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The Morals of Dervishes

STORY L

One asked the old man who had lost his son^[1]: "O noble and intelligent old man! As thou has smelt the odour of his garment from Egypt,^[2] why hast thou not seen him in the well of Canaan?

He replied: "My state is that of leaping lightning; one moment it appears, and at another it vanishes. I am sometimes sitting in high heaven, sometimes I cannot see the back of my foot. Were a Dervish always to remain in that state, he would not care for the two worlds."^[3]

↑ Jacob is meant, who lost Joseph.
↑ Such is the Moslem tradition.
↑ If a Dervish were perpetually in a trance of ecstasy, he would desire the pleasures neither of this, nor of the next world.

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[1] Jacob is meant, who lost Joseph.

[2] Such is the Moslem tradition.

[3] If a Dervish were perpetually in a trance of ecstasy, he would desire the pleasures neither of this, nor of the next world.

[1]

[2]

[3]