Attar’s incorporation of the story of Joseph and Zuleikha, a romance
similarly set in a palace of images (seeChapter 8), with that ofThe
Language of the Birds, where the birds’weaknesses cause their failures.
After this interlude, the frame story continues as the eldest prince
decides to challenge fate and present himself directly to the king.
The eldest said,“O my brother,
from waiting this soul of mine is on the verge.
I have become reckless, I can endure no more:
this endurance has set me onfire.
My strength is exhausted by this fortitude:
my plight is a warning to lovers.
I am weary of my life in separation:
it is hypocrisy to be alive in separation.^83
...
My spirit has boasted that it is a water-bird:
how should it lament theflood of tribulation?
What cares the duck for shipwreck?
Her feet in the water are ship enough.^84
...
Though you behead me a hundred times,
I am like a candle: I will burn brightly.
Though the stack catchesfire in front and behind,
the stack of that Moon is enough for travelers in the night.”^85
Yet his presumption that union is possible without ‘intellect’(divine
guidance or inspiration) reflects his hubris. His brothers warn him, but
to no avail. After another narrative interlude, we learn of his fate before the
king.
The prince in the presence of the King was bewildered by this:
he beheld the Seven Heavens in a handful of clay.
Nowise was it possible to open his lips in discussion,
but never for a moment did soul cease to converse with soul.
It came into his mind that It was exceedingly mysterious–(^83) Rumi, 1934 : 479 (4054–4057). (^84) Rumi, 1934 : 482 (4062–4063).
(^85) Rumi, 1934 : 483 (4067–4068).
216 The Transcendent Image