He destroyed the discontent in the Persian people and inspired him with the best thoughts."
And Abl-Eddin, who traded in parrots until the end of his days and made a lot of money on it, wrote in his chronicle where this story was taken from: "So sometimes the voices of parrots are mistaken for the voice of the people."
Without Allah
One day Allah got tired of being Allah. He left his throne and palaces, descended to earth and became the most ordinary person. He swam in the river, slept on the grass, picked berries and ate them.
He fell asleep with the larks and woke up when the sun tickled his eyelashes.
The sun rose and set every day. It rained on rainy days. Birds sang, fish splashed in the water. As if nothing had happened! Allah looked around with a smile and thought: “The world is like a pebble from a mountain. Pushed him, he rolls by itself. "
And Allah wanted to see: “How do people live without me? Birds, they're stupid. And fish are stupid too. But somehow smart people live without Allah? Better or worse? "
Thought, left the fields, meadows and groves and went to Baghdad.
"Does the city really stand still?" - thought Allah.
And the city stood in its place. Donkeys scream, camels scream, and people scream.
Donkeys work, camels work, and people work. Everything is as it was before!
"Only no one remembers my name!" - thought Allah.
He wanted to know what people were talking about.
Allah went to the bazaar. He enters the market and sees: a merchant is selling a horse to a young guy.
“By Allah,” the merchant shouts, “the horse is very young! Three years in total, as they took away from my mother. Oh, what a horse! Sit on it, you will be a knight. I swear by Allah that I am a knight! And a horse without blemishes! Here is Allah, not a single vice! Not the smallest!
And the guy looks at the horse:
- Oh, right?
The merchant even threw up his hands and grabbed the turban:
- Oh, how stupid! Oh, what a stupid person! I have never seen such stupid people! How is it not so, if I swear by Allah to you? What do you think I don’t feel sorry for my soul!
The guy took the horse and paid in pure gold.
Allah let them finish the business and went to the merchant.
- How so, kind person? You swear by Allah, but Allah is no more!
The merchant was hiding gold in his wallet at this time. He shook his purse, listened to the ringing and grinned.
- And even so? Why, one wonders, otherwise he would have bought a horse from me? After all, the horse is old, and his hoof is cracked!
And the porter Hussein met him. Such a kul carries twice as much as he himself. And behind the porter Hussein is the merchant Ibrahim. Hussein's legs give way under the bag. Sweat pours down. His eyes bulged out on his forehead. And Ibrahim follows and says:
- You are not afraid of Allah, Hussein! Took a sack to carry, but carry it quietly! We can't even carry three sacks a day like that. Not good, Hussein! Not good! You should at least think about the soul! After all, Allah sees everything, how you work lazily! Allah will punish you, Hussein.
Allah took Ibrahim by the hand and took him aside.
- Why do you remember Allah at every step? After all, there is no Allah!
Ibrahim scratched his neck.
- I heard about it! Why, what can you do? How else can Hussein get the coolies to carry around as soon as possible? Coolies are heavy. To add money to him for this is a loss. To beat off - so Hussein is healthier than me, he will beat off himself. Take him to wali - so Hussein will run away on the way. And Allah is stronger than all, and you cannot run away from Allah, so I frighten him with Allah!
And the day has already leaned towards evening. Long shadows fled from the houses, the skies blazed with fire, and the long drawn song of the muezzin rushed from the minaret:
- La ill ago ill alla ...
Allah stopped near the mosque, bowed to the mullah and said:
- Why are you gathering people to the mosque? After all, Allah is no more!
Mulla even jumped up in fright.
- Hush you! Keep your mouth shut! You will shout, they will hear. Needless to say, then the honor will be good for me! Who will come to me if they find out that Allah does not exist!
Allah knitted his eyebrows and soared to the heavens like a pillar of fire before the eyes of the mullah who was numb and crashed to the ground.
Allah returned to his palaces and sat on his throne. And not with a smile, as before, he looked at the ground, which was at his feet.
When the very first soul of the faithful appeared before Allah, timid and trembling, Allah looked at it with a searching eye and asked:
- Well, what good have you done, man, in your life?
- Your name never left my lips! - answered the soul.
- Whatever I do, whatever I do, everything is in the name of Allah.
- And I also inspired others to remember Allah! - answered the soul. - Not only did he remember! To others, at every step, with whom he only dealt, he reminded everyone of Allah.
- What a zealous one! - Allah grinned. - Well, and did you make a lot of money?
The soul trembled.
- That's it! - Allah said and turned away.
And to the soul, crawling, crawling, Shaitan crept up, grabbed her by the legs and dragged her. Allah was so angry with the earth.
Judge in heaven
Azrael, the angel of death, flying over the earth, touched the wise qadi Osman with his wing.
The judge died, and his immortal soul appeared before the prophet.
It was at the very entrance to paradise.
From behind the trees, covered with flowers like pink snow, came the ringing of tambourines and the singing of divine houris, calling for unearthly delights.
And from afar, from the dense forests, the sounds of horns, the resounding stomp of horses and the dashing cries of hunters rushed. Brave, on snow-white Arabian horses, they rushed after swift-footed chamois, fierce boars.
- Let me go to heaven! - said Judge Osman.
- Good! - answered the prophet. “But first you have to tell me how you deserve it. This is our law in heaven.
- Law? The judge bowed deeply and put his hand to his forehead and heart in a token of the greatest respect. - It's good that you have laws and you obey them. This I praise in you. The law must be everywhere and must be followed. This is well arranged for you.
- So, how did you deserve paradise? - asked the great prophet.
- There can be no sin on me! - answered the judge. - All my life I did nothing but condemn sin. I was a judge there on earth. I judged, and I judged very severely!
- Perhaps you yourself shone with some special virtues if you judged others? Yes, and judged strictly! The prophet asked.
The judge frowned.
- As for the virtues ... I will not say! I was the same as all people. But I judged because I received a salary for it!
- Virtue is still small! - the prophet smiled.
- Get paid! I do not know of a single vicious person who would refuse this. It turns out this way: you condemned people for the fact that they do not have those virtues that you do not have. And for this he also received a salary! Those who receive a salary judge those who receive no salary. A judge can judge a mere mortal. And a mere mortal cannot judge a judge, even if the judge was clearly guilty. Something is tricky!
The judge's brow frowned more and more.
- I judged by the laws! He said dryly. - I knew them all and judged by them.
- Well, and those whom you judged, - the prophet was curious, - knew the laws?
- Oh no! - answered the judge proudly. - Where are they! This is not given to everyone!
- So you tried them for non-observance of laws that they did not even know ?! - exclaimed the prophet. - Well, what are you? Trying to let everyone know the laws? Tried to educate the ignorant?
- I judged! - the judge answered firmly. - Seeing that the laws are being violated.
- Did you try to make sure that people did not have to break laws?
- I received a salary to judge! - The judge looked gloomily and suspiciously at the prophet. The judge's brow furrowed, his eyes were angry. “You say the wrong things, prophet, I must tell you! He said sternly. - Dangerous things! You are thinking too freely, prophet! By your reasoning, I suspect you are not a Shiite, prophet? Sunni shouldn't think that way, prophet! Your words are foreseen in the books of the Sunnah!
The judge thought.
“Therefore, based on the fourth book of the Sunnah, page one hundred twenty-three, the fourth line from the top, read from the second half, and guided by the explanations of the wise elders, our holy mullahs, I accuse you, prophet ...
Here the prophet broke down and laughed.
- Go back to earth, judge! - he said. - You are too strict for us. Here, in heaven, it is much kinder!
And he sent the wise judge back to earth.
- But how can I do this when I died? The judge exclaimed. - How to arrange?
- A! So good! If so, I agree!
And the judge returned to earth.
Caliph and sinner
“For the glory of Allah, One and Almighty. For the glory of the prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him.
In the name of the Sultan and Emir of Baghdad, the Caliph of all the faithful and the humble servant of Allah - Harun al-Rashid, - we, the Supreme Mufti of the city of Baghdad, declare a real sacred fatwa - let everyone know.
This is what, according to the Koran, Allah put into our hearts: Wickedness spreads over the earth, and kingdoms perish, countries perish, peoples perish for the sake of luxury, fun, feasts and effeminacy, forgetting Allah.
We want the scent of piety to rise from our city of Baghdad to the sky, as the scent of its gardens ascends, as the sacred calls of muezzins ascend from its minarets.
Evil enters the world through a woman.
They have forgotten the precepts of the law, modesty and good manners. They dress themselves with jewelry from head to toe. They wear chadors, transparent as the smoke from nargile. And if they are covered with precious fabrics, then only in order to better expose the disastrous charms of their body. They made their body, this creation of Allah, an instrument of temptation and sin.
Seduced by them, warriors lose courage, merchants - wealth, artisans - love of work, farmers - the desire to work.
Therefore, we decided in our hearts - to pull out the snake's deadly sting.
Announced for the information of all living in the great and glorious city of Baghdad:
All dancing, singing and music are prohibited in Baghdad. Laughter is prohibited, jokes are prohibited.
Women should leave the house wrapped from head to toe in white linen bedspreads.
They are only allowed to make small holes for their eyes so that they do not deliberately bump into men while walking down the street.
Everyone - old and young, beautiful and ugly - everyone knows: if any of them sees even the tip of their little finger naked, she will be accused of attempting to kill all the men and defenders of the city of Baghdad and immediately stoned. This is the law.
Execute it as if it were signed by the caliph himself, the great Harun al-Rashid.
By his grace and appointment, the Grand Mufti of the city of Baghdad, Sheikh Gazif. "
To the sound of drums and trumpets, the heralds read such a fatwa at the bazaars, crossroads and at the fountains of Baghdad - and at that very moment the singing, music and dancing stopped in cheerful and luxurious Baghdad. Like a plague peeped into the city. The city became as quiet as a cemetery.
Like ghosts, women wandered through the streets, wrapped from head to toe in deaf white veils, and only their eyes peeped out in fright from the narrow slits.
