Rumi · The Self
Poem · Sufism · 1278
The Greengrocer and the Parrot
Bald Like Me
— Masnavi I.247–262 · tr. R. A. Nicholson, 1926There was a greengrocer who had a parrot, a sweet-voiced green talking parrot.(Perched) on the bench, it would watch over the shop (in the owner’s absence) and talk finely to all the traders.
A parrot spills the rose-oil, is struck bald, and hails a passing bald dervish as a fellow oil-spiller.
What it meansRūmī draws the moral himself in the next line: "Do not measure the actions of holy men by (the analogy of) yourself, though shér (lion) and shír (milk) are similar in writing" (I.263). The parrot's error is that of everyone who says of prophets and saints, "we are men, they are men" (I.266).
Poem · Sufism · 1278
The Lion and the Hare
The Enemy in the Well
— Masnavi I.1317–1328 · tr. R. A. Nicholson, 1926The lion saw himself in the well, and in his fury he did not know himself at that moment from the enemy.He regarded his own reflexion as his enemy: necessarily he drew a sword against himself.
A hare leads a tyrant lion to a well; the lion attacks his own reflection, and Rūmī turns it on the reader.
What it meansRūmī turns the lion into the reader: "many an iniquity that you see in others is your own nature (reflected) in them" (I.1319), and "When you reach the bottom of your own nature, then you will know that that vileness was from yourself" (I.1324). He closes on the Prophet's saying, "The Faithful are mirrors to one another".
Poem · Sufism · 1278
The Grammarian and the Boatman
The Sea Floats the Dead
— Masnavi I.2835–2847 · tr. R. A. Nicholson, 1926A certain grammarian embarked in a boat. That self-conceited person turned to the boatmanAnd said, “Have you ever studied grammar?” “No,” he replied. The other said, “Half your life is gone to naught.”The boatman became heart-broken with grief, but at the time he refrained from answering.
A grammarian scorns a boatman who never studied grammar; in a whirlpool the boatman asks if he can swim.
What it meansRūmī's own gloss reads the tale as a lesson in dying to self: “here maḥw (self-effacement) is needed, not naḥw (grammar)”, for the sea lifts the dead and drowns the living. Learning is not scorned but placed: self-loss holds “the grammar of grammar” and “the accidence of accidence”, which Nicholson's note calls “the cream and essence of these sciences”.
Poems from the Masnavi 16
- Ayāz and His SheepskinSufism
- The Bear and the FoolSufism
- The Bird's Three CounselsSufism
- The Chinese and the Greek PaintersSufism
- The Grammarian and the BoatmanSufism
- The Greengrocer and the ParrotSufism
- The Lion and the HareSufism
- The Man Who Planted ThornsSufism
- The Mouse and the CamelSufism
- The Ruby and the SunSufism
- The Sage and the PeacockSufism
- The Snake-Catcher and the Frozen SnakeSufism
- The Sufi's DonkeySufism
- The Tanner in the Perfume MarketSufism
- Who Is at the Door?Sufism
- ʿAlī and the KnightSufism