Story #4

Everyone knows that cows give birth to baby cows, called calves, horses have colts, and hens have chicks, but once there was a mama hen who had a baby, but it was not a chick.  Mama Hen didn’t ever actually give birth to any kind of animal, but everyone in the barnyard called her mama because she acted like everyone’s mother.  No matter if anyone asked her or not, she gave advice and worried if it was not taken to heart.
Late one evening, tragedy struck the barnyard.  No one realized it until the next morning, but a sly fox had snuck inside the gates and snatched a duck for his dinner.  It wouldn’t have been so tragic if it was just any duck, but this duck had a brand new duckling and now it was now alone, with no one to care for it.  At first everyone was worried and didn’t have a clue what to do with a little duckling.  But then Mama Hen showed up and took control of the situation.  “I’ll take care of him of course,  the ducks are my distant relatives, there is no one better to care for him than me.”  And take care of him she did.  She loved him like he was her own and the duckling loved Mama hen.  He always felt special when he remembered how Mama Hen had chosen him as her child.
    One day the duckling followed his friend goat to the top of the hill.  When they reached the hill’s crest, the goat pointed off in the distance to where it seemed like the sky met the earth.  But at the place where the two lines met, there was a shimmering body of water that looked like a mirror.  The duckling asked the goat what it was and he told the duckling it was called the ocean.
That night, as his mother was tucking him into bed, the duckling questioned her.
“Mama Hen, what is the ocean?”
A worried look came over her face and she quickly replied, “You must never go there, the ocean is a very dangerous place.”
But the duckling was not discouraged by her comments,  “Mama, it doesn’t look dangerous, it’s actually quite beautiful, I could see the whole world, even the sky reflected on its surface.”
“Son, I’m am ashamed at you, you should not question your mother, I know what is best for you and it would be best for you to stay away from the water.  Even though it looks beautiful on the surface, there is no telling what lies beneath.  No one knows how deep it is and if you ever got in, you may never be able to get out!”
“Okay, okay mama, I was just asking, I just wondered why you had never told me about it before.”
“Well son, some things are just better left unsaid.”
 

Everyone, at some point in their life will question their place in this world, the meaning of life, or maybe just wonder why things are the way they are.  Many times people attempt to cure kind of curiosity or get rid of feelings of doubt by talking to someone they trust or look up to.  People have the ability to help each other in this manner and many feel that this ability also brings with it responsibility to protect the innocent, naïve or less knowledgeable.  The only danger in this practice is when information gets passed along that is not drawn from experience or truth.  In my personal experience, I have had a hard time changing the course of my actions according to someone else’s experience, I just had to see for myself.  I feel like I have learned more about the way the world works this way.  I am so happy that Rumi wrote this story.  He articulated wonderfully the power desire and the senses have over the spirit, I think it is extremely important to pay attention to these kinds of longings.  It is also important to know yourself as much as possible.  If you know your true desires it much easy to fulfill them and have a happy life.

The text was adapted from Rumi's Masnavi, and once again the image came from Mike Fulford.  Click here to see my bibliography.