The bazaars were deserted, the noise and laughter disappeared, and even the talkative storytellers fell silent in the coffee shops.
People are always like this: they rebel - they rebel that way, and if they begin to obey the laws, they obey in such a way that even the authorities become disgusted.
Garun al-Rashid himself did not recognize his cheerful, joyful Baghdad.
“Wise sheikh,” he said to the great mufti, “it seems to me that your fatwa is too harsh!
- Lord! Laws and dogs must be evil to be feared! - answered the great mufti.
And Harun al-Rashid bowed to him:
- Perhaps you are right, wise sheikh!
At that time, in distant Cairo, the city of fun, laughter, jokes, luxury, music, singing, dancing and transparent women's veils, there lived a dancer named Fatma-khanum, may Allah forgive her for her sins for the joys she brought to people. She turned her eighteenth spring.
Fatma-khanum was famous among the dancers of Cairo, and the dancers of Cairo were famous among the dancers of the whole world.
She had heard a lot about the luxury and riches of the East, and Baghdad was the biggest diamond in the East, she heard.
The whole world talked about the great caliph of all the faithful, Harun al-Rashid, about his brilliance, splendor, generosity.
The rumor about him touched her pink ears, and Fatma-khanum decided to go east, to Baghdad, to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid - to please his eyes with her dances.
- The custom requires that every faithful bring the best that he has to the Caliph; I will also bring the great caliph the best that I have - my dances.
She took her outfits with her and set off on a long journey. The ship on which she sailed from Alexandria to Beirut was overtaken by a storm. Everyone lost their heads.
Fatma-khanum dressed as she usually dressed for dancing.
- Look! - the frightened travelers pointed at her with horror. - One woman has already gone mad!
But Fatma-khanum answered:
- For a man to live, - he needs only a saber, a woman only needs a dress to her face, - a man will get her everything else.
Fatma-khanum was as wise as she was beautiful. She knew that everything was already written in the book of Destiny. Kizmet!
The ship was smashed against the coastal rocks, and out of all those sailing on the ship, one Fatma-khanum was thrown ashore. In the name of Allah, she traveled with passing caravans from Beirut to Baghdad.
- But we are taking you to death! - the drivers and the guides said to her in the form of encouragement. - In Baghdad you will be stoned for being so dressed!
- In Cairo, I was dressed the same way, and no one even hit me with a flower for it!
- There is no such virtuous mufti as Sheikh Gazif in Baghdad, and he did not issue such a fatwa!
- But for what? For what?
- They say that such a dress excites perverse thoughts in men!
- How can I be responsible for other people's thoughts? I'm only responsible for my own!
- Talk about it with Sheikh Gazif!
Fatma-khanum arrived in Baghdad with a caravan at night.
Alone, in a dark, empty, dead city, she wandered the streets until she saw a house where a fire was shining. And she knocked. It was the home of the great mufti.
So in the fall, during the flight of birds, the wind carries the quail directly into the net.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Gazif did not sleep.
He sat, thinking about virtue and composing a new fatwa, even more severe than the previous one ... Hearing the knock, he became alert:
- Isn't it the Caliph Harun al-Rashid himself? He often can't sleep at night, and he loves to wander around the city!
The mufti himself opened the door and retreated in amazement and horror.
- Female?! Female? I have? The great mufti? And in such clothes?
Fatma-khanum bowed deeply and said:
- My father's brother! By your majestic appearance, by your respectable beard, I can see that you are not a mere mortal. By the huge emerald - the color of the prophet, may peace and blessings be on it - that adorns your turban, I guess that I see before me the great Mufti of Baghdad, the venerable, famous and wise Sheikh Gazif. My father's brother, accept me as you would receive your brother's daughter! I am originally from Cairo. My mother named me Fatma. I am a dancer's occupation, if you will call this pleasure an occupation. I came to Baghdad to amuse the eyes of the Caliph of the faithful with my dances. But I swear, Grand Mufti, I did not know anything about the formidable fatwa - undoubtedly fair, for it comes from your wisdom. That is why I dared to appear before you dressed not according to a fatwa. Forgive me, great and wise mufti!
- Allah alone is great and wise! - answered the mufti. - I really am called Gazif, people call me Sheikh, and our great ruler, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, appointed me - above my merits - as a great mufti. Your happiness that you came to me, and not to a mere mortal. A mere mortal, on the basis of my own fatwa, would have to immediately send for consumables or stone you himself.
- What will you do with me ?! - Fatma-khanum exclaimed in horror.
- I AM? Nothing! I will admire you. The law is like a dog - he must bite others and caress his masters. The fatwa is harsh, but I wrote the fatwa. Make yourself at home, my brother's daughter. If you want to sing - sing, if you want to dance - dance!
But when the sound of a tambourine was heard, the mufti shuddered:
- Quiet! They will hear! What if the damned cadi finds out that the great mufti had a stranger at night ... Oh, these dignitaries! The snake does not bite the snake, and the dignitaries only think how to bite each other. Of course, this woman is beautiful, and I would gladly make her the first dancer of my harem. But wisdom, great mufti. Wisdom ... I'll send this criminal to the kadi. Let him dance in front of him. If the kadi finds her guilty and orders her to be executed, then justice will be done ... The law on my fatwa has never been applied yet, and the law that does not apply is a dog that does not bite. They stop being afraid of her. Well, if the cadi is deceived and has mercy on her, the sting of the accursed snake will be ripped out! The defendant, in whose crime the judge participated, can calmly sleep.
And the great mufti wrote a note to the qadi: “Great qadi! To you, as to the supreme judge of Baghdad, I am sending a criminal against my fatwa. How a doctor examines the most dangerous disease without fear of getting sick yourself - investigate the crime of this woman. Look at her and her dancing for yourself. And if you find her guilty against my fatwa, call for justice. If you recognize it as worthy of indulgence, invoke mercy in your heart. For mercy is above justice. Justice was born on earth, and the homeland of mercy is heaven. "
The great kadi did not sleep either. He wrote the next day decisions on those cases that he would consider - in advance - "so as not to torment the defendants with the expectation of a verdict."
When Fatma-khanum was brought to him, he read the mufti's note and said:
- A! old echidna! He himself apparently violated his fatwa and now wants us to break it!
And, turning to Fatma-khanum, he said:
“So you are a stranger, looking for justice and hospitality. Wonderful. But in order to do you justice, I must know all your crimes. Dance, sing, do your criminal acts. Remember one thing: you must not hide anything before the judge. The fairness of the verdict depends on this. As for hospitality, this is a judge's specialty. The judge always keeps his guests longer than they want.
And that night a tambourine sounded in the kadi's house. The Grand Mufti was not mistaken.
Harun al-Rashid could not sleep that night, and he, as usual, wandered through the streets of Baghdad. The caliph's heart sank with longing. Is this his cheerful, noisy, carefree Baghdad, which usually did not sleep long after midnight? Now snoring was coming from all the houses. Suddenly the caliph's heart shuddered. He heard the sound of a tambourine. They played, oddly enough, in the house of the great mufti. After some time, the tambourine rang out in the cadi's house.
- Everything is fine in this most beautiful city! - exclaimed, smiling, the Caliph. - While vice sleeps, virtue rejoices!
And he went to the palace, terribly interested in what happened at night in the house of the great mufti and qadi.
He barely waited for dawn, and as soon as the pink rays of sunrise flooded Baghdad, he went into the Lion Hall of his palace and announced the Supreme Court. Harun al-Rashid sat on the throne. Near him stood the guardian of his honor and power - a squire and held a naked sword. To the right of the caliph sat the great mufti in a turban with a huge emerald - the color of the prophet, may peace and favor be upon him. On the left sat the high qadi in a turban with a huge ruby - like blood.
The Caliph put his hand on a drawn sword and said:
- In the name of Allah, One and Merciful, we declare the Supreme Court open. May he be as just and merciful as Allah! Happy is a city that can sleep peacefully, because its rulers do not sleep for it. Baghdad slept peacefully tonight, because three did not sleep for him: I am his emir and caliph, my wise mufti and my formidable qadi!
- I made a new fatwa! - said the mufti.
- I was in charge of state affairs! - said the kadi.
“And how joyful it is to indulge in virtue! Like a dance, it is performed to the sound of a tambourine! - exclaimed Garun-al-Rashid cheerfully.
- I interrogated the accused! - said the mufti.
- I interrogated the accused! - said the kadi.
- One hundred times happy is a city where vice is persecuted even at night! - exclaimed Garun al-Rashid.
- We also know about this criminal. We heard about her from a caravan driver we met in the street at night, with whom she arrived in Baghdad. We ordered to take her into custody, and she is now here. Enter the accused!
Fatma-khanum entered trembling and fell before the caliph.
Harun al-Rashid turned to her and said:
“We know who you are, and we know that you came from Cairo to amuse the eyes of your caliph with your dances. The best that you have, you brought us in the simplicity of your soul. But you violated the sacred fatwa of the great mufti and for this you are subject to trial. Arise, my child! And fulfill your wish: dance before the caliph. That, from which neither the great mufti nor the wise qadi perished, nor the caliph will die from this, with the help of Allah.
And Fatma-khanum began to dance.
Looking at her, the Grand Mufti whispered, but so that the Caliph could hear:
- Oh, sin! Oh sin! She tramples on a sacred fatwa!
Looking at her, the supreme qadi whispered, but so that the caliph could hear:
- Oh, crime! Oh crime! Her every move is worthy of death!
The Caliph watched in silence.
- Sinner! - said Harun al-Rashid. - From the city of beautiful vice, Cairo, you have arrived in the city of severe virtue - Baghdad. Godliness reigns here. Piety, not hypocrisy. Piety is gold, and hypocrisy is a counterfeit coin, for which Allah will not give anything except punishment and death. Neither the beauty nor the misfortunes that you have endured soften the hearts of your judges. Virtue is harsh, and pity is inaccessible to her. Do not stretch out your pleading hands in vain either to the Great Mufti, or to the Supreme Qadi, or to me, your Caliph ... Great Mufti! What is your judgment on this woman who transgressed the sacred fatwa?
