A Birthday Cake in the Bronx
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When in Bahá'í history
Juliet Thompson and other Bahá’ís decided to give the Master a birthday party, and a few of them baked a cake. She reported, “We took several taxis to the Bronx, with the Master riding in the first one. As soon as His taxi had arrived there, the Master got out and walked into the park ahead of the rest of us.
“A group of young boys gathered around Him and started to laugh. Two or three of them threw stones at Him. With natural concern many of the friends hurried towards the Master, but He told them to stay away. The boys came closer to the Master, jeered at Him and pulled at His clothes.
“The Master did not become cross. He merely smiled at them radiantly, but the boys continued to behave as before. Then the Master turned towards the friends. ‘Bring me the cake,’ He said. No one had mentioned to Him that we had brought a cake.
“Some of us said, ‘But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the cake is for your birthday.’ He repeated, ‘Bring me the cake.’ A friend uncovered a large sponge cake, with white icing, and gave it to the Master. As soon as the boys had seen the cake they began to calm down, and stared at the cake hungrily.
“The Master took it in His hands and looked at the cake with pleasure. The boys were now standing quietly around Him. ‘Bring me a knife,’ said the Master. A friend brought Him a knife. The Master counted the number of boys who were standing around Him and then cut the cake into the same number of pieces. Each boy eagerly took a piece, ate it with relish, and then ran away happily.”
Source: Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 45–46.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: forgiveness-others).
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