Stories Told by 'Abdu'l-Bahá

Among the small images 'Abdu'l-Bahá used in conversation with the friends was the parable of a bird with a broken wing — a creature who, having tried every other refuge, at last laid itself in the hand of the One who had made it, and was healed.

'Abdu'l-Bahá would sometimes draw, in His talks with friends, on the great Persian-Turkish folk humour of Mulla Nasrudin — including the famous tale of a man searching for his key in the wrong place because the light there was better, and the searching lesson He drew from it.

Among the household stories 'Abdu'l-Bahá would tell was the account of why He no longer took sugar with His tea — because the believers in a certain Persian village had nothing but black tea, and He could not bring Himself to take a sweetness His friends could not share.

Among the Gospel images 'Abdu'l-Bahá would explain to inquirers was Christ's saying about the camel and the eye of the needle — the small *needle gate* in the wall of an ancient city, the kneeling of the camel, and what the image asks of the rich.

Among the agricultural parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá used in His conversations was the story of a farmer who, having sown his field, dug up the seeds the next morning to see whether they had grown — and the lesson He drew from his disappointment.

Among the parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá would offer to those who came to Him troubled about poverty and station was the story of a king who envied a shoemaker's sleep — and a shoemaker who would not trade his small contented evenings for the king's heavy throne.

Among the Quranic images 'Abdu'l-Bahá would unfold to inquirers was the Verse of Light — the lamp in the glass in the niche — and the careful explanation He would give of how the human heart is at once the niche, the glass, and the lamp's keeper.

Among the small stories 'Abdu'l-Bahá would offer to teach the hidden dignity of the poor was the account of an old village woman who walked seven kos for a load of firewood — and a passing prince who learned, in a single conversation with her, what his court had not been able to teach him.

Among the Biblical and Quranic prophets 'Abdu'l-Bahá would recount in His talks was Joseph — and the moment of His re-encounter with the brothers who had sold Him into slavery, which the Master would draw upon to teach the discipline of pure forgiveness.

Among the conversion stories 'Abdu'l-Bahá would tell to illustrate the suddenness with which a heart can turn was the account of a thief who climbed to a holy man's roof with the intention of robbing him — and came down, before morning, a different man.

Among the parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá used in conversation with friends was the story of three ducks who set off across a meadow to find the great river of which their elders had spoken — and how their different ways of seeking shaped what each one finally found.

Among the parables 'Abdu'l-Bahá told to the friends was the brief story of a wise man and a fool who walked the same road in opposite directions — and the question of which of them was in fact going somewhere.