The Grand Mufti bowed and said:
- Death!
- Supreme Qadi! Your judgment!
The Supreme Qadi bowed and said:
- Death!
- Death! - I also say. You have transgressed the sacred fatwa and must be stoned right there, on the spot, without a moment's hesitation. Who will be the first to throw a stone at you? I, your caliph! .. I must throw at you the first stone that comes across!
Harun al-Rashid took off his turban, tore off a huge diamond, the glorious "Great Mogul", and threw it into Fatma-khanum. The diamond fell at her feet.
- You will be the second! - said the caliph, addressing the great mufti. - Your turban is adorned with a magnificent dark green emerald, the color of a prophet, may peace and blessings be upon us ... What is the best purpose for such a beautiful stone, if not to punish vice?
The Grand Mufti took off his turban, tore off a huge emerald and threw it away.
- It's your turn, Supreme Cadi! Your duty is severe and a huge ruby sparkles with blood on your turban. Do your duty!
Kadi took off his turban, tore off the ruby and threw it away.
- Female! - said Harun al-Rashid. “Take these stones you deserve as punishment for your crime. And keep them as a memory of the mercy of your caliph, the piety of his great mufti and the justice of his supreme qadi. Go!
And since then, they say, the custom of throwing beautiful women precious stones.
- Sheikh Gazif, my great mufti! - said the caliph. - I hope that today you will eat pilaf for your pleasure. I have fulfilled your fatwa!
- Yes, but I'm canceling it. She's too harsh!
- How? You said: the law is like a dog. The angrier, the more they fear him!
- Yes, lord! But the dog must bite strangers. If she bites the owner, the dog is put on a chain!
This is how the wise Caliph Harun al-Rashid judged for the glory of Allah, the one and merciful.
from Moorish legends
In the morning, bright and cheerful, Caliph Mahommet sat in a magnificent courtroom in the Alhambra, on a carved ivory throne, surrounded by eunuchs, surrounded by servants. I sat and watched. The morning was lovely.
There was not a cloud in the sky, not a cloud-cobweb. The Lviv courtyard was as if covered with a dome of blue enamel. The valley looked out the window, emerald, with blossoming trees. And this view in the window seemed like a picture inserted into a patterned frame.
- How good! - said the caliph. - How wonderful life is. Introduce those who, with their disgusting deeds, poison the quiet joys of life!
- Caliph! - answered the chief eunuch. - Today only one criminal will appear before your wisdom and justice!
- Enter it ...
And Sephardine was brought in. He was barefoot, dirty, in rags. His hands were twisted back with ropes. But Sephardin forgot about the ropes when he was led into the Court of Lions.
It seemed to him that he had already been executed and that his soul had already been transferred to the paradise of Mohammed. It smelled like flowers.
Bouquets of diamonds soared over a fountain resting on ten marble lions.
To the right and to the left in the arches one could see chambers covered with patterned carpets.
The multicolored mosaic walls cast a glow of gold, blue, red. And the chambers, from which smelled aroma and coolness, seemed to be filled with gold, blue, pink twilight.
- Fall on your knees! Fall to your knees! The guards whispered, pushing Sephardin. - You are standing before the caliph.
Sephardin fell to his knees and sobbed. He was not yet in paradise - he was yet to face trial and execution.
- What did this man do? - asked the caliph, feeling that regret stirred in his heart.
The eunuch, chosen to accuse without passion and without pity, replied:
“He killed his comrade.
- How? - angry, exclaimed Makhommet. - You took the life of your own kind ?! What caused this villain to commit the greatest of crimes?
- For the most insignificant reason! - answered the eunuch. - They fought over a piece of cheese that someone dropped and that they found on the road.
- For a piece of cheese! Right Allah! - Makhommet threw up his hands.
- It's not entirely true! - muttered Sephardin. - It was not a piece of cheese. It was just a cheese crust. She was not dropped, but thrown. In the hope that the dog will find. And people found it.
- And people gnawed like dogs! The eunuch remarked with contempt.
- Shut up, unfortunate! - Shouted Makhommet beside himself with anger. - With every word you tighten the noose on your throat! Because of the cheese crust! Look, despicable! How wonderful life is! How wonderful life is! And you robbed him of it all!
“If I knew that life is like that,” answered Sephardin, looking around, “I would never have deprived her of anyone! Caliph! Everyone speaks, listens - a sage. Hear me, Caliph!
- Speak! - ordered Makhommet, restraining his indignation.
- Great Caliph! Life here, on the Sacred Mountain, and life there, in the valley from which they brought me - two lives, Caliph. Let me ask you a question!
- Ask.
- Have you ever seen a crust of bread in a dream?
- A crust of bread? - the Caliph was surprised. “I don’t remember such a dream!
- Well, yes! A crust of bread! Remember well! - continued, kneeling, Sephardin. - A crust of bread that was thrown. A crust of bread doused with slop. Covered with mold, dirt. A crust of bread that the dog sniffed and did not eat. And would you like to eat this crust of bread, Caliph? Did you hold out your hand to her, trembling with greed? And did you wake up at that moment, in horror, in despair: a crust doused with slops, a crust covered with mold and dirt, only dreamed of! It was only in a dream.
- I have never seen such a strange, such a low dream! - exclaimed the caliph. - I have dreams. Armies of enemies that run before my riders. Hunting in gloomy gorges. Wild goats, which I hit with a mark, an arrow ringing in the air. Sometimes I dream of heaven. But I have never seen such a strange dream.
- And I saw him every day and all my life! - Sefardin answered quietly. - In all my life I have not seen another dream! And the one I killed, in all his life, had no other dream but this. And no one in our valley has ever seen anything else. We dream of a crust of dirty bread, how do you like victory and paradise.
The Caliph sat in silence and thought.
- And you killed your friend in the argument?
- I killed. Yes. If he lived like your servants in the Alhambra, I would rob him of the joys of life. But he lived in the valley like me. I took away his misery. That's all I took away from him.
The Caliph sat in silence and thought.
And like clouds gathering on the top of the mountains, wrinkles gather on his brow.
- The law expects a word of justice from you! - the eunuch-accuser dared to break the silence of the Caliph.
Mahommet glanced at Sephardin.
"Is he waiting to be freed from suffering as well?" Untie it and let it go. Let him live.
Everyone around did not dare to believe their ears: is that how they hear?
- But laws ?! The eunuch exclaimed. - But you, Caliph! But we are! We are all bound by the law.
Makhommet looked at his frightened face with a sad smile.
- We will try to make him dream better in the future, and so that he does not gnaw like a dog over a crust of cheese!
And he stood up as a sign that the judgment was over.
Once Allah came down to earth, assumed the appearance of himself, the simplest man, entered the first village he came across and knocked on the poorest house, to Ali.
- I'm tired, I'm dying of hunger! - said Allah with a low bow. - Let the traveler in.
Poor Ali opened the door for him and said:
- A tired traveler is a blessing to the home. Come in.
Allah entered.
Ali's family sat and dined.
- Sit down! Ali said. Allah sat down.
They took a piece from themselves and gave it to him. When they finished their supper, the whole family stood up for prayer. One guest sat and did not pray. Ali looked at him in surprise.
- Don't you want to pray to Allah? Ali asked.
Allah smiled.
- Do you know who is your guest? - he asked a question.
Ali shrugged.
- You told me your name - the traveler. Why should I know something else?
- Well, then know who has entered your house, - said the traveler, - I am Allah!
And all of it flashed like lightning.
Ali fell at the feet of Allah and exclaimed with tears:
- Why have I been given such mercy? Aren't there few rich and noble people in the world? We have a mullah in our village, we have a foreman Kerim, and there is a rich merchant Megemet. And you chose the poorest, the most beggar - Ali! Thank you.
Ali kissed the footprint of Allah. Since it was too late, everyone went to bed. But Ali could not sleep. All night he turned from side to side, thinking about something. The next day, too, all thought about something. He also sat pensive at supper and did not eat anything.
And when the supper was over, Ali could not resist and turned to Allah:
- Do not be angry with me, Allah, that I will ask you a question!
Allah nodded his head and said: - Ask!
- I wonder! Ali said. - I am amazed and cannot understand in any way! We have a mullah in our village, a learned and noble man - everyone bows to him at the waist when they meet him. There is foreman Kerim, an important person - the wali himself stops at his place when he travels through our village. There is a merchant Megemet - a rich man, which, I think, there are not many in the world. He would have been able to treat you and put you to sleep on clean fluff. And you took it and went to Ali, the poor man, to the beggar! Must I please you, Allah? A?
Allah smiled and replied:
- Good!
Ali even laughed with joy:
- Here I am glad that you please! I'm glad!
Ali slept well that night. He went to work merrily. He returned home merry, sat down to dinner and said merrily to Allah:
- And me, Allah, after dinner I need to talk to you!
- Let's talk after dinner! - Allah answered cheerfully.
When dinner was over and his wife had put away the dishes, Ali turned to Allah cheerfully:
- And I must be very pleasing to you, Allah, if you took yes to me and came in ?! A?
- Yes! - Allah answered with a smile.
- A? - continued Ali with a laugh. - There is a mullah in the village, to whom everyone bows, there is a foreman at whom the wali himself stops, there is Megemet the rich man who would heap up pillows up to the ceiling and would be glad to slaughter a dozen rams for dinner. And you took it and went to me, to the poor man! Must I really please you? Tell me, very much?
- Yes! Yes! - answered, smiling, Allah.
- No, tell me, really, I am very pleasing to you? Ali pestered. - That you are all "yes, yes." Tell me how you please me?
- Yes Yes Yes! Very, very, very much you please me! - Allah answered with a laugh.
- So very much?
- OK. Let's go, Allah, to sleep.
The next morning Ali woke up in an even better frame of mind. All day I walked around, smiling, thinking something funny and joyful.
At supper he ate for three and after supper he patted Allah on the knee.
