The Three Brothers and the Chinese Princess

The story of the king and his will to his three sons, advising them on how to arrange affairs in his kingdom during his absence, and warning them not to approach a certain fortress.

There was a king with three sons, each wise and perceptive, each more esteemed than the other in generosity, bravery, and grandeur. The king's sons stood before him like three candles, the delight of his eyes. Secretly, the father drew water from the well of his eyes, so that the water from the children would flow to the gardens of their parents. The gardens of the parents remain fresh, nourished by the tears of their children. When the well becomes sick, the palm leaves and branches dry up. The dryness of the palm indicates that the tree draws moisture from the children. Many hidden wells are connected to your soul, O heedless ones. You have drawn resources from the heavens and the earth, making your body fat. This is borrowed; you must repay what you have taken. Except for the breath that comes from the Giver, the soul is sustained by it; the rest is futile. I speak of the soul in relation to its firm creation, not in vain.

The mystic seeks help from the eternal source of life and becomes independent of the unfaithful springs, a sign of which is detachment from the abode of deception. When a person relies on those springs, they become weak in seeking the eternal spring. A spring from within the house is better than a stream from outside. How wonderful is the original wellspring of things, freeing you from these wells. You draw from a hundred springs, but as each diminishes, the pleasure decreases. When the noble spring gushes from within, you become rich without stealing from other springs. When your delight is from clay and water, the sustenance of this delight is heartache. When the fortress receives water from outside, it is secure. A single salty well from within is better than a hundred sweet rivers from outside. The destroyer of causes and the armies of death come like winter to cut branches and leaves. In the world, their help does not come from spring, except in the soul, the spring of the beloved's face. The earth is called the abode of deception because it pulls the foot back after the day of crossing. Before that, it runs left and right, but when you try to pick its fruit, you find nothing. It would say to you in times of sorrow, "Away from you is trouble, and give me what is between." When the army of trouble comes, it closes its mouth, not saying, "I have seen you." God likened Satan to this, bringing you to battle with tricks. He says, "I will help you, I am with you. In danger, I run before you. I will be your horse in the time of sharp arrows, your savior in times of distress. I will sacrifice my soul for you in revival. Be brave, like Rostam or a lion." With these deceits, he leads to disbelief, that sack of deceit and cunning. When he steps into the trench, he falls, laughing loudly. "Come, I have hopes from you," he says, "Go away, I am disgusted with you. You did not fear the justice of the Creator; I fear, keep your hands off me." God said, "He separated from goodness; how can you be guided by these deceits?" The doer and the done on the day of reckoning are disgraced and stoned. The deceiver and the deceived are certainly in the pit and in great torment. The fool and the demon who deceived him must be amazed at salvation and success. Here, both the donkey and the donkey-catcher are stuck in the mud, unaware here and there. Except for those who turn away from it, they come from the spring of grace from autumn. They repent, and God accepts repentance. They follow His command, and He is the best commander. When they cry out in regret, the throne shakes from the groans of the sinners. It shakes like a mother lifting her child, saying, "Your Lord has bought you from deception. Here are the gardens of grace and the forgiving Lord. After this, your sustenance and eternal provision will be from the love of God, not from the gutter." When the sea envied the means, the fish thirsted, abandoning the water skin.

The departure of the princes in their father's kingdom after bidding farewell to the king and the king reiterating his advice at the time of farewell.

