List of stories in the Masnavi

The below list gives an overview of the stories in Rumi's Masnavi, as it appears in Reynold A. Nicholson's translation.

Book I

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• The King and the Handmaiden
• The Greengrocer and the Parrot
• The Jewish King whose Vizier contrived a plot against the Christians
• The Caliph and Laylá
• The description of Mohammed in the Gospel
• Another Jewish King who persecuted the Christians
• The punishment inflicted on a man who scoffed at Mohammed
• The Wind which destroyed the people of ‘Ad .
• The Lion and the Beasts of chase
• Azrael and the man who took refuge with Solomon Solomon and the Hoopoe
• The Fall of Adam
• The Holy War against the Flesh
• The Caliph ‘Umar and the Ambassador
• How Adam acknowledged, while Iblis denied, responsibility for sin
• “And He is with you, wheresoever you be”
• “Let him who desires to sit with God sit with the Súfís”
• The Merchant and the Parrot which gave him a message to the parrots of India
• The Spiritual Birds that are Divine Intelligences
• Commentary on a saying of Faridu’ddín ‘Attár .
• The respect paid to Moses by Pharaoh’s magicians
• Commentary on a saying of Saná’í, and a Discourse on a Tradition of the Prophet concerning the jealousy of God
• The harmfulness of being honoured by the people
• “Whatsoever God wills cometh to pass”
• The Story of the Harper
• Explanation of a Tradition of the Prophet concerning Divine inspiration
• A Story of ‘A’isha and the Prophet
• Commentary on a verse of Saná’i
• “Take advantage of the coolness of the spring season”
• The Moaning Pillar
• A miracle performed by the Prophet in the presence of Abú Jahl
• The Prodigal for whom the angels pray
• The munificent Caliph
• The Arab of the Desert and his Wife
• False saints
• The power of Faith
• Light and colour
• Explanation of the Tradition that women prevail over the wise man, while the ignorant man prevails over them
• The mystery of Moses and Pharaoh
• “He has lost this life and the life to come”
• The prophet Sálih and the people of Thamúd
• The barrier between the righteous and the wicked
• What is meat to the saint is poison to the disciple
• The Divine Bounty and those who beg for it
• The two kinds of “poor”
• The World’s lovers
• The proverb, “If you commit fornication, commit it with a free woman, and if you steal, steal a pearl”
• The Grammarian and the Boatman
• The Spiritual Guide
• The Prophet’s injunction to ‘Alí
• The man of Qazwín who wanted to have a lion tattooed on his shoulder
• The wolf and the fox who went to hunt with the Lion .
• The man who knocked at his friend’s door and, on being asked who he was, answered, “‘Tis I”
• Description of Unification
• Noah as the God-man
• Why the Súfís who know God are seated in front of kings
• Joseph and the guest-friend who could find no suitable gift for him except a mirror
• Mohammed and the scribe who wrote down the Qur'anic Revelations
• Bal’am son of Bá’úr
• Hárút and Márút
• The deaf man and his sick neighbour
• Iblis the originator of analogical reasoning applied to the Word of God
• Mystical experiences must be kept hidden from the vulgar
• The contention between the Greek and Chinese artists
• The Vision of Zayd
• Luqmán and his fellow-servants
• The conflagration in Medina in the days of the Caliph 'Umar
• 'Alí and the infidel who spat in his face
• 'Alí and his murderer
• The self-conceit shown by Adam towards Iblís
• The unworldliness of the Prophet