- And I think you, Allah, how awful should you be to rejoice that I am so pleasing to you? A? Tell me what you like? Are you very happy, Allah?
- Very! Very! - Allah answered smiling.
- I think! Ali said. - I, brother Allah, know from myself. Even if I like a dog, it’s a pleasure to see it. But then the dog, and then me! Either I, or you, Allah! I can imagine how you should rejoice, looking at me! You see in front of you a person so pleasing to you! I suppose your heart is playing?
- Plays, plays! Go to sleep! - said Allah.
- Well, let's go, perhaps, and sleep! - answered Ali.
- Please!
The next day Ali walked pensively, sighed at supper, looked at Allah, and Allah noticed that Ali once even unnoticed wiped away a tear.
- Why are you, Ali, so sad? - Allah asked when they finished supper.
Ali sighed.
- Yes, that's about you, Allah, thinking! What would happen to you if I was not there?
- How so? - Allah was surprised.
- What would you do without me, Allah? Look at the wind and cold outside, and the rain is whipping like lashes. What would happen if there were no such a person you like as me? Where would you go? You would freeze in the cold, in the wind, in the rain. You wouldn't have a dry thread! And now you are sitting warm, dry. It's light, and you have eaten. And all why? Because there is such a person pleasing to you, to whom you could go! You would have perished, Allah, if I had not been in the world. You are lucky, Allah, that I exist in the world. Indeed, the lucky one!
Then Allah could not stand it, laughed loudly and disappeared from sight. Only on the bench where he was sitting was a heap of large ducats, in two thousand pieces.
- Fathers! What wealth! Ali's wife threw up her hands. - But what is it? Is there so much money in the world? Yes, I'm crazy!
But Ali pushed her away from the money with his hand, counted the gold coins and said:
- B-a little!
Mustafa and his neighbors
Mustafa was a wise man. He said to himself:
- A person who seeks the truth is like a person who is tormented by an unbearable thirst. When a person is thirsty, he should drink water, not spit.
Therefore, Mustafa listened more than spoke. He listened to everyone equally. Those who were considered smart. And those who were considered stupid. Who knows who is smart and who is really stupid?
- If the lamp barely flickers, it does not mean that there is no oil in it. Often the lamp is barely lit because it is overflowing with oil and has not yet flared up.
Anyone who wanted to enter into a conversation with him, Mustafa asked:
- Do you know something about the truth? Tell me.
Once, when Mustafa, in thought, was walking along the road, an old dervish came across him. Dervish said to Mustafa:
- Good afternoon, Mustafa!
Mustafa looked at him in amazement: he had never seen this dervish.
- Where do you know me from?
Dervish smiled and instead of answering asked:
- What are you doing, Mustafa?
- You see what I'm doing! - answered Mustafa. - I'm going.
- I see that you are going now. What do you usually do? The dervish asked.
Mustafa shrugged his shoulders:
- What everyone usually does. I walk, sit, lie, drink, eat, trade, quarrel with my wife.
Dervish smiled slyly:
- But what are you doing, Mustafa, when you walk, sit, lie, drink or eat, when you trade, quarrel with your wife?
The amazed Mustafa replied:
- I think: what is truth? I'm looking for the truth.
- Do you want to know what truth is? The dervish continued smiling all the time.
- From all that I know, I know for certain that this is what I want to know most of all.
- The truth? This is the back of our head.
- How so? Mustafa asked.
- She is with us, about, but we do not see her.
- I do not understand this! - Mustafa said.
Dervish gave him a precious ring.
- Here's a clue. Give this ring to the person farthest from you. And you will understand.
And having said this, he turned off the road and disappeared into the bushes before Mustafa had time to recover. Mustafa looked at the ring.
Truly, he had never seen a more precious thing. Not such stones, not such a size, not such a game! Mustafa said to himself:
- It's not hard to do!
He took as much money as he could and hit the road. He rode on camels through a sultry, dead, red-hot desert, every moment risking to break loose and die to death, crossed the icy mountains, swam across many wide and fast rivers, passed through dense forests, tearing his skin against sharp branches, moved, almost crashing through endless ocean and finally found himself at the edge of the world.
Burned by the sun, and frozen, and wounded, not like himself.
Among the fields covered with eternal snow. Eternal night reigned there.
And only the stars burned over the icy desert. In the middle of a snowy field, wrapped in furs, sat shivering in front of a fire and warmed himself.
He was so immersed in his thoughts that he did not notice how Mustafa approached, how Mustafa sat down at the fire and began to warm himself.
- What are you thinking about? - finally asked Mustafa, breaking the silence of the man wrapped in furs.
And the words sounded strange in the icy desert, where everything was silent since the creation of the world.
The man wrapped in furs shuddered, as if awakening from a dream, and said:
- I think: is there anything there ...
He pointed to the sky:
- For the stars!
“If there’s nothing there,” the man wrapped in furs continued, as if reasoning with himself, “then how stupid I am spending my life! Often I want to do this or that, but the thought stops me: what if "there" is? And I refuse that which would give me pleasure. Every day I spend two hours in prayer, and I cry, and I weep, and my heart beats like it never does again. And suddenly there is nothing there? I'm sorry the time wasn't wasted. I'm sorry for the gift of shed tears, I'm sorry for the beating of my heart. These tears and this heartbeat would have found a better place on earth.
And the man wrapped in furs shuddered with indignation and disgust at the thought:
- What if there is nothing there?
- And if there is?
And he shuddered with horror:
- Then how awful I am spending my life! Only two hours a day I do what needs to be done. If everything does not end here, and life only begins there? Then what, on what nonsense, on what insignificant, senseless nonsense, am I wasting all the other hours of my life!
And by the light of a fire, as if illuminated here on earth by the flame of hell, Mustafa saw the face of a man distorted from unbearable torment, who was looking at the stars with a groan:
- What is truth? Is there anything in there?
And the stars were silent.
And so terrible was this groan, and so terrible was this silence, that wild animals, whose eyes, like sparks, burned in the darkness, wild animals that came running at the sound of voices, tucked their tails and walked away in horror.
With eyes full of tears, Mustafa embraced a man with a face contorted with suffering:
- My brother! We are suffering from the same disease! Let your heart listen to my beat. They say the same thing.
And having said this, Mustafa stepped back from the man in amazement.
- I went through the universe to see the person who is most distant from me, but I found my brother, almost myself!
And Mustafa sadly hid the precious ring, which he was about to put on the finger of a man sitting in front of a fire in the icy desert.
- Where else to go? - thought Mustafa. - I do not know the way to the stars!
And I decided to return home.
His wife greeted him with shouts of joy:
- We really thought you were dead! Tell me, what business has lured you so far from home?
“I wanted to know what truth is.
- Why do you need it?
Mustafa looked at his wife in amazement. He told her about his meeting with the dervish and showed her a gem.
The wife almost fainted.
- What stones! - She threw up her hands: - And this thing you wanted to give?
- The most distant person from me.
The wife's face was stained.
She clutched her head and screamed in a voice that Mustafa had never heard from her before:
- Have you seen the fool? He receives the most precious ring! Stones that have no price! And instead of giving it to his wife, he drags across the world to throw such a treasure - to whom? The most distant person from him! Like a stone in someone else's dog! Why did heaven create such a fool, if not to punish his wife ?! Woe is me! Woe!
And suddenly Mustafa saw that the distance between them is greater than to the smallest star, which is barely visible.
With a smile, Mustafa handed his wife the precious ring of the dervish and said:
- Yes. You're right.
And he walked all day, smiling. And he wrote:
“Truth is our back of the head. Here, about. But we do not see. "
Mustafa then received bliss in heaven.
But not on earth.
Husband and wife
Persian legend
- The light is amazingly created! - said the sage Jafar.
- Yes, we must confess, strange! - answered the sage Eddin.
So they spoke before the wise Shah Aybn-Musi, who loved to play wise men against each other and see what the wise would come of.
- Not a single object can be cold and hot, heavy and light, beautiful and ugly at the same time! - said Jafar. - And only people can be close and distant at the same time.
- How so? The shah asked.
- Let me tell you a story! Jafar replied with a bow, pleased that he had managed to capture the Shah's attention.
And Eddin at this time almost burst with envy.
- Lived in the best of cities, in Tehran, Shah Habibullin, - Shah, like you. And poor Sarah lived. And they lived terribly close to each other. If the shah wanted to make Sarrakh happy and go to his hut, he would have arrived before he could count to three hundred. And if Sarrah could go to the palace of the shah, he would have reached even that sooner, because the poor man always walks faster than the shah: he is more of a habit. Sarrah often thought of the Shah. And the shah sometimes thought about Sarah, because somehow on the way he saw Sarrah weeping over the dead last donkey, and out of mercy he asked the name of the weeping one in order to mention him in his evening prayers: “Allah! Comfort Sarrah! Let Sarah cry no more! "
Sarrah sometimes asked himself the question: “I would like to know what horses the Shah rides on? I think that they are forged only with gold, and so beefy that you just rip your legs when you sit down! " But now he answered himself: “What a fool I am, however! The Shah will ride on horseback! Others ride for him. And the shah probably sleeps all day. What more should he do? Of course he sleeps! There is no better thing to do than sleep! "
Then it occurred to Sarah:
“Well, but how is it? The shah should and should eat. Also, the occupation is not harmful! Hehe! Sleep, eat and fall asleep again! This is life! And there is not something, but a new ram every time. He will see a ram, now he will slaughter, roast and eat for his own pleasure. Good! .. Only I am a fool! There will be a shah, like a simple man, there is only a ram. The shah eats away only the kidneys of the ram. Therefore, the kidney is the most delicious. He will slaughter a ram, eat off his kidneys and slaughter another! This is the Shah's food! "
And Sarrah sighed: “And the fleas, I think, are with the Shah! Fatty! What are your quails! Not that I have - rubbish, they have nothing to eat. And the shah should have fleas like no one else. Well-fed! "
The Shah, when he remembered Sarah crying over a dead donkey, thought:
“Poor fellow! And he looks thin. Bad food. I don’t think he has a mountain goat roasting on a spit every day. I think he eats only rice. I would like to know with what he cooks pilaf - with a lamb or with a chicken? "
And the shah wanted to see Sarrah. They dressed Sarrakh, washed him and brought him to the Shah.
