Canonical version
Laugh! Laugh!
Two ladies had an interview with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in New York City. Ella Quant wrote about that occasion: “He told Margaret He prayed for her parents (who had passed into the life beyond some months before). Her eyes filled with tears and overflowed; mine then did likewise. The interpreter, perhaps at a loss, shook his head at us and said in an admonishing tone that we should never cry in His presence. It made Him sad. As I looked up, I saw that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sadness was for us—not for Himself—for with hands outstretched to calm and protect us, like a mother bird hovering over her young in the nest, He exclaimed in English, ‘Laugh! Laugh!’ I shall never forget that voice, vibrant and powerful beyond any words of mine to express. In that voice I have come to see the power of heaven to rout all negative forces of existence, and in arising to obey that command to find the eternal joy of life.”
The Master could call for laughter even at a time such as that—this need not seem strange when one realizes that He saw death as ‘a messenger of joy’.
Source: Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), no. 62, “Death, a messenger of joy”, pp. 172–173.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: laughter).