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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
A little longer, for confident young readers.
A craftsman who worked hard all day and welcomed friends to supper nearly every night stayed full of joy, even when he had only bread to eat and water from a brook.
3 minWhen Áqá Faraj first heard the wonderful news, he clapped his hands and cried out for joy — and then he set off on a long journey that lasted his whole life.
3 minA young cook named Husayn tried to save every little piece of coal — and one day Bahá'u'lláh let him know that even his quiet, careful kindness had been noticed.
3 minA young boy traveled a very long way with his father, all the way to the city of Baghdad, because more than anything he wanted to meet his Lord.
3 minA young man named Muḥammad-Ibráhím was captured for loving Bahá'u'lláh — but he broke free and spent the rest of his life serving with all his heart.
3 minA coppersmith named Áqá Muḥammad left his home, gave away his money to strangers, and made beautiful poems that could make a whole room weep.
3 minA man left his home in Persia to find Bahá'u'lláh, and he learned to fill every part of his day — even his work in the fields — with prayer.
3 minA kind merchant lost his goods to thieves, and a powerful man tried to make him lie for money — but he chose the truth, no matter what it cost.
3 minA faithful man lost his home and his friends, but he traveled far to be near Bahá'u'lláh — and never let go of the love in his heart.
3 minA young man named Faraju'lláh wanted to be near Bahá'u'lláh more than anything — so when hard times came, he chose to follow Him even to a faraway prison.
3 minA kind man from Iraq gave a wonderful gift so that three new rooms could be added to the holy Shrine of the Báb on the side of a mountain.
2 minA famous teacher of kings and scholars discovered something greater than all his learning — and spent the rest of his life teaching it to others.
3 minA gentle, quiet man from Shíráz travels across many countries, longing to stand in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh — and finds the one thing his heart had always wanted.
3 minA young merchant far from home heard wonderful news in a busy port city — and it changed everything he wanted to do with his life.
3 minA kind man named Mashhadí Faṭṭáḥ lost all that he owned, yet he stayed quietly happy because he loved God most of all.
3 minA famous teacher in Iran read two letters, found something he had been searching for his whole life, and gave himself a name that means doing good.
3 minA man in Shíráz loved the Báb with all his heart, and he carried one big question all the way to Bahá'u'lláh.
3 minA boy from a small city in Persia grew into one of the wisest teachers of his time — and the more he learned, the kinder and humbler he became.
3 minWhen 'Abdu'l-Bahá traveled across America, one faithful friend wrote down everything he saw — and his diary became a treasure the whole world could share.
3 minA young man named Mírzá Muhammad Báqir was one of the very first to find the Báb, and he stayed brave and faithful right to the end.
2 minWhen his big brother set out on a long and dangerous journey for the Báb, a younger brother chose to walk right beside him — and never left his side.
2 minA quiet man who loved Bahá'u'lláh so much that he poured the tea, pitched the tents, and stayed faithful through every hard journey, never asking for a single thing for himself.
3 minA man so beloved that crowds lined the roads to greet him chose to follow the Báb instead — because, more than anything, he wanted to be fair and to know the truth.
3 minA famous bookmaker left everything behind to live near Bahá'u'lláh — and the work he chose to do was simply to keep one little square of ground clean and beautiful.
3 minA brave young man loved his friend and his Faith so much that, when the hardest moment came, he refused to be parted from either one.
2 minA boy named Muḥammad started a little company so children could save money for the future — and grew up to take photographs of holy places for a famous book.
3 minWhen the Báb chose His very first followers, a man named Mullá Ahmad was one of them — and he gave everything to the new Faith he loved.
2 minA clever man searched school after school looking for joy and never found it — until he found a faith worth being brave for, no matter who laughed at him.
3 minA man named Mullá Hasan was chosen for a very special job, but deep down he felt he was not good enough — and his quiet, humble heart has been remembered ever since.
2 minThree hundred poor men crowded into a hall to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He gave each one a coin — but He gave them something even more precious too.
2 minOne quiet evening in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá stepped out onto a balcony to listen to the church bells ringing across the city.
2 min'Abdu'l-Bahá crossed the whole city of London to visit poor children no one important ever bothered with — and one little girl gave Him a gift she had held in her hand all afternoon.
3 minOn a frightening night, soldiers came and took away the children's father — and their brave mother gathered them close and would not let them be afraid.
3 minA visitor slept one night in a tiny old room in 'Akká, and woke up sure that the love of the family who once lived there was still in the air.