- Hello, Sarah! - said the shah. - We are close neighbors!
- Yes, not distant! - answered Sarrah.
- And I would like to talk to you in a neighborly way. Ask me what you want. I'll ask you.
- Glad to serve! - answered Sarrah. - And my demand is small. One thing haunts me. That you are strong, rich, I know. You have a lot of treasures, it’s me, and I’ll tell you without looking. That you have magnificent horses in your stable, there is nothing to think about. But tell me to show those fleas that bite you. What treasures you have, horses, I can imagine. But I can't imagine your fleas!
The shah was given a miracle, shrugged his shoulders, looked at everyone with surprise:
- I can't understand what this person is talking about. What are fleas? What it is? This man must be just trying to confuse me. You, Sarah, that's what! Instead of talking about some stones or trees, what are these "fleas" of yours? - you better answer me yourself to my question.
- Ask, shah! - Sarah answered with a bow. - As before the prophet, I will not hide anything.
- With what are you, Sarrah, preparing your pilaf: with a lamb or with a chicken? And what do you put in there: raisins or plums?
Then Sarrah widened his eyes, looked at the shah with amazement:
- What is pilaf? City or river?
And they looked at each other in amazement.
- So only people can be, lord, at the same time close and far from each other! - the wise Jafar finished his story.
Shah Aybn-Musi laughed:
- Yes, the light is strangely arranged!
And, turning to the sage Eddin, who turned green from the success of Jafar, he said:
- What do you say to that, wise Eddin?
Eddin just shrugged.
- Lord, order to send for the wife of Jafar! Let her bring my answer.
And while the servants were running after Jafar's wife, Eddin turned to the sage:
- While they go after your worthy wife, Jafar, please answer us a few questions. How long have you been married?
- Twenty full years! - Jafar answered.
- And you live inseparably with your wife all the time?
- What a strange question! - Jafar shrugged his shoulders. - A fool wanders from place to place. The smart one sits in one place. He, and sitting at home, can mentally flow around the seas and lands. That's what his mind is for. Thanks to Allah, I never needed to leave Tehran - and, of course, I lived with my wife inseparably.
- Twenty years under one roof? - Eddin did not calm down.
- Every house has only one roof! - Jafar shrugged his shoulders.
- Tell us what your wife thinks?
- Weird question! - Jafar exclaimed. “You, Eddin, are certainly a wise man. But today it is like someone else sits in you and speaks for you. Drive him out, Eddin! He is talking nonsense! What can the wife of a man who is recognized by all as a sage think? Of course, she is glad that Allah sent her a sage to be her companions and mentors. She is happy and proud of it. And that's all. I didn't ask her about it. But do they ask during the day: "is it light now?" - and at night: "is it dark on the street now?" There are things that are self-evident.
At this time, Jafar's wife was brought in, all in tears. Of course when old woman they call to the Shah, she always cries - she thinks that she will be punished. Why call more?
Shah, however, reassured her affectionate word and, shouting not to cry, he asked:
- Tell us, wife of Jafar, are you happy that you are married to such a sage?
The woman, seeing that she was not being punished, took the will and began to say not what should be, but what she thinks.
- Oh, what happiness there! - exclaimed Jafar's wife, bursting into tears again, like a stupid cloud from which it rains twice a day. - What happiness! A husband with whom two words cannot be said, who walks and utters as if he had learned the Koran by heart! A husband who thinks about what is happening in heaven and does not see that his wife's last dress is falling off her shoulders! Looks at the moon while the last goat is being taken out of his yard. It's more fun to be married behind a stone. You will approach him with affection - “woman, do not bother! I think!" You will approach with abuse, - “woman, do not bother! I think!" We don't even have children. For such a fool to be married, who always thinks and will not invent anything - what happiness! May Allah protect everyone who virtuously covers his face!
The shah burst out laughing.
Jafar stood all red, looked at the ground, tugged at his beard and stamped his foot. Eddin looked at him mockingly and, pleased that he had destroyed his opponent, said to the shah with a deep bow:
- This is my answer, lord! It happens to people who gaze at the stars for a long time. They begin to look for a hat, as their destiny, among the stars, and not on their head. What my wise adversary Jafar said is absolutely true! The light is amazingly created. Nothing can be both warm and cold at the same time, only people can be both close and distant at the same time. But I am surprised why he needed to go to the dirty hut of some Sarrakh for examples and trample the floors of the Shah's palace with his feet. It was worth looking under the roof of your own house. Shah, every time you want to see this miracle - people who would be close and far from each other at the same time - you don't have to go far. You will find this in any home. Take any husband and wife.
The Shah was pleased and gave Eddin a hat.
Man of truth
Persian legend
Shah Dali-Abbas loved noble and soul-elevating fun.
He loved to climb the impregnable steep cliffs, getting close to the tours, sensitive and shy. He loved, lying flat with the horse in the air, to fly over the abyss, rushing after the mountain goats. He loved, leaning his back against a tree, holding his breath, to wait for a huge black bear, frightened by the cries of the beaters, to crawl out of the dense bush with a roar, rising on its hind legs. He loved to prowl the coastal reeds, raise furious striped tigers.
The shah's delight was to watch how the falcon, soaring towards the sun itself, fell like a stone on a white dove, and how white feathers flew from under it, sparkling in the sun like snow. Or how a mighty golden eagle, having described a circle in the air, rushed to a red fox that was skipping in the thick grass. The shah's dogs, coccyxes and hawks were famous even among neighboring peoples.
Not a single new moon passed without the shah going somewhere to hunt.
And then the close associates of the shah flew in advance to the province, which the shah appointed for hunting, and said to the local ruler:
- Triumph! Unheard of joy falls to the lot of your area! On such and such a day, two suns will rise in your area. The Shah is coming to hunt you.
The ruler grabbed his head:
- Allah! And they won't let you sleep well! Here is life! Better to die! Much calmer! Punishment from Allah! Enraged!
The governor's servants galloped through the villages:
- Hey you! Fools! Give up your low occupations! Enough for you to plow, sow, shear your black sheep! Throw fields, houses, herds! Will take care of maintaining your paltry life! There is a higher occupation! The shah himself is going to our region! Go lead roads, build bridges, lay paths!
And by the arrival of the shah it was impossible to recognize the region.
The shah rode along a wide road along which six horsemen were quietly passing in a row. Bridges hung across the chasms.
Paths led even to the most inaccessible rocks. And along the edges of the road stood the villagers, dressed as best they could. Many even had green turbans on their heads. Deliberately forced to wear, as if these people were in Mecca.
End of introductory snippet.
* * *
The given introductory fragment of the book Wisdom of the East. Parables about love, goodness, happiness and the benefits of sciences (Eugene Taran) provided by our book partner -
Short wise parables about life: oriental wisdom
A parable is a little story, story, fable, with or without morality.
A parable does not always teach life, but it always gives a wise hint with deep meaning.
Life meaning is hidden in parables - a lesson for people, but not everyone can see this meaning.
A parable is not a fictional story, it is a life story about real events. From generation to generation, parables have been passed down from mouth to mouth, but at the same time they have not lost their wisdom and simplicity.
Many parables describe stories that take place in everyday life, many events described in parables are very similar to ours. The parable teaches you to look at things from different angles and to act wisely and rationally.
If a parable seemed incomprehensible or meaningless, this does not mean that the parable is bad. We are simply not prepared enough to understand it. Rereading the parables, each time you can find in them something new and wise.
So, we read oriental parables, think and become wise!
Three important questions
The ruler of one country strove for all wisdom. Once rumors reached him that there was a certain hermit who knew the answers to all questions. The ruler came to him and saw: a decrepit old man digging a bed. He dismounted from his horse and bowed to the old man.
- I came to get an answer to three questions: who is the most important person on earth, what is the most important thing in life, what day is more important than everyone else.
The hermit said nothing and continued to dig. The ruler undertook to help him.
Suddenly he sees: a man is walking along the road - his whole face is covered with blood. The governor stopped him, consoled him with a kind word, brought water from the brook, washed and bandaged the traveler's wounds. Then he took him to the hermit's shack, put him to bed.
The next morning he looks - the hermit is sowing the garden.
“Hermit,” the governor pleaded, “won't you answer my questions?
“You yourself have already answered them,” he said.
- How? - the ruler was amazed.
“Seeing my old age and infirmity, you took pity on me and volunteered to help,” said the hermit. - While you were digging the garden bed, I was the most important person for you, and helping me was the most important thing for you. A wounded man appeared - his need was more acute than mine. And he became the most important person for you, and helping him is the most important thing. It turns out that the most important person is the one who needs your help. And the most important thing is the good that you do to him.
“Now I can answer my third question: which day in a person’s life is more important than the rest,” said the governor. - The most important day is today.
Most valuable
One person in childhood was very friendly with an old neighbor.
But time passed, school and hobbies appeared, then work and personal life. Every minute the young man was busy, and he had no time either to remember the past, or even to be with loved ones.
Once he found out that a neighbor had died - and suddenly remembered: the old man taught him a lot, trying to replace the boy's deceased father. Feeling guilty, he came to the funeral.
In the evening, after the burial, the man entered the deserted house of the deceased. Everything was the same as it was many years ago ...
Here are just a small gold box, in which, according to the old man, the most valuable thing for him was kept, disappeared from the table. Thinking that one of the few relatives had taken her, the man left the house.
However, two weeks later he received the package. Seeing the name of a neighbor on it, the man shuddered and opened the package.
Inside was that same gold box. It contained a gold pocket watch with an engraving: "Thanks for the time you spent with me."
And he realized that the most valuable time for the old man was the time he spent with his little friend.
Since then, the man tried to devote as much time as possible to his wife and son.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths. It is measured by the number of moments that make us hold our breath.
