(3) Next came the Hawk, with head erect, and the bearing of a soldier. He said: 'I who delight in the company of kings pay no regard to other creatures. I cover my eyes with a hood so that I may put my feet on the king's hand. I am perfectly trained in polite behaviour and practise abstinence like any penitent so that when I am taken before a king I can perform my duties exactly as is expected of me. Why should I see the

Simurgh, even in a dream? Why should I rush heedlessly to him? I do not feel called upon to take part in this journey. I am content with a morsel from the king's hand; his court is good enough for me. He who plays for royal favours obtains his desire; and to be agreeable to the king I have only to take flight through the boundless valleys. I have no other wish than to pass my life joyfully in this fashion - either waiting for the king or hunting at his pleasure.'

(1) Another bird said to the Hoopoe: ' I am effeminate, and can only hop from one branch to another. Sometimes I am wanton and dissolute, at other times I am abstinent. Sometimes my desires drag me to the taverns, sometimes my spirit draws me to prayer. Sometimes, in spite of myself, Satan leads me astray; at other times angels guide me back. Between these two I am in the pit and the prison; what can I do save lament, like Joseph?'

The Hoopoe replied: 'This happens to every man, according to his nature. If we had been guiltless from the beginning God would not have had to send his messengers and prophets. Through obedience you can attain felicity. O you who loll in the sweating room of indolence and yet are full of idle wishes, while you continue to feed the dog of desire your nature is worse than that of an impotent hermaphrodite.'

(3) 'Dear Birds,' she began, 'I am one who is engaged in divine warfare, and I am a messenger of the world invisible. I have knowledge of God and of the secrets of creation. When one carries on his beak, as I do, the name of God, Bismillah, it follows that one must have knowledge of many hidden tilings. Yet my days pass restlessly and I am concerned with no person for I am wholly occupied by love for the King. I can find water by instinct, and I know many other secrets. I talk with Solomon and am the foremost of his (lO followers. It is astonishing that he neither asked nor sought for those who were absent from his kingdom, yet when I was away from him for a day he sent his messengers everywhere, and, since he could not be without me for a moment, my worth is established for ever. I carried his letters, and I was his confidential companion. The bird who is sought after by the prophet Solomon, merits a crown for his head. The bird who is well spoken of by God, how can he trail his feathers in the dust? For years I have travelled by sea and land, over mountains and valleys. I covered an immense space in the time of the deluge; I accompanied Solomon on his journeys, and I have measured the bounds of the world.

(64) A certain goose pops his head out of his coop, And displays himself as a critic of the Masnavi, Saying, "This poem, the Masnavi, is childish; 'Tis but a story of the prophets, and so on. 'Tis not an account of the arguments and deep mysteries, Whereto holy men direct their attention; Concerning asceticism, and so on to self-annihilation, Step by step, up to communion with God; An explanation and definition of each several state, Whereto the men of heart ascend in their flight."

(1) Then came the Parrot with sugar in her beak, dressed in a garment of green, and round her neck a collar of gold. The hawk is but a gnat beside her brilliance; earth's green carpet is the reflection of her feathers, and her words are distilled sugar. Listen to her: 'Vile men whose hearts are iron have shut me in a cage, so charming am I. Held fast

in this prison I long for the source of the water of immortality guarded by Khizr. Like him I am clothed in green, for I am a Khizr among birds. I should like to go to the source of this water, but a moth has not strength to lift itself to the Simurgh's great wing; the spring of Khizr is enough for me.'

The Hoopoe replied: 'O you who have no idea of felicity! He who is not willing to renounce his life is no man. Life has been given to you so that for an instant you may have a worthy friend. Set out upon the Way, for you are not an almond you are only the shell. Join the company of worthy men and enter freely in their Way.'

(1) Then came the Sparrow, of feeble body and tender heart, trembling like a flame from head to foot. She said: 'I am dumbfounded and crestfallen. I don't know how to exist, and I am frail as a hair. I have no one to help me and I have not the strength of an ant. I have neither down nor feathers - nothing. How can a weakling like me make her way to the Simurgh? A sparrow could never do it. There is no lack of those in the world who seek this union, but for a being such as I it is not becoming. I do not wish to begin such a toilsome journey for something I can never reach. If I should start out for the court of the Simurgh I should be consumed on the way. So since I am not at all fitted for this enterprise I shall be content to seek here my Joseph in the well. If I find him and draw him out I shall soar with him from the fish to the moon.'

The Hoopoe replied: 'O you, who in your despondency are sometimes sad, sometimes gay, I am not deceived by these artful pleas. You are a little hypocrite. Even in your humility you show a hundred signs of vanity and pride. Not another word, sew up your lips and put your foot forward. If you bum, you will burn with the others. And don't compare yourself with Joseph!'

(90) And I saw till the †shepherds and† eagles and those vultures and kites came, and †they cried to the ravens† that they should break the horn of that ram, and they battled and fought with it, and it battled with them and cried that its help might come.

(94) Or canst secure thyself from his talons! The Koran cries out even to the last day, "O people, given up as a prey to ignorance, If ye have imagined me to be only empty fables, Ye yourselves who abuse me will see yourselves Annihilated, and made like a tale that is told!" A gnat came in from the garden and fields, And called on Solomon for justice, Saying, "O Solomon, you extend your equity Fish and fowl dwell under the shelter of your justice;

(1) Timidly the Duck came out of the water and went up to the assembly, dressed in his finest robe, ' No one has ever spoken to a creature prettier or purer than I,' he said. 'Every hour I perform the customary ablutions, and then spread upon the water the carpet of prayer. What bird can live and move in the water as I do? In this I have a marvellous power. Among birds I am a penitent of clear sight, of clean garments; and I live in a pure element. Nothing is more profitable to me than water, for in it I find my food and have my dwelling. If troubles vex me I wash them away in water. Clear water feeds the stream wherein I live, I love not the dry earth. So, since my concern is only with water, why should I leave it? All that lives, lives by water. How shall I be able to cross the valleys and fly to the Simurgh? How can one such as I, contented with the surface of the water, have any longing to see the Simurgh?'

The Hoopoe said: 'O you whose delight is in the water which occupies your whole life! Indolently you drowse there - but a wave comes and you are swept away. Water is good only for those who have a fair countenance and a clean face. If you are such, it is well! But how long will you stay clean and pure as the water?'