The three sons set out on their journey to their father's lands, to manage the cities and fortresses, to arrange the administration and livelihood. They kissed the king's hand and bid farewell. Then the king, the ruler, said to them, "Wherever your heart desires, set out. Go with God's protection, waving your hands. Except for one fortress named 'Hush-Ruba,' which tightens the robe on the heads of the chiefs. Beware of that fortress of images, stay away and fear the danger. Its towers, roofs, and lower parts are all filled with images and paintings, like the chamber of Zuleikha full of images, to make Joseph look at her with desire. When Joseph did not look at her, she filled the house with her own images, so that wherever that beautiful face turned, he would see her face involuntarily. For the clear-eyed ones, God made the six directions the manifestation of signs, so that every animal and plant would graze from the gardens of divine beauty. For this, He commanded His army, 'Wherever you turn, there is His face.' If you drink water from the cupbearer in thirst, look at the water of God within. The one who is not in love sees his own image in the water, O seer. When the lover's image perishes in it, now tell me, whom does he see in the water? They see the beauty of God in the face of the houri, like the moon in the water from the work of the Jealous. His jealousy is for the lover and the truthful, not for the demon and the beast. If a demon falls in love, he wins the prize, becoming an angel, and that demon dies. The submission of Satan appeared there, where Yazid became Bayazid by His grace. This story has no end, O group, beware of that fortress. Avoid danger, it is obligatory. Listen to my unbiased story. In seeking relief, a sharp mind is better than avoiding the ambush of calamity. If the father had not said this, if he had not warned against that fortress, they would not have gone to that fortress, they would not have inclined towards it. It was not well-known, it was very remote from the fortresses and paths. When he made that prohibition, their hearts were drawn to it, and they fell into the alley of imagination. A desire arose in their hearts from this prohibition, that they must uncover its secret. Who is it that becomes abstinent from the forbidden? Since man is greedy for what is forbidden. Prohibition for the pious becomes aversion, prohibition for the lustful becomes incitement. From this, many people are led astray, and from this, the insightful heart is guided. Who is afflicted by the reed of the familiar bathhouse? Rather, they are afflicted by the reed of the bathhouses of lust. Then they said to him, "We will serve you, we will obey your command." We will not turn away from your command, neglecting your kindness is disbelief. But the exception and glorification of God were separate from their reliance. The mention of exception and cautiousness was said at the beginning of the Masnavi. If there are a hundred books, there is only one door. The intention of a hundred directions is only the prayer niche. The salvation of these paths is one house. These thousands of hyacinths are from one seed. Thousands of different foods are all one thing in consideration. When you are fully satisfied with one, the desire for five foods cools in your heart. In hunger, you see one as a hundred thousand. We had spoken of the illness of that maid and the doctors and their lack of understanding. Those doctors were like bridled horses, unaware and deprived of the rider. Their mouths full of wounds from the bit, their hooves injured from changing steps, unaware that there is a rider on their back, a master of skill. Our wandering is not from this bit, but from the manipulation of the rider who desires. We went to the gardens for flowers, it showed flowers and gave thorns. None of them say with wisdom, "Who is kicking us in the throat?" Those doctors became slaves to the cause, hidden from the trick of God. If you tie a bull in a stable, you will find a donkey in its place. From foolishness, there is ignorance like sleep, not seeking who is the hidden worker. This changer has not said who he is, he is not visible unless he is celestial. You shot an arrow to the right, it went to the left, you saw your arrow. You rushed to hunt a deer, you made yourself the prey of a pig. You ran for profit, you fell into prison without reaching the profit. You dug pits for others, you saw yourself fallen into them. When the Lord made the cause contrary to your desire, why do you not become suspicious of the cause? Many have become emperors from a trade, others have become naked from the same trade. Many have become wealthy from marriage, many have become indebted from marriage. So the cause is like the tail of a donkey, it is better to rely less on it. If you take the cause, do not take it boldly, for there are many hidden calamities beneath it. The essence of exception is this caution and prudence, for the donkey shows this much as a goat. The one whose eyes are closed, even if he is clever, sees melons in his two eyes from squinting. Since God is the turner of eyes, who turns hearts and thoughts, you see the pit as a fine house, you see the trap as a delicate grain. This is not a trick, it is the turning of God, showing where the realities are. The one who denies realities weaves entirely on a fantasy. He does not say that the assumption of fantasy is also a fantasy, you have eyes for wealth.

The departure of the sons of the king, according to the saying that man is greedy for what is forbidden, we showed our servitude, but your bad nature did not know how to buy a servant, they disregarded all the father's advice and admonitions, fell into the pit of calamity, and their reproaching souls said to them, "Did no warner come to you?" They said, crying and regretting, "If we had listened or reasoned, we would not be among the companions of the blaze."