Time is slipping away from us every second. And you need to spend it profitably right now.
Life as it is
I will tell you a parable: in ancient times, a grief-stricken woman who had lost her son came to Gautama Buddha. And she began to pray to the almighty to return her child. And the Buddha ordered the woman to return to the village and collect a mustard seed from each family, in which at least one of its members would not be burned at the funeral pyre. And having walked around his village and many others, the poor fellow did not find a single such family. And the woman understood that death is a natural and inevitable outcome for all living. And the woman took her life as it is, with its inevitable disappearance into oblivion, with the eternal circulation of lives.
Butterflies and fire
Three butterflies, flying up to the burning candle, began to talk about the nature of fire. One, flying up to the flame, returned and said:
- The fire is shining.
Another flew closer and scorched the wing. Arriving back, she said:
- It burns!
The third, flying very close, disappeared in the fire and did not return. She found out what she wanted to know, but could no longer tell the rest of it.
The one who has received knowledge is deprived of the opportunity to talk about it; therefore, the one who knows is silent, and the speaker does not know.
Understand destiny
Wu Chuang Tzu's wife died, and Hui-tzu came to mourn her. Chuang Tzu squatted and sang songs, hitting his pelvis. Hui-tzu said:
- Not to mourn the deceased, who lived with you until old age and raised your children - this is too much. But singing songs while hitting the pelvis is just no good!
“You're wrong,” Chuang Tzu replied. - When she died, could I not be sad at first? Grieving, I began to think about what she was in the beginning, when she was not yet born. And not only was she not born, but she was not yet a body. And not only was it not a body, but it was not even a breath. I realized that she was scattered in the void of boundless chaos.
Chaos turned - and she became breath. The breath changed - and she became the body. The body was transformed - and she was born. Now a new transformation has come - and she is dead. All this changed each other, as the four seasons alternate. Man is buried in the abyss of transformations, as if in the chambers of a huge house.
Money can not buy happiness
The disciple asked the Master:
- How true are the words that money is not happiness?
He replied that they are completely correct. And it's easy to prove it.
For money can buy a bed, but not a dream; food, but not appetite; medicines, but not health; servants, but not friends; women, but not love; dwelling, but not home; entertainment, but not joy; education, but not mind.
And what is named does not exhaust the list.
Walk straight!
There was once a woodcutter who was in a very distressful situation. He subsisted on a paltry sum of money, obtained for firewood, which he brought to the city on himself from the nearest forest.
One day a sannyasin walking along the road saw him at work and advised him to go further into the forest, saying:
- Go ahead, go ahead!
The woodcutter obeyed the advice, went into the forest and walked forward until he came to a sandalwood. He was very pleased with this find, cut down a tree and, taking with him as many pieces of it as he could carry, sold them at the bazaar for a good price. Then he began to wonder why the kind sannyasin did not tell him that there was a sandalwood in the forest, but simply advised him to go ahead.
The next day, reaching a felled tree, he went further and found copper deposits. He took with him as much copper as he could carry, and by selling it in the bazaar, he saved even more money.
The next day he found gold, then diamonds, and finally acquired enormous wealth.
This is precisely the position of a person who strives for true knowledge: if he does not stop in his movement after reaching some paranormal powers, then, in the end, he will find the riches of eternal Knowledge and Truth.
Two snowflakes
It was snowing. The weather was calm, and large fluffy snowflakes circled slowly in a bizarre dance, slowly approaching the ground.
Two snowflakes flying nearby decided to start a conversation. Afraid of losing each other, they joined hands, and one of them cheerfully says:
- How good it is to fly, enjoy the flight!
- We do not fly, we just fall, - the second answered sadly.
- Soon we will meet the earth and turn into a white fluffy blanket!
- No, we are flying towards destruction, and on the ground we will simply be trampled.
- We will become streams and rush to the sea. We will live forever! - said the first.
“No, we will melt and disappear forever,” the second objected to her.
Finally they got tired of arguing. They unclenched their hands, and each flew towards the fate that she herself had chosen.
Great blessing
The rich man asked the Zen master to write something good and encouraging, something that would bring great benefit to his entire family. “It must be something that every member of our family thinks about in relation to others,” said the rich man.
He gave a large piece of white expensive paper, on which the master wrote: “The father will die, the son will die, the grandson will die. And all in one day. "
The rich man was furious when he read what the master had written to him: “I asked you to write something good for my family so that it would bring joy and prosperity to my family. Why did you write what makes me sad? "
“If the son dies before you,” answered the master, “it will be an irreparable loss for your entire family. If your grandson dies before your son dies, it will be a great grief for everyone. But if your whole family, generation after generation, dies in one day, it will be a real gift of fate. This will be great happiness and blessing for your entire family. "
Heaven and Hell
Once upon a time there was one person. And he spent most of his life trying to figure out how hell is different from heaven. On this subject he pondered day and night.
And then one day he had an unusual dream. He went to hell. And he sees people there who are sitting in front of cauldrons of food. And each has a large spoon with a very long handle in his hand. But these people look hungry, thin and haggard. They can scoop out of the cauldron, but they will not get into the mouth. And they swear, fight, beat each other with spoons.
Suddenly another person runs up to him and shouts:
- Hey, let's go faster, I'll show you the road leading to paradise.
They arrived in paradise. And they see people there who are sitting in front of cauldrons with food. And each has a large spoon with a very long handle in his hand. But they look well-fed, contented and happy. When we looked closely, we saw that they were feeding each other. Man should go to man with good - that is paradise.
The secret of happiness
One merchant sent his son to seek the secret of happiness from the wisest of all people. The young man walked for forty days through the desert and finally came to a beautiful castle, which stood on the top of the mountain. There lived the sage he was looking for.
However, instead of the expected meeting with the holy man, our hero entered the hall, where everything was seething: merchants entered and exited, people chatted in the corner, a small orchestra played sweet melodies and there was a table laden with the most exquisite dishes of this area. The sage talked to different people, and the young man had to wait for his turn for about two hours.
The sage listened attentively to the young man's explanations about the purpose of his visit, but said in response that he did not have time to reveal to him the secret of happiness. And he invited him to take a walk around the palace and come again two hours later.
“However, I want to ask you for one favor,” added the sage, holding out a small spoon to the young man, into which he dropped two drops of oil:
- While walking, hold this spoon in your hand so that the oil does not spill out.
The young man began to climb and descend the palace stairs, not taking his eyes off the spoon. Two hours later, he again came to the sage.
- Well, how? He asked. - Have you seen the Persian rugs that are in my dining room? Have you seen the park that the head gardener has been creating for ten years? Have you noticed the beautiful parchments in my library?
The embarrassed young man had to admit that he had not seen anything. His only concern was not to spill the drops of oil that the Sage had entrusted to him.
“Well, come back and see the wonders of my universe,” the Sage told him. - You cannot trust a person if you are unfamiliar with the house in which he lives.
Reassured, the young man took a spoon and again went for a walk around the palace, this time paying attention to all the works of art hung on the walls and ceilings of the palace. He saw gardens surrounded by mountains, the most delicate flowers, the refinement with which each of the works of art was placed exactly where it was needed. Returning to the sage, he described in detail everything that he saw.
- And where are those two drops of oil that I entrusted to you? The sage asked.
And the young man, looking at the spoon, found that the oil had spilled out.
- This is the only advice I can give you: the secret of happiness is to look at all the wonders of the world, never forgetting about two drops of oil in a spoon.
Sermon
One day the mullah decided to appeal to the believers. But a young groom came to listen to him. Mulla thought to himself, "Should I speak or not?" And he decided to ask the groom:
“There’s no one here except you, do you think I should speak or not?”
The groom replied:
- Sir, I am a simple person, I do not understand anything about this. But when I come to the stable and see that all the horses have run away, and there is only one left, I will still give her something to eat.
Mulla, taking these words to heart, began his sermon. He talked for over two hours, and when he finished, he felt a sense of relief. He wanted to hear confirmation of how good his speech was. He asked:
- How did you like my sermon?
- I have already said that I am a simple person and do not really understand all this. But if I come to the stable and see that all the horses have run away, and there is only one left, I will feed her anyway. But I will not give her all the food that is for all horses.
The parable of positive thinking
Once an old Chinese teacher said to his student:
“Please take a good look at this room and try to mark anything in it that is brown.
The young man looked around. There were a lot of brown objects in the room: wooden picture frames, a sofa, a curtain rod, desks, book covers and many other little things.
“Now close your eyes and list all the items… blue,” the teacher asked.
The young man was at a loss:
- But I didn't notice anything!
Then the teacher said:
- Open your eyes. Just look how many blue things are here.
It was true: blue vase, blue picture frames, blue carpet, old teacher's blue shirt.
And the teacher said:
- Look at all these missed items!
The disciple replied:
- But this is a trick! After all, I was looking for brown, not blue, objects at your direction.
The teacher sighed softly, and then smiled: - This is what I wanted to show you. You have searched and found only brown. It is the same with you in life. You seek and find only the bad and you miss the good.
I have always been taught that the worst is to be expected, and then you will never be disappointed. And if the worst doesn't happen, then a pleasant surprise awaits me. And if I always hope for the best, then I will only expose myself to the risk of disappointment.
Do not lose sight of all the good things that happen in our life. If you expect the worst, then you will definitely get it. And vice versa.
You can find a point of view from which each experience will have a positive meaning. From this moment on, you will look for something positive in everything and in everyone.
How can you achieve your goal?
A great archery master named Drona trained his students. He hung a target on a tree and asked each of the students what he saw.
One said:
- I see a tree and a target on it.
Another said:
- I see a tree, a rising sun, birds in the sky ...
All the others responded in much the same way.
Then Drona approached his best disciple Arjuna and asked:
- What do you see?
He replied:
“I can’t see anything but the target.
And Drona said:
- Only such a person can hit the target.
hidden treasures
In ancient India, there was a poor man named Ali Hafed.
