the in the springs,
And spread in the sunlight your green-gleaming wings?"
His message the man took, and made his word good
When he came where the parrots flew free in the wood;
But no sooner the message was given than one
Like lead to the earth fell as dead as a stone.
The merchant upbraided himself, 'It is clear
This parrot of mine was a relative dear,
And the shock has been fatal; myself am to blame.'
When his journey was finished and homeward he came,
His parrot inquired, 'Hast brought me a crumb
Of comfort in sorrow where, caged, I sit dumb?'
The merchant said, 'No; 'twas a pity you sent,
For the message you gave proved of fatal content;
As soon as I gave it one shuddered and fell
Stone-dead, as if struck by some magical spell.'
No sooner that bird's fate it heard, than his own
On the floor of its cage fell as dead as a stone.
'Alas!' cried the merchant, 'my own bird I've killed--
My own pretty parrot, so Allah has willed!'
Sadly out from the cage the dead body he drew,
When, to his amazement, straight upwards it flew
And perched on a tree. 'Lo! the message,' he said,
'My friend sent--"Die thou, as I make myself dead,
And by dying win freedom." Farewell, master dear,
I caught the plain hint with intelligence clear.
Thyself reckon dead, and then thou shalt fly
Free, free, from the prison of earth to the sky!
Spring may come, but on granite will grow no green thing;
It was barren in winter, 'tis barren in spring;
And granite man's heart is, till grace intervene,
And, crushing it, clothe the long barren with green.
When the fresh breath of Jesus shall touch the heart's core,
It will live, it will breathe, it will blossom once more.'

The last couplet is a good illustration of the different ways in which
Christ is regarded by the Sufi poets and by Mohammed in the Koran. In
the latter, it is true, He is acknowledged as the Word of God and the
Spirit of God, but His work among men is done, having been entirely
superseded by the coming of Mohammed, the last and greatest of the
prophets. Jalaluddin on the other hand, as in the above couplet, speaks
of Christ as still exercising healing influences. Elsewhere he says,
referring to the Gospel narrative of Christ's entry into Jerusalem (not
mentioned in the Koran), and taking the ass as the symbol of the body
pampered by the sensualist:--

You deserted Jesus, a mere a