This story has no end, that group took the path to that fortress. They struck the forbidden tree of wheat, they left the stable of the saved. In defiance of the saying of the chosen king, they went to the fortress of the soul-burning 'Hush-Ruba.' They came despite the advice of the wise, in the dark night, turned away from the day. In that delightful fortress of images, five doors to the sea and five to the land. Five like the senses to color and scent, five like the inner senses seeking secrets. From those thousands of images and paintings, they wandered restlessly from side to side. Be not intoxicated with these cups of images, lest you become an idol-maker and idol-worshiper. Pass by the cups of images, do not stop. The wine is in the cup, but not from the cup. Open your mouth wide to the wine-giver, when the wine arrives, the cup does not diminish. O man, seek the meaning of my beloved, abandon the husk and the image of wheat. When a pebble became flour for Khalil, know that wheat is dismissed, O noble one. The image comes into existence from the formless, just as smoke is born from fire. The least defect of the image-maker in qualities, when you see it repeatedly, becomes tiresome. Pure bewilderment comes from formlessness, a hundred kinds of tools are born from tool-lessness. Without hands, it weaves hands, the soul creates the image of man. Just as in the heart from separation and union, various imaginations are woven. Does this image remain with the effect? Does the sound and lament remain with the harm? The lament is the image of harm without form, they bite their hands from harm, which has no hand. This analogy is inappropriate, O reasoner, the trick of explanation is the effort of the least. The formless creation plants an image, the body grows with senses and tools. What kind of image is that which suits itself, it brings the body into good and bad. The image of blessing makes one grateful, the image of respite makes one patient. The image of mercy makes one exalted, the image of a wound makes one lament. The image of a city makes one travel, the image of an arrow makes one take a shield. The image of beauties makes one rejoice, the image of the unseen makes one retreat. The image of need brings one to earning, the image of strength brings one to seize. This is beyond limits and measures, the cause of action is from various imaginations. Infinite creeds and professions, all are the shadow of the image of thoughts. Standing on the edge of the roof, the happy people, each one sees their shadow on the ground. The image of thought is on the built roof, and the action is like a shadow on the pillars. Action on the pillars and thought hidden, but in influence and connection, they are two together. Those images in the feast from the cup of pleasure, their benefit is self-forgetfulness and intoxication. The image of man and woman and play and union, its benefit is unconsciousness at the time of union. The image of bread and salt, which is a blessing, its benefit is that strength without form. In battle, the image of sword and shield, its benefit is formlessness, meaning victory. The school and teaching and its images, when connected to knowledge, become folded. These images are slaves to the formless, so why do they deny the benefactor? These images have existence from the formless, then why deny their creator? It finds its appearance from him, this denial is nothing but its own reflection. The image of the wall and ceiling of every place, the shadow of the architect's thought, though in the place of thought, there is no stone, wood, or brick visible. The absolute doer is certainly formless, the image is like a tool in his hand. Sometimes that formless one shows the images from the hidden, so that each image draws from it perfection, beauty, and power. When the formless hides its face again, they come for sustenance in color and scent. When an image seeks perfection from another image, it is certainly misguidance. Then why do you offer, O worthless one, your need to another needy one? Since the images are slaves to God, do not say, do not suspect, do not seek him in likeness. Seek in supplication and in the annihilation of yourself, for from thought, only images come forth. If you have no glory from other than the image, the image that is born without you is better for you. The image of the city you go to, the taste of the formless drew you, O face. Then in meaning, you go to the placeless, for pleasure is other than place and time. The image of the friend you go to, for the sake of companionship, you go. Then in meaning, you go to the formless, though you were unaware of that purpose. Then the truth is God, the worshipped of all, for the sake of taste, the paths are traveled. But some turn to the breath, though the head is the origin, they have lost the head. But that head gives justice to these misguided ones from the breath. That one finds justice from the head, this one from the breath. Another group lost both foot and head, when they lost all, they found all. From the little, they hastened to the whole. Seeing their own end in the beginning, they came to the end. Seeing the end in the beginning, they came to the end. The end is not cut off for the sake of benefit, for it is secure from every end, that rank. For the preservation of that spirit, the sun withdraws from the snow for a moment. For your own soul, seek good from them, do not steal their words, O heedless one. Zuleikha named everything from incense to aloe after Joseph. She hid his name in names, the secret was known to the confidants. When she said, "The wax softened from the fire," it meant that the beloved was warm with us. Or when she said, "The moon rose, look," or when she said, "The willow branch turned green." Or when she said, "The leaves are fluttering happily," or when she said, "The incense is burning well." Or when she said, "The rose told the nightingale a secret," or when she said, "The king spoke to the king's musician." Or when she said, "How auspicious is the fortune," or when she said, "Spread the clothes." Or when she said, "The water-bearer brought water," or when she said, "The sun rose." Or when she said, "They cooked a pot yesterday," or when she said, "The needs are a piece from the cook." Or when she said, "The bread is without salt," or when she said, "The reflection is turning the sky." Or when she said, "My head is in pain," or when she said, "The headache became more pleasant." If she praised, it was his embrace, if she criticized, it was his separation. If she combined a hundred thousand names, her intention and desire were Joseph. If she was hungry, when she said his name, she would become full and intoxicated with his cup. Her thirst would be quenched by his name, the name of Joseph became the inner drink. If she had pain, from that high name, her pain would immediately become beneficial. In cold weather, his name was a fur coat, this is what the name of the beloved does in love. The common people call the pure name every moment, this action does not happen without love. What Jesus did with the name of 'He,' it would become apparent to him from his name. When the soul connects with God, this is the mention of that, and that is the mention of this. Empty of oneself and full of the love of the friend, then from the jug comes what is inside. Laughter gives the scent of saffron of union, tears give the scent of the onion of separation. Each one has a hundred desires in their heart, this is not the way of love and friendship. The beloved came, the day of love is the sun, the sun is like a veil for that face. The one who does not distinguish the veil from the face of the beloved, is a sun-worshipper, keep your hand off him. His day and the day of the lover are the same, the heart is the same, the compassion of the lover is the same. For the fish, the essence of water became bread, water, clothes, medicine, and sleep. Like a child, he takes milk from the breast, he knows nothing but milk in both worlds. The child knows and does not know the milk, there is no way on this side for planning. This circular letter confused the soul, to find the opener and the opened. He was not confused in the path, but in it, the sea carried him, not the stream and brook. When he finds, he becomes lost, like a flood drowning in the ocean. The seed was lost, then it was clay, until it died, it did not give gold, this was it.