Book II

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• The Caliph ‘Umar and the man who thought he saw the new moon
• The fool who entreated Jesus to bring some bones to life
• The Sufi who enjoined the servant to take care of his ass
• The King and his lost falcon
• Shaykh Ahmad son of Khizrúya and his creditors
• The answer of an ascetic who was warned not to weep, lest he should become blind
• The peasant who stroked a lion in the dark
• The Súfis who sold the traveller’s ass
• The greedy insolvent
• Parable for those who say “if”
• The man who killed his mother because he suspected her of adultery
• The King and his two slaves
• The King’s retainers who envied his favourite slave
• The falcon amongst the owls
• The thirsty man who threw bricks into the water
• The man who planted a thornbush in the road and delayed to uproot it
• Dhu'l-Nún and the friends who came to visit him in the mad-house
• The sagacity of Luqmán
• The reverence of Bilqís for the message of Solomon which was brought to her by the hoopoe
• The philosopher who showed disbelief in the Qur’án
• Moses and the shepherd
• The Amír and the sleeping man into whose mouth a snake had crept
• The fool who trusted the bear
• The blind beggar who said, “I have two blindnesses”
• Moses and the worshipper of the golden calf
• Galen and the madman
• The cause of a bird’s flying and feeding with a bird that is not of its own kind
• Mohammed’s visit to the sick Companion
• The gardener who separated three friends in order to chastise them singly
• Báyazíd and the Shaykh who said, “I am the Ka’ba”
• The novice who built a new house
• Dalqak and the Sayyid-i Ajall
• The Saint who rode a cock-horse
• The dog and the blind mendicant
• The Police Inspector and the drunken man
• Iblís and Mu’áwiya
• The Cadi who wept whilst he was being installed
• The bitter grief of a man who missed the congregational prayers
• The thief who escaped because his accomplice gave a false alarm
• The Hypocrites and the Mosque of Opposition
• The true believer’s stray camel
• The four Indians who lost their prayers
• The Ghuzz Turcomans and the two villagers
• The self-conceit and ingratitude shown by the worldly towards the prophets and saints
• The old man who complained to the doctor
• Júhí and the child
• The boy who was afraid of an effeminate man
• The archer and the horseman
• The Arab of the desert and the philosopher
• The miracles of Ibráhim son of Adham
• The beginning of the gnostic’s illumination
• The stranger who reviled the Shaykh
• The man who declared that God would not punish his sins, and Shu’ayb’s answer to him
• The answer of the Prophet to ‘A’isha, who said that he performed the ritual prayer in unclean places
• The mouse and the camel
• The miracles of a dervish who was accused of theft
• The garrulous, greedy, and somnolent Súfí, and his reply to the Shaykh who enjoined him to observe moderation
• The nature of intuitive knowledge
• John the Baptist and Jesus
• Mute eloquence
• The search for the Tree of Life
• How four persons quarrelled about grapes, which were known to each of them by a different name
• How Mohammed established unity amongst the Ansár
• Solomon and the birds
• The ducklings that were fostered by a hen
• The miracles wrought by an ascetic in the desert

Book III

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• The Travellers who ate the young Elephant
• Bilál’s mispronunciation in chanting the call to prayer
• Moses instructed by God how he should pray
• The response to sincere prayer
• The Countryman and the Townsman
• The people of Sabá and the Prophets
• How Jesus came forth from his cell and healed the sick
• The Falcon and the Ducks
• The people of Zarwán
• Majnún and Laylá’s dog
• The Jackal that fell into the dyeing-vat and pretended to be a Peacock
• The Braggart who pretended that he had dined well
• Bal’am the son of Bá’úr
• “And thou wilt surely know them in the perversion of their speech”
• Hárút and Márút
• Pharaoh’s dream of the coming of Moses
• The Mughal and the Egyptians
• The conception and birth of Moses
• The Snake-catcher and the frozen Snake
• Pharaoh and Moses
• The two Magicians who summoned their father from the grave
• Comparison of the Qur’án to the rod of Moses
• The Elephant in the dark house
• Noah and Canaan
• Infidelity and Predestination
• The Barber and the Man with grizzled hair
• The answer of Zayd to his assailant
• The Companions of the Prophet and the Qur’án
• The Lover who read a love-letter in the presence of his Beloved
• The Poor Man who prayed that he might gain a lawful livelihood without work
• Knowledge and Opinion
• The Teacher who fancied he was ill
• The Dervish who broke his vow
• The far-seeing Goldsmith
• The Magicians whom Pharaoh threatened to punish
• The complaint of the Mule to the Camel
• The Ass of ‘Uzayr
• The Shaykh who showed no grief at the death of his sons
• The Blind Man who regained his sight when he read the Qur’án
• The patience of Luqmán
• Buhlúl and the Dervish
• The Visions and Miracles of Daqúqi
• Moses and Khizr
• The flight of Jesus from the Fool
• The Children’s Tale of the Three Worldlings
• The Hares and the