Waiting by the River: The Ninth Day

A retelling for children, based on Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. Esslemont (1923).

Long ago in the city of Baghdád, an order came from far away. The rulers wanted Bahá'u'lláh to leave the city and travel to a faraway capital. When His friends heard the news, they could not bear it. They crowded around His house, because they did not want to be parted from Him, even for a moment.

So that everything would be calm and peaceful, the family decided to move for a little while. They left the busy city and crossed the great river Tigris to a quiet, wooded garden on the other side. It was full of trees and roses, and one day the whole world would remember it by a beautiful name — the Garden of Riḍván.

On a spring afternoon, Bahá'u'lláh went into the garden. His sons came with Him. But that day there was a problem: the river was running high and fast, too wild and deep to cross safely. So the rest of the family — His wife, the Greatest Holy Leaf, and the others — had to stay behind in the city and wait.

Imagine how that felt. They could see the garden across the water. They knew He was there among the roses. And yet the river would not let them come. One day passed. Then another. Then another. Nine whole days they waited for the water to calm and for their turn to cross.

But here is the wonderful part. Those days were not sad ones. Even as He prepared to leave Baghdád forever, Bahá'u'lláh "showed the greatest joy, dignity and power." His followers grew "happy and enthusiastic," and great crowds came to see Him. The most important people in all of Baghdád came to honor Him — even the governor of the whole city.

Then at last the day arrived. The waiting was over. The Greatest Holy Leaf and the rest of the family crossed the river and joined Bahá'u'lláh in the garden, all together again beneath the roses. That happy day of coming back together is now called the Ninth Day of Riḍván, and people all over the world still celebrate it.

Sometimes the things we love most are kept just out of reach for a while, like a family waiting on the wrong side of a river. But the waiting did not last forever, and the joy at the end was all the sweeter for it. That is the quiet gift the Ninth Day still gives us: a reunion worth waiting for.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "The Family Arrives in the Garden: Ninth Day of Riḍván".

Esslemont, J. E.. (1923). *Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era*. George Allen & Unwin. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19241/pg19241-images.html