An Anthology of Persian Stories & Anecdotes
Page 8
him to say:
"But if you don't mind, I'd like to sing a beautiful song for you before I serve you as a meal."
The wolf who couldn't find any reason to decline her request, agreed. Then, the smart kid sang, actually cried for help as loud as possible. Fortunately, the shepherd could hear his sheep and came back for help. The wolf had no way. He ran away, thinking of how the little kid played a trick on him.
From Marzban-Nama by Saʿd-al-Din Varavini, Persian author and translator, 13th century originally by Marzban b. Rostam, a Persian prince, 4th century.
Idol
Once an angel in heaven noticed God was listening carefully to someone down on the earth. She thought that person was a true worshiper. Otherwise God didn't pay attention to his prays. The curious angel decided to look for the man. She searched in the churches, mosques, temples and holy shrines but couldn’t find him.
"Where is the man whom you are listening to?" The angel asked God.
God gave her the address. To the angel's great surprise, the man was in an idol house. He was kneeling before an idol and spoke to it. She flew back to heaven.
"He's worshiping an idol not you. Why, then, are you listening to him?" The angel asked God.
"He doesn't know me but what he prays is concerned with me. This idol only connects him to me." God replied.
From Manteq-ot-Tayr by Attar, the great Persian poet and suphist, 12th century.
The secret of Creation
Once a saint asked God why human beings were created in the best from, but then after some years of living in this world, they perished. God who knew this question was out of wisdom not infidelity, ordered him to plant some seeds. The saint sowed some wheat grains. Several months later, it was time to harvest the full-grown wheat. So, the saint cut down the wheat heads with a sickle.
"Why did you cut down the heads?" God asked the saint.
"Because they contained valuable grains of wheat." He answered.
" Death serves the same reason, to uncover your soul and what it contains of virtues." God told him.
From Masnavi (rhyming couplets), by Rumi (also Mawlana), the great Persian poet, scholar and Sufi mystic, 13th century.
Greedy thieves
Once three thieves stole a bag full of gold coins from a house and escaped to their hide-out in the countryside. They were so hungry. So one of them returned to the city to buy some food. While he was away, the other thieves decided to kill him and divide his share between them.
"I can own all that money myself. Why should I share it with those two?" The third thief thought while he was heading for the hide-out. So, he decided to poison the foods he had just bought.
When the third thief finally arrived, the other thieves who were waiting for him killed him and began to eat the foods he had just brought. The foods were poisonous so they died in several hours too. The three thieves were lying dead in their hide-out while there was a bag full of gold coins beside them. Greed finally killed them all.
From Marzban-Nama by Saʿd-al-Din Varavini, Persian author and translator, 13th century originally by Marzban b. Rostam, a Persian prince, 4th century.
Wild elephant
Once upon a time there lived a king who had lots of elephants. They served him in wars. So the king was always in search of more elephants. One day, he was told a huge elephant, bigger than any elephants he had ever owned, was captured in a far jungle. The king ordered his elephant trainer to train this elephant.
"I'm going to ride on this elephant in wars. Do your best!" The king told the trainer.
"Certainly, but this elephant is wild and is too old to be trained well. It may cause trouble." The trainer replied.
The king who wished to ride on the biggest and strongest elephant in wars didn’t give up the animal and ordered the man to train it in three years.
The trainer worked hard and finally the elephant apparently could follow his instructions. The important day arrived and the king got on the elephant. He rode on its back some distance while all of a sudden the elephant got wild and ran away. The king who was on its back couldn’t control the animal until the elephant itself got tired and stopped. The king was afraid to death. He ordered the soldiers to behead the trainer.
"O king! I did my best to train this elephant. It followed my instructions well. I can prove it to you." The trainer said, begging for pardon.
Then, the trainer gave some instructions and the elephant followed them exactly. The king realized the trainer was not guilty.
"I shouldn't have expected this elephant to be trained as baby elephants are. It has grown up in wilderness." The king said.
He then forgave the trainer and let him own the elephant.