Once a Buddhist priest came to him and told him how the world was created: “Once the earth was a continuous fog. And then the Almighty stretched out his fingers to the fog, and it turned into a ball of fire. And this ball rushed across the universe until the rain fell to the ground and cooled its surface. Then the fire, breaking open the earth's surface, burst out. This is how mountains and valleys, hills and prairies arose.
When the molten mass flowing down the surface of the earth cooled quickly, it turned into granite. If it cooled down slowly, it became copper, silver, or gold. And after gold, diamonds were created. "
“A diamond,” said the sage Ali to Hafed, “is a frozen drop of sunlight. If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, the priest continued, you could buy the whole neighborhood. But if you owned diamond deposits, you could put all your children on the throne, and all this thanks to the enormous wealth.
Ali Hafed learned everything there was to know about diamonds that evening. But he went to bed, as always, poor. He lost nothing, but he was poor because he was not satisfied, and he was not satisfied because he was afraid that he was poor.
All night Ali Hafed did not sleep a wink. He only thought about diamond deposits.
Early in the morning, he woke up an old Buddhist priest and began to beg him to tell him where to find the diamonds. The priest at first did not agree. But Ali Hafed was so insistent that the old man finally said:
- Well, OK. You must find the river that flows in the white sands among the high mountains. There, in these white sands, you will find diamonds.
And then Ali Hafed sold his farm, left his family to a neighbor and went to look for diamonds. He went further and further, but could not find the treasure. In complete despair, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea.
One day, a man who bought Ali Hafed's farm decided to drink a camel in the garden. And when the camel nudged the stream, this man suddenly noticed a strange sparkle emanating from the white sand from the bottom of the stream. He put his hands into the water and pulled out a stone from which this fiery radiance emanated. He brought this unusual stone home, put it on a shelf.
Once the same old Buddhist priest came to visit the new owner. Opening the door, he immediately saw a glow over the fireplace. Rushing to him, and exclaimed:
- It's a diamond! Is Ali Hafed back?
“No,” replied Ali Hafed's successor. - Ali Hafed did not return. And this is a simple stone that I found in my stream.
- You're wrong! - exclaimed the priest. “I recognize a diamond from a thousand other precious stones. By all the saints, this is a diamond!
And then they went to the garden and dug up all the white sand in the stream. And in it they found precious stones, even more amazing and more valuable than the first. The most valuable thing is always there.
*
Eastern parable- in fact, a short story, presented in simple, understandable language. This is a special form of transmission of vital information. What is difficult to describe in ordinary words is presented in the form of a story.
Features of perception
An adult has a well-developed logic, the habit of thinking in words, in abstract categories. This way of thinking was carefully mastered throughout the school years. In childhood, he more actively used figurative language - lively, informal, using the resources of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for creativity and creativity.
The Eastern parable, bypassing logic and pragmatism, turns directly to the heart. An example reveals something very important, but usually escaping attention. With the help of metaphors and allegories, the imagination is activated, the deep strings of the soul are touched. A person does not think so much as he feels at this moment. He can even cry, or even cry altogether.
Insight as a consequence
A little cautionary tale, which is an oriental parable, can, in a completely incomprehensible way, trigger a reboot of the usual thought process. A person suddenly realizes that for a long time could not break into his consciousness in any way. He has insight.
Thanks to insight, a person's self-perception, worldview changes. For example, oppressive feelings of duty or guilt are transformed into deep self-acceptance. The feeling of hostility and injustice is the understanding that the world is beautiful and multifaceted. They can realize the reasons for any difficult situation, and finally find a way out of it.
The value of a parable
Eastern cultures have always been famous for their special atmosphere, mystery, and a tendency to contemplate. Philosophical views were distinguished by a holistic approach to life. Ancient spiritual teachings focused on the balance of relations between man and nature, expanding the mental and physical capabilities of his body.
Therefore, the eastern parable is saturated with harmonizing truths. She attunes people with enduring life values. Since ancient times, it has been used as a form of word support. This is her great gift.
She shows the way
Eastern parables about life place in the focus of a person's attention certain patterns, rules, instructions; show the versatility of the world, the relativity of everything. This is the parable of the elephant and the blind elders studying it from different angles - trunk, tusk, back, ear, leg, tail. Despite all the inconsistencies, even outright contradictions in judgments, each turns out to be right in his own way. Such examples help to overcome categoricalness, develop understanding, tolerance both to oneself and to others.
The eastern one draws a person's attention to his inner world, promotes reflection. It makes you look closely at your priorities, the choice you make every day, to reveal the prevalence of a tendency towards negativity, destruction or constructiveness and creation. Promotes an understanding of which particular motives govern actions: fear, envy, pride or love, hope, kindness. By analogy with the parable of the two wolves, what is fed is multiplied.
Oriental people help a person in such a way to place accents in his life, so that he finds more reasons and reasons to feel happy than vice versa. Always remember the most important, value, cherish and enjoy it. And because of the secondary, do not grieve, do not fall into despondency. Find inner peace, establish balance.
Well of wisdom
Tell interesting stories is a fairly stable tradition of mankind. This is a fun and exciting pastime. Often even very informative. This is how the exchange of experience proceeds, knowledge is transferred. Parables about life are popular today. This is great, because they contain countless treasures - grains of life-giving wisdom.
Proverbs are of great benefit to people. Simply, unobtrusively, they contribute to the refocusing of attention from the secondary to the main, from problems to positive moments. They teach the desire for self-sufficiency, achieving balance. Remind you to accept yourself, others, the world as they are. They urge you to relax and just be yourself, because this is how it should be.
Change begins with a parable
Wisdom, packed in a parable, allows you to look differently at a particular event or life as a whole. And as a result, redistribute accents in the perception of familiar situations, change priorities, see hidden patterns, cause-and-effect relationships. Thanks to this, it becomes possible to assess your beliefs, actions from new positions and, if desired, make adjustments.
Life is made up of little things. By changing small habits, a person changes actions, behavior, character. Then his fate changes. So the right parable at the right moment can work miracles.
Once upon a time there was a rich man who never thought of God. He was always busy with his worldly business - collecting money. He made his living by lending money, and he took such a keen interest in it that he became very rich without doing anything.
One day he went with his ledgers to a neighboring village to visit his debtors. After completing the business, he found that it was dark and to get home, he had to walk 3-4 miles. He asked if there was ...
Once Khoja Nasreddin went to the bazaar and walked up and down the stalls for a long time, asking the price, but not buying anything. The market guard watched from a distance for a while, but in the end addressed him with edification:
Dear, I see that you have no money, you are only in vain fiddling with the trading people. Give you this and that, change the style and size, slurry and cut, and the merchant's benefits are not a dime. If I didn’t know that you are Khoja Nasreddin, I would have thought that a thief has turned up in the market: he’s waiting for the merchant ...
Gui Dzy always speaks in riddles, - once one of the courtiers complained to Prince Liang. - Lord, if you forbid him to use allegories, believe me, he will not be able to articulate a single thought.
The prince agreed with the petitioner. The next day, he met Gui Dzy.
From now on, please leave your allegories and speak directly, ”said the prince.
In response, he heard:
- Imagine a person who does not know what a catapult is. He asks what it is, and you ...
One man named Ali worked hard and hard. He mined salt and took it to the city to sell it. But he had a dream since childhood - Ali wanted to save up money and buy a white Arabian horse with it, so that he could travel on horseback to get to Samarkand. And then one day, having saved up a sufficient amount of money, Ali went with a passing caravan to a large camel market, where the best camels and horses were sold. Early in the morning, at dawn, he arrived at the site. Ali's eyes widened at the sight of a multitude of selected ...
Chuang Tzu was born into a poor family, and there was often not enough food in the house. And one day his parents sent him to borrow some rice from a rich man. He replied:
Of course I can help. Soon I will collect taxes from my village and then I can lend you three hundred silver coins. Is that enough?
Chuang Tzu angrily looked at him and said:
Yesterday I was walking along the road and suddenly someone called out to me. I looked around and saw a gudgeon in the roadside ditch. “I am the master of the waters of the Eastern Ocean,” said the gudgeon. - Not...
at Nasreddin at Khoja
there were two buckets:
in one - everything was "shine and chic"
in the other - there was a hole
He walked with them
To a nearby stream
one thing - he brought full,
the other is no fuya
And first, being proud of yourself,
laughed at the second ...
the second cried, ashamed
your bad hole ...
And so, a little bucket with a hole
said to Hodge:
"Well, what are you running around with me
which year is it already?
you better throw me out
away I pray
I'm the only one who dishonors you,
and pour water for nothing! "
Bucket replied ...
The old father, before the long journey, gave the last instructions to the young son:
Fear, like rust slowly and constantly eats away at the soul and turns a man into a jackal!
Therefore, be sinless! Sinless in everything! And then - no one will ever dishonor you.
And then there will be no vile fear in you. Then a natural nobility will sprout in you, and you will become worthy of your name and Family.
Be smart to get rich. Puffy people lose their dignity, and with it wealth ...
Once a caravan was going through the desert.
Night fell, and the caravan stopped for the night.
The boy looking after the camels asked the caravan guide:
There are twenty camels, but only nineteen ropes, what about?
He replied:
- The camel is a stupid animal, go to the last one and pretend that you are tying him, he will believe and will behave calmly.
The boy did as the guide ordered, and the camel really stood still.
The next morning the boy counted ...
For many years I have been collecting wise, beautiful, instructive stories. Surprisingly, the authors of most of these masterpieces are unknown. Probably, the depth and inner beauty of these miniatures turns them into modern folklore, passed by word of mouth. I bring to your attention the ten best parables about the meaning of life and the important thing that allows you to check life guidelines, to distinguish true greatness and spiritual wealth from the limited world of everyday vanity, although at times it looks solemn and magnificent. Chose to your taste, of course.
Full bank.
The philosophy professor, standing in front of his audience, took a five-liter glass jar and filled it with stones, each at least three centimeters in diameter.
- Is the bank full? the professor asked the students.
“Yes, it’s full,” the students answered.
Then he opened a bag of peas and poured its contents into a large jar, shaking it a little. The peas took up the empty space between the stones.
