God Rebukes a Dervish - Anecdotes from ‘The Conference of the Birds’

A holy man who had found prosperity in God gave himself up to worship and adoration for forty years. He had fled from the world, but since God was intimately united to him he was satisfied. This dervish had enclosed a plot of ground in the desert; in the middle of it was a tree, and in the tree a bird had made its nest. The song of the bird was sweet to hear for in each of its notes were a hundred secrets. The servant of God was enchanted. But God told a seer about this state of things in these words: 'Tell this Sufi I am astonished that after so many years of devotion he has ended by selling me for a bird. It is true that this bird is admirable, but its song has caught him in a snare. I have bought him, and he has sold me.'

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These narrations from Farid-ud-din Attar’s Magnum Opus, ‘Mantiq-ut-Tayr’, translated as The Conference of the Birds or The Canticle of the Birds in English, aim to espouse the marvel in a series of anecdotes to play a role in spreading this beautiful miracle of human imagination.

This is from C. S. Nott’s version which itself is a literal and direct translation into English from Gracin De Tassy’s French translation of Mantiq-ut-Tayr. Despite the fact that it is a second hand translation, C. S. Nott’s version can not be regarded as disengaging. I hope you enjoy this Episode wise Audiobook.

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