3 minA teacher sent a small boy off to school to learn his lessons — but the boy asked one question that the teacher could not answer.
2 minA man named Shaykh Ḥasan had waited many years for a special promise to come true — and one day, on a busy street, he saw the very One he had been waiting for.
3 minA young man sat quietly in a little school far from home, listening — and his old teacher saw a secret in Him that he would not say out loud.
3 minIn a garden by a river, the roses were piled so high that friends could not see one another across the tent — and all night long the nightingales sang.
3 minAn old and tired teacher told his students a wonderful secret: the One they had all been waiting for would come very, very soon — and they must go out and find Him.
3 minA man named Shaykh Sálih went toward danger with a joy no one around him could understand — because he had found something more precious than life itself.
3 minFourteen friends were told to give up their faith and go free — and seven of them chose to be brave and stay true, even though it was the hardest choice of all.
3 minA busy businessman in Chicago read a few words in a newspaper, went to listen — and became the first person in all of America to follow the Bahá'í Faith.
3 minWhen everyone wanted to give 'Abdu'l-Bahá the grandest title in the world, He picked the humblest name He could find — and made it beautiful.
3 minWhen 'Abdu'l-Bahá passed away in Haifa, ten thousand people of every kind walked together up Mount Carmel to say goodbye to the friend they all loved.
3 minLong ago in a busy city in Persia, a special boy grew up to be fair, kind, and faithful in his prayers — and the world would one day know Him as the Báb.
3 minWhen friends wanted a special day to honor 'Abdu'l-Bahá, He gave His own birthday away and chose, instead, the day He promised to keep everyone together.
3 minA young man named Anís loved the Báb so much that he asked to stand right beside Him, and the Báb gave him a special name that means Companion.
3 minOn the first day of spring in a city by the sea, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told His friends that the best way to celebrate a special day is to do something kind that helps the whole world.
3 minEvery nineteen days the friends gather for a special Feast — first they pray, then they talk together about helping each other, and at the end they share food and laughter.
3 minA river ran too high to cross, so a family had to wait nine whole days before they could join Bahá'u'lláh in a beautiful garden full of roses.
3 minBahá'u'lláh was being sent far away from the city of Baghdád — but instead of being sad, He was full of joy, and the whole city came to honor Him as He left.
3 minLeaving a grand mansion full of important guests, 'Abdu'l-Bahá asked to see someone else first — the cooks and the maids who worked behind the scenes.
2 minAfter years of searching, a tired traveler met a kind young Man at the city gate. By morning, his whole life — and the whole world — would never be the same.
3 minWhen 'Abdu'l-Bahá first stepped off a great ship onto American shores, reporters crowded close to ask why He had come — and His answer was about peace for the whole world.
3 minOnly a handful of friends gathered in one little parlour, but 'Abdu'l-Bahá came to them anyway — and told them that keeping the Faith in a quiet place is one of the most important jobs of all.
3 minA famous university built its biggest hall for 'Abdu'l-Bahá's talk — but so many people came that He decided to step outside and speak to everyone at once.
3 minOn a great ship crossing the wide Atlantic Ocean, 'Abdu'l-Bahá sailed all the way to America to meet His friends — and to share the truth with a whole new land.
3 minOne believer carried a plain little stone all the way to a cold, muddy field — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá chose her stone to begin a great House of Worship.
3 minA train stopped for just one hour in a city called Cincinnati — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá used that hour to step outside and greet the friends who came to meet Him.
3 minAfter many busy weeks in the big cities, 'Abdu'l-Bahá went up into the green hills to rest, to walk among the pine trees, and to welcome everyone who came up the road to see Him.
3 minWhen two visitors from Japan came to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá in San Francisco, He was filled with joy — because two people from opposite ends of the earth had met as friends.
3 minA few friends in the very middle of America asked if 'Abdu'l-Bahá's train could stop for just one afternoon — and to their joy, He said yes.
3 minA fine luncheon was being set, and one good man had not been invited — until 'Abdu'l-Bahá sent for him and gave him the very best seat at the table, right beside Himself.
3 minWhen mealtime came on His big American journey, 'Abdu'l-Bahá did something His guests never expected — He served them with His own hands, and cleared the dishes too.
3 minWherever 'Abdu'l-Bahá went, He always stopped what He was doing to welcome the children — and He kept sweets in His pocket just for them.
3 minMany people sent stones for the very first stone of a great temple — but on the big day, only the stone a poor seamstress had dragged across the whole city had actually arrived.
