\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
A\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0hunter once caught a small bird.\u00a0 \u2018Master,\u2019 said the bird, \u2018you have eaten many animals bigger than I without assuaging your appetite.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can the flesh of my tiny body satisfy you?\u00a0 If you let me go, I will give you three counsels: one while I am still in your hand, the second when I am on your roof, and the third from the top of a tree.\u00a0 When you have heard all three, you will consider yourself the most fortunate of men.\u00a0 The first counsel is this: \u201cDo not believe the foolish pronouncements of others.\u201d \u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The bird flew on to the roof, from where it gave the second counsel, \u2018 \u201cHave no regrets for what is past.\u201d\u00a0 Concealed in my body is a precious pearl weighing five ounces.\u00a0 It was yours by right, and now it is gone.\u2019\u00a0 Hearing this the man began to bewail his misfortune.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Why are you so upset?\u2019 asked the bird.\u00a0 \u2018Did I not say, \u201cHave no regrets for what is past\u201d?\u00a0 Are you deaf, or did you not understand what I told you?\u00a0 I also said, \u201cDo not believe the foolish pronouncements of others.\u201d\u00a0 I weigh less than two ounces, so how could I possibly conceal a pearl weighing five?\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Coming to his senses, the hunter asked for the third counsel.\u00a0 \u2018Seeing how much you heeded the first two, why should I waste the third?\u2019 replied the bird.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Adapted from\u00a0The Mathnawi of Jalalu\u2019ddin Rumi, IV<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 The Hunter and the Bird A\u00a0\u00a0hunter once caught a small bird.\u00a0 \u2018Master,\u2019 said the bird, \u2018you have eaten many animals bigger than I without assuaging your appetite.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can the flesh of my tiny body satisfy you?\u00a0 If you let me go, I will give you three counsels: one while I am still in your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,7,10,85,235,304,410,475,502,510,588,623,624,625,647,659],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual","tag-6","tag-7","tag-10","tag-bird","tag-first-counsel","tag-hunter","tag-mathnawi","tag-parable","tag-precious-pearl","tag-pronouncements","tag-small-bird","tag-sufi","tag-sufi-parable","tag-sufism","tag-the-hunter-and-the-bird","tag-tiny-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wrestlingwithyourself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mothermaryswords.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/02\/1322936654bird1.jpg\")
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