After their long stay hidden in the lands of China, in the capital city, and after their patience wore thin, the eldest said, "I will go, farewell, I will present myself to the king, but a step will bring me to my goal, or I will lay my head like my heart there." The advice of his brothers did not benefit him, "O reproacher of lovers, leave her, whom God has led astray, how can you guide her?"

The eldest said, "O my brothers, my soul has reached its limit from waiting. I have become indifferent, patience has left me, this patience has set me on fire. I am weary of life in separation, living in separation is hypocrisy. How long will the pain of separation endure me? Cut off my head so that love may give me a head. My religion is to live from love, living from this soul and head is my disgrace. The sword is the sweeper of the lover's soul, for the sword is the eraser of sins. When the dust of the body is gone, my moon shines, the moon of my soul finds clear air. For ages, I have been beating the drum of your love, O idol, in my death is my life. The soul has claimed to be a duck, that it cries out from the storm of calamity. What does the duck care if the ship breaks? Its foot is enough on the water. The soul and body are alive from this claim, how can I deny this claim? I see a dream, but not in sleep, I am a claimant, but not a liar. If you cut my neck a hundred times, like a candle, I will light up. If fire takes the harvest before and after, the harvest of that moon is enough for the night travelers. Joseph was hidden and concealed, the trick of the brothers from Jacob the prophet. They hid him with a trick, but in the end, the shirt revealed it. They told him advice in conversation, "Do not make yourself unaware of your dangers. Do not put salt on our wounds, do not eat this poison with boldness and doubt. Except with the plan of a wise elder, how can you go when you have no insightful heart? Woe to the bird that has not grown feathers, it flies to the heights and falls into danger. Reason is the wing and feather of a man, when he has no reason, reason is his guide. Be victorious or seek victory, be insightful or seek insight. Without the key of reason, this knocking on the door is from desire, not from correctness. See a world in the trap from desire, and from wounds that are the same color as medicine. The snake is a master on the chest like death, in its mouth is a great leaf for prey. In the grass, like a blade of grass, it stands, the bird thinks it is a branch of grass. When it sits to eat on the leaf, it falls into the mouth of the snake and death. The crocodile has opened its mouth, around its teeth are long worms. From the rest of the food left in its teeth, worms grew and settled on its teeth. The birds see the worms and food, they think that coffin is a pasture. When the mouth is full of birds, suddenly it swallows them and closes its mouth. This world is full of food and bread, like the open mouth of that crocodile. For the worm and food, O day-cutter, do not be safe from the trick of the crocodile of time. The fox lies flat under the ground, on the ground, it has deceitful grains. Until the unaware crow comes to it, its foot is caught by the trick of that deceiver. Hundreds of thousands of tricks are in animals, how is the trick of man, who is greater? A book in the hand like Zain al-Abidin, a dagger full of wrath in the sleeve. He laughs and says, "O my lord," in his heart is a Babylon full of