3 min'Abdu'l-Bahá stood quietly at a great roaring waterfall and heard, inside all that noise, something wonderful — a kind of prayer.
3 minOnly about ten friends waited at the train station in Omaha — but 'Abdu'l-Bahá told them their tiny group held seeds that would one day grow into something great.
3 min'Abdu'l-Bahá visited a big church in a city named for love, and gently invited everyone to share that love with the whole world.
3 minOne night 'Abdu'l-Bahá set aside His busy plans to visit four hundred poor men, calling each one His brother and pressing a coin into every hand.
3 minOn a train climbing over the great mountains, 'Abdu'l-Bahá looked out at the new railway and saw something wonderful — a world that could one day be joined together like one big family.
3 minNothing famous happened on this ordinary spring day with the Master — and that is exactly why someone thought it was worth writing down forever.
3 minIn a busy hotel ballroom in Seattle, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told two hundred people of many different faiths one simple, beautiful idea — that goodness shines like light, no matter which lamp it burns in.
3 minOnly a handful of friends gathered in a quiet hotel room to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá — and He gave them a job big enough to last for many, many years.
3 minA great crowd of friends came down to the harbor to wave goodbye to 'Abdu'l-Bahá as His ship sailed away — and He gave them something to keep forever.
3 minA woman was warned she might be walking into a trap when she went to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá — and with a smile, He told her the wonderful kind of trap it really was.
2 minIn a church packed with two thousand people, one crying woman reached out and held the hem of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's robe — and He stopped just for her.
2 minA tiny group of friends from Canada could not bring 'Abdu'l-Bahá to their city, so they made a long journey by boat to go to Him instead.
3 minA man crossed the whole city to ask 'Abdu'l-Bahá one big question — and got his answer in a way he never expected.
3 minA boy stood at the edge of a crowd, sure that no one would notice him — until 'Abdu'l-Bahá lifted His hand and called him something beautiful, loud enough for everyone to hear.
3 minLua crossed a whole ocean hoping to do something great for 'Abdu'l-Bahá — and the small, hard task He gave her turned out to be the greatest thing of all.
3 minOn a sunny Sunday in a little garden, 'Abdu'l-Bahá bent low over the lilies and laughed with the children — and a man named Howard never forgot how that afternoon smelled.
3 minOn the evening before 'Abdu'l-Bahá sailed away from America, a man named Howard sat close to Him and heard the most important thing he would ever try to remember.
2 minA man climbed the stairs of a tall hotel with a long list of hard questions in his pocket — and discovered that the answer he truly needed was waiting for him in a single, warm hello.
3 minAfter a long day of talking to crowd after crowd, 'Abdu'l-Bahá came home so tired He had to be helped inside — and then, fifteen minutes later, His strong voice rang out again.
2 minA group of friends in New York sat talking and planning, until 'Abdu'l-Bahá stopped at the door and asked them one small question they never forgot.
2 minAt family meals in 'Akká, the children watched and waited for one special spoonful that always tasted better than anything else — because it was given with love.
2 minA small barefoot boy stood in a doorway watching his grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Bahá — and the gentle nod he was given held a secret no one could quite put into words.
3 minA young man named Shoghi was studying far from home when sad news arrived — and only later did he learn that a special task had been waiting just for him.
3 minEveryone said grass could never grow on the dry mountain — but Shoghi Effendi worked and worked until green gardens grew where no one believed they could.
3 minShoghi Effendi sat at a quiet desk and turned a beautiful little book of holy words into English, working one tiny line at a time until it was just right.
2 minA poor boy from the roughest part of New York came to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá, sure that no one would notice him. He was wrong — 'Abdu'l-Bahá noticed him most of all.
2 minOn a long, rattling streetcar ride, a man noticed a stranger reading over his shoulder — so he tilted his book to share it. By the end of the ride, everything had changed for her.
2 minOn a windy field by a great lake, 'Abdu'l-Bahá knelt down and dug into the earth with His own hands — beginning a beautiful temple that still stands today.
2 minWhile the grown-ups argued and argued in the next room, a brave and brilliant woman named Táhirih — with a little boy on her knee — called out the words everyone needed to hear.
2 minFriends came from a dozen faraway countries to one happy wedding — and 'Abdu'l-Bahá told them all the secret of the strongest power in the whole world.
2 minA grumpy visitor came to 'Abdu'l-Bahá with lots of complaints. 'Abdu'l-Bahá told him a funny little story about a dog — and the man went away happy.
2 min