Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Mullah Nasruddin and the fallen moon

Mullah Nasruddin is a mythical figure in Islamic history, a man whose foolish acts are deeply symbolic of Man's own nature and self-aggrandizement. He can be compared to the Court Jester of the Shakespearean era.

Once Mullah Nasruddin took a walk in the night. He passed by a well, and happened to peer down the well. To his surprise he saw that the moon had fallen into the well. He became distressed, and rushed home to bring a rope and hook to pull the moon out of the well.

He lowered the rope into the well, and hooked on to something. Thinking that he had hooked the moon, he pulled as mightily as he could. The hook disengaged from the object, causing the Mullah to fall on his back. As he looked up, he saw the moon, restored to its rightful place in the night sky.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Think of what could have happened had I not passed by this well", he said to himself.

The story is symbolic of our own self aggrandizement and ego - the illusion that we are indespensible; and that without our presence things cannot be achieved.

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