- Is the bank full? - once again the professor asked the students.
“Yes, it’s full,” they replied.
Then he took a box filled with sand and poured it into the jar. Naturally, the sand took up a completely existing free space and closed everything.
Once again, the professor asked the students if the jar was full? They answered: yes, and this time it is unambiguous, it is full.
Then from under the table he took out a mug of water and poured it into the jar to the last drop, soaking the sand.
The students laughed.
- And now I want you to understand that the bank is your life. Stones are the most important things in your life: family, health, friends, your children - everything you need to keep your life complete even if everything else is lost. Peas are things that have become important for you personally: work, home, car. Sand is everything else, little things.
If you first fill the jar with sand, there will be no room left for the peas and stones. And also in your life, if you spend all your time and all your energy on little things, there is no room left for the most important things. Do what makes you happy: play with your children, make time for your spouses, and meet friends. There will always be more time to work, tidy up the house, fix and wash the car. Do, first of all, stones, that is, the most important things in life; determine your priorities: the rest is just sand.
Then the student raised her hand and asked the professor, what is the meaning of water?
The professor smiled.
- I'm glad you asked me about it. I did this simply to prove to you that no matter how busy your life is, there is always a little room for idle idleness.
Most valuable
One person in childhood was very friendly with an old neighbor.
But as time went on, college and hobbies appeared, then work and personal life. Every minute the young man was busy, and he had no time either to remember the past, or even to be with loved ones.
Once he found out that a neighbor had died - and suddenly remembered: the old man taught him a lot, trying to replace the boy's deceased father. Feeling guilty, he came to the funeral.
In the evening, after the burial, the man entered the deserted house of the deceased. Everything was the same as it was many years ago ...
Here are just a small gold box, in which, according to the old man, the most valuable thing for him was kept, disappeared from the table. Thinking that one of the few relatives had taken her, the man left the house.
However, two weeks later he received the package. Seeing the name of a neighbor on it, the man shuddered and opened the box.
Inside was that same gold box. It contained a gold pocket watch with an engraving: "Thanks for the time you spent with me."
And he realized that the most valuable time for the old man was the time he spent with his little friend.
Since then, the man tried to devote as much time as possible to his wife and son.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths. It is measured by the number of moments that make us hold our breath.Time is slipping away from us every second. And you need to spend it right now.
Footprints in the sand(Christian parable).
One day a man had a dream. He dreamed that he was walking on a sandy shore, and next to him was the Lord. Pictures from his life flashed in the sky, and after each of them he noticed two chains of footprints on the sand: one from his feet, the other from the feet of the Lord.
When the last picture of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. And I saw that often along it life path there was only one line of footprints. He also noticed that these were the most difficult and unfortunate times in his life.
He was greatly saddened and began to ask the Lord:
- Didn't you tell me: if I follow your way, you will not leave me. But I noticed that during the most difficult times of my life, only one line of footprints stretched across the sand. Why did you leave me when I needed you most?The Lord answered:
- My sweet, sweet child. I love you and will never leave you. When there were grief and trials in your life, only one chain of footprints stretched along the road. Because in those days I carried you in my arms.
Dream.
While flying the plane on one of the routes, the pilot turned to his partner-friend:
- Look down at this beautiful lake. I was born near him, over there is my village.
He pointed to a small village, which, as if perched, is located on the hills near the lake, and remarked:
- I was born there. As a child, I often sat by the lake and caught fish. Fishing was my favorite pastime. But when I was a kid fishing in a lake, there were always planes flying in the sky. They flew over my head, and I dreamed of the day when I could become a pilot myself and fly an airplane. This was my only dream. Now she is fulfilled.
And now I look down at this lake every time and dream of the time when I retire and go fishing again. After all, my lake is so beautiful ...
Lame kitten.
The seller of a small shop attached an ad “Kittens for sale” at the entrance. This inscription attracted the attention of the children, and in a few minutes a boy entered the store. After greeting the seller, he timidly asked about the price of the kittens.
- From 30 to 50 rubles, - answered the seller.
Sighing, the child reached into his pocket, took out his wallet and began to count the change.
“I only have 20 rubles now,” he said sadly. “Please, I can at least have a look at them,” he asked the seller hopefully.
The salesman smiled and took the kittens out of a large box.
Once free, the kittens meowed contentedly and started to run. Only one of them, for some reason, clearly lagged behind everyone. And in a strange way he pulled up his hind leg.
- Tell me, what about this kitten? the boy asked.
The seller replied that this kitten had a congenital paw defect. - It's for life, said the veterinarian. the man added.
Then the boy for some reason became very worried.
- This is what I would like to buy.
- What are you, boy, laughing? This is a defective animal. Why do you need it? However, if you are so merciful, then take it for free, I’ll give it to you anyway, ”the seller said.
Then, to the surprise of the seller, the boy's face stretched out.
“No, I don’t want to take it for free,” the child said in a tense voice.
- This kitten costs exactly the same as the others. And I'm willing to pay the full price. I will bring you money he added firmly.
Looking at the child in amazement, the seller's heart trembled.
- Son, you just do not understand everything. This poor thing will never be able to run, play and jump like other kittens.
At these words, the boy began to wrap the trouser leg of his left leg. And then the astonished salesman saw that the boy's leg was terribly bent and supported by metal hoops.
The child looked at the seller.
- I, too, will never be able to run and jump. And this kitten needs someone who would understand how hard it is for him, and who would support him, ”the boy said in a trembling voice.
The man behind the counter began to bite his lips. Tears filled his eyes ... After a little pause, he forced himself to smile.
- Son, I will pray that all kittens would have such wonderful warm-hearted owners like you.
… In fact, it is not so important who you are, as the fact whether there is SOMEONE who will truly appreciate you for who you are, who will accept and love you without any reservations. After all, the one who goes to you at that time how the whole world leaves you, and there is - a real Friend.
Cups of coffee.
A group of successful graduates of a prestigious university, who have made a remarkable career, came to visit their old professor. During the visit, the conversation turned to work: graduates complained of numerous difficulties and life problems.
After offering coffee to his guests, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a coffee pot and a tray filled with a variety of cups: porcelain, glass, plastic, crystal. Some were simple, others expensive.
When the graduates took apart the cups, the professor said:
- Please note that all the beautiful cups were taken apart, while the simple and cheap ones remained. And although it is normal for you to want only the best for yourself, this is the source of your problems and stress. Realize that a cup alone does not make your coffee better. Most often it is just more expensive, but sometimes it even hides what we drink. In reality, all you wanted was just coffee, not a cup. But you deliberately chose the best cups, and then looked at who got which cup.
Now think: life is coffee, and work, money, position, society are cups. These are just tools for maintaining and maintaining Life. What kind of cup we have does not determine or change the quality of our Life. Sometimes, concentrating only on the cup, we forget to enjoy the taste of the coffee itself.
The happiest people are not the ones who have the best, but the ones who get the best from what they have.
Your cross(Christian parable).
It seemed to one person that he was living very hard. And he once went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked him:
- May I choose another cross?
God looked at the man with a smile, took him to the storehouse, where there were crosses, and says:
- Take your pick.
A man entered the storehouse, looked and was surprised: "There are so many crosses here - small, and large, and medium, and heavy, and light." For a long time the man walked around the storehouse, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and finally, he found a small, small, light, light cross, went up to God and said:
- God, can I take this one?
- You can, - answered God. - This is your own and is.
Glass in outstretched hand.
The professor began his lesson by taking a glass with a little water in his hand. He lifted it up so that everyone could see it, and asked the students:
- How much do you think this glass weighs?
- 50 grams, 100 grams, 125 grams, - students answered.
“I really don’t know until I weigh it,” the professor said, “but my question is this: what would happen if I held it, as I do now, for a few minutes?
“Nothing,” said the students.
- Well, what would happen if I kept it, as it is now, for an hour? The professor asked.
“Your arm would start to hurt,” one of the students said.
- You're right, but what would happen if I kept it all day?
- Your arm would be numb, you would have severe muscle breakdown and paralysis, and just in case you would have to go to the hospital.
- Very good. But while we were discussing here, has the weight of the glass changed? The professor asked.
- Not.
- What makes your arm hurt and causes muscle breakdown?
The students were puzzled.
- What do I need to do to fix all this? The professor asked again.
“Put the glass down,” one of the students said.
- Exactly! - said the professor. - Life's problems are always like that. Just think about them for a few minutes and they are with you. Think about them a little longer and they will start to itch. If you think even longer, they paralyze you. There is nothing you can do.
It is important to think about the problems in life, but it is even more important to be able to postpone them: at the end of the working day, the next day. So you don't get tired, you wake up fresh and strong every day. And you can manage any problem, any kind of challenge that comes with you along the way.
All in your hands(eastern parable)
A long time ago, a Master lived in an ancient city surrounded by disciples. The most capable of them once thought: "Is there a question that our Master could not answer?" He went to a flowering meadow, caught the most beautiful butterfly and hid it between his palms. The butterfly clung to his hands with its paws, and the student was tickled. Smiling, he approached the Master and asked:
- Tell me, which butterfly is in my hands: alive or dead?
He firmly held the butterfly in his closed palms and was ready to squeeze them at any moment for the sake of his truth.
Without looking at the hands of the disciple, the Master replied:
- All in your hands.
Fragile gifts(parable from M. Shirochkina).
Somehow an old wise man came to one village and stayed to live. He loved children and spent a lot of time with them. He also loved to give them gifts, but gave only fragile things. No matter how hard the children tried to be neat, their new toys often broke. The children were upset and cried bitterly. Some time passed, the sage again gave them toys, but even more fragile.
One day, the parents could not stand it and came to him:
- You are wise and wish our children only the best. But why are you giving them such gifts? They try as best they can, but the toys still break and the children cry. But the toys are so beautiful that it is impossible not to play with them.
“It will take quite a few years,” the elder smiled, “and someone will give them his heart. Maybe this will teach them how to handle this priceless gift a little more carefully?
