The Káshi

We are told that in the province of Káshán in Persia the people are very peace-loving, and so gentle are they that violence of any kind is enough to make them very frightened.

One day Bahá’u’lláh was making a journey and with Him was a Káshi, as these people are called. They were riding along the road in the dark, their donkeys going as fast as they could to reach the place where they were going to stay for the night. When the place was reached, they cast themselves down and slept, for the journey had been long and they were very tired.

Next morning when the Káshi awoke, he saw that the donkey on which he had been riding was saddled with a tiger skin. So timid was he that the thought of riding on a tiger skin made him very much afraid, and he would not ride on the donkey again but chose another instead.

When Bahá’u’lláh and the Káshi resumed their journey, news was brought to them that several hundred men were coming to kill them, for as you know, Bahá’u’lláh had a great many enemies. The Káshi was terribly afraid, but Bahá’u’lláh told him to buckle a large sword round his waist.

"Who, me?" answered the Káshi, shaking with fear,

"Yes, you, My friend,’’ answered Bahá’u’lláh.

So, although he was very afraid, he buckled on a large sword for who could disobey such a Master?

The Káshi was very small and the sword very long. When he tried to walk he nearly fell down, for the long sword kept getting between his legs.

Soon the enemy came in sight, shouting fierce cries and waving their swords and guns.

"What now, Master?" asked the little man, still shaking with fear.

"You must go and defeat them," he was told.

"Me?" asked the little man, "Me, go and fight those hundreds of men, and all alone, too? They will kill me and You too.

"Go to defeat them, My friend, for you are right and they are wrong. God's ways are not man's ways; you shall defeat them all."

The little Kashi drew his sword and, waving it in the air,

advanced towards the enemy who, on seeing one man come to do battle with them, stopped in amazement.

"What is this?" they asked themselves.

"Are the Bahá'ís so powerful that one man can defeat all of us?"

As the Kashi advanced towards them, their imagination got the better of them, and they began to fear that some magic would be worked and something terrible would happen to them. One man, fearful of devils or magic or something he could not see or understand, turned and ran, then another and another until all these men who had sought to kill Bahá’u’lláh were running in panic away from the little Káshi who could barely lift the huge sword which he held in his hands.

When he went back to his Master he saw that He was chuckling to Himself. “You see, little friend, what God can do for us when we are in need or great danger?” And, turning His donkey’s head, rode along the lonely road.

(Child’s Way magazine, January-February 1979)

Source: Baha'i Stories for Children (https://bahaistoriesforchildren.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-kashi.html).

Various. *Baha'i Stories for Children*. https://bahaistoriesforchildren.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-kashi.html