Another bird asked the Hoopoe: 'O you who are our leader, is boldness permitted in approaching the Majesty of the Simurgh? It seems to me that he who has courage is freed from many fears. Since you are such, scatter pearls of wisdom and tell us the secret.' 'Everyone who is worthy,' replied the Hoopoe, 'is the Mahram of the secret of divinity, and it is good to be bold if one has intelligence of the secrets of God. But how can one who possesses the secrets impart them to another? Can a camel-driver of the desert be the confidant of a king? Still, if one is actuated by pure love a little boldness is permitted. He who is on the path of self-knowledge should know when to be bold, and not let himself die from lack of effort. 'A true dervish will be bold and confident from the true hope he experiences. He who is fearless from love sees the Lord in all. His boldness then is good and laudable, because he is an idiot of love, on fire.'

Khorassan was in a state of prosperity because of the wise rule of Prince Amid. He was attended by a hundred Turkish slaves whose countenances shone like the full moon, their bodies were slender cypresses, their legs as silver, and their breath was musk. They wore ear-rings of pearl whose reflection lighted up the night and made it seem as day; their turbans were of the finest brocade, and round their necks were collars of gold; their breasts were covered with silver cloth, and their belts enriched with precious stones. All were mounted on white horses. Whoever looked at one of them lost his heart at once. By chance, a Sufi, clothed in rags and baiefoot, saw this body of young men in the distance, and asked: 'What is this cavalcade of houris?' He was told, 'These young men are the pages of Amid, the prince of this city.' WTen the idiot of God heard this, the vapour of folly went to his head and he cried: 'O God, the possessor of the glorious canopy, teach Amid to take care of his servants.' If you are like this idiot, have also his boldness; lift yourself up like a slender tree; but if you have no leaves do not be daring and do not jest. The daring of the fools of God is a good thing. They cannot tell if the way is good or bad, they only know how to act.

The Hoopoe continued: 'An idiot of God went naked and starving along the road in winter. With neither house nor shelter he was soaked with rain and sleet. At last he came to a ruined palace and decided to take refuge there, but as he went in at the doorway a tile fell on his head and cracked his skull, so that the blood flowed. He turned his face to heaven and said: " Wouldn't it be better to beat the royal drum than to drop a tile on my head?"'

There was a famine in Egypt, so dreadful that everywhere people were dying as they begged for bread. By chance a madman passed along and seeing how many were perishing of starvation he said to God: 'O you who possess the good things of the world and of religion, since you cannot feed all men, create fewer.' If one who would be bold in the court should say something unbecoming, he must humbly ask for forgiveness.

A Sufi, an idiot of God, was tormented by children who threw stones at him. At last he took refuge in a corner of a building. But at that moment it began to hail and the hailstones came through an open skylight and fell on his head. The man took the hail for pebbles and began to stretch out his tongue and insult the children, whom he imagined were throwing them, for the house was dark. At length he discovered that the pebbles were only hailstones, and he was sorry and prayed: 'O God, it was because the house was dark that I have sinned with my tongue.' If you understand the motives of those who are in darkness, you will, no doubt, forgive them.