From Sindbad-Nameh by Zahiri-Samarqandi, the Persian author and translator, 12th century, from an Indian origin.
Fee not free
"Sir! Your son has given an expensive garment to a vagabond for free." One of the servants told his rich but mean master.
He frowned and called on his son to blame him for this unnecessary generosity.
"But father, I read in the book you gave me if one seeks majesty and significance, he should help people with what he owns for free." The young boy explained to his father.
"For fee not free! You had misread my holy book, stupid!" The angry father replied.
From Akhlaq-al-Alshraf (ethics of aristocracy), Chapter 5, generosity by Ubayd Zakani, the great Persian poet and satirist, 14th century.
Heartless and brainless donkey
Once upon a time there lived an old lion in the jungle. The lion was so weak that he couldn't go hunting anymore. Therefore, he asked the fox, his loyal counselor for advice.
"I'm starving to death. But I don't have any strength to hunt." The lion told the fox.
"High majesty! I have an idea. There's a donkey near the lake who works for a farmer. I'll bring him to you." The fox said.
The cunning fox went to the donkey and began a pep talk.
"So why do you work so hard? Does the farmer give you enough food?" The fox asked.
"If you come with me, I'll take you to the jungle where you can live comfortably there for good." He continued.
The donkey who was tired of working for the farmer and tempted by his words, accepted to come with the fox. As the donkey was walking through the jungle, the lion jumped to attack it. But he was not as fast and strong as before. So, the lucky donkey could run away.
"I didn't wait enough for the donkey to get close. Bring it once again and this time he has no way to run away." The lion told the fox.
The fox went to the donkey again and tried to convince him to come again. "What did you escape from? There was nothing there. You had just an illusion because of too much hard work." The fox said.
The stupid donkey agreed to go to the jungle again. This time the old lion was patient enough and hunted the poor donkey.
"OK, I'll wash my paws. Then, we began eating." The happy lion told the fox.
But before he came back, the fox ate the donkey's heart and brains. When the lion came back he got astonished.
"Didn't this donkey have a heart and brains?” He asked the fox.
"Of course not, if this poor donkey had heart and brain, how could I convince him for the second time that he had not seen a lion!" The cunning fox replied.
From Kelileh and Demneh, by Nasr Allah Munshi, Persian author and translator, 13th century, originally from Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in verse and prose, 3rd century BCE.
Shepherd
Once a saint ran into a shepherd who was worshiping God in a strange way.
"O God! Where are you? I really wish I could clean your house, or take care of your livestock. Every night I made you a delicious dinner." The simple-minded shepherd prayed to God.
The saint got surprised and blamed the man for his impolite prayer.
"God is not like us. He doesn't need any food to eat or any place to rest. It is infidelity!
" The saint warned the man.
The shepherd, who didn't know any other way, got very disappointed, gave up his praying and left.
That night, the saint had a warning dream.
"Why did you discourage my server from praying to me? Everyone has his own way of worshiping. I listen to hearts not mouths!" God blamed him in his dream.
Next day, the saint looked here and there for the shepherd until he finally found the candid man.
"I have a message form God for you: Pray to God as you may." The saint told him.
From Masnavi (rhyming couplets), by Rumi (also Mawlana), the great Persian poet, scholar and Sufi mystic, 13th century.
Farhad and Shirin
Once upon a time there lived a sculptor named Farhad. One day, he happened to see a beautiful princess, Shirin and fell truly in love with her. Day and night, the sculptor thought of his love. Before long, people began to talk about Farhad's love all over the country. Finally, the king who was also fond of the princess himself, heard the news. He got angry and tried to get rid of his love-rival.
"We can offer him some money. I'm sure he will forget the princess." One of the king's advisers suggested him.
The king accepted. They invited Farhad to the palace and offered him lots of fortune. But the lover didn't accept to give up Shirin.
"Now that he insists on his love, we should send him on a task he could never fulfill."Another consultant told the king.
So the king asked Farhad to dig a way through the mountain so his army could move faster to the fronts. The sculptor accepted the big challenge on the condition that if he