The Mullah Nasrudin

“What’s bothering you?” he asked.

“My brother, there is nothing interesting in my life. I have enough money not to need to work, and I was traveling to see if there was anything curious in the world. But everyone I [...]]]>

The Mullah Nasrudin

“What’s bothering you?” he asked.

“My brother, there is nothing interesting in my life. I have enough money not to need to work, and I was traveling to see if there was anything curious in the world. But everyone I have met has nothing new to say to me, all they do is make me more bored.

“In a word, I can tell you without any fear of doubt that despite all that I have done, I haven’t managed to find the peace I sought. I have turned into my own worst enemy.”

At that very moment, Nasrudin grabbed the man’s bag and ran off down the road. Since he knew the region well, he quickly managed to set a considerable distance from the man by taking shortcuts through the fields and over the hills.

When he was far enough away, he put the bag down in the middle of the road where the traveler was bound to pass, and hid behind a rock. The man appeared half an hour later, feeling more miserable than ever because of the thief he had come across.

As soon as he caught sight of the bag, he ran to open it, breathless. Upon seeing that everything was intact, he looked up to the sky full of joy and thanked the Lord for life.

“Certain people only realize the taste of happiness when they manage to lose it,” thought Nasrudin, looking at the scene before his eyes.

The Tale of the Sands is a Sufi teaching tale which I retold some years ago for submission to an online competition. The voice tone has a trance-voice quality (intended) and the story explores age old themes of identity and impermanence from, [...]]]> This is a slightly experimental post using WordPress’s podcasting plug-in for the first time.

The Tale of the Sands is a Sufi teaching tale which I retold some years ago for submission to an online competition. The voice tone has a trance-voice quality (intended) and the story explores age old themes of identity and impermanence from, I believe, an animistic perspective, although clearly anthropomorphising the protagonists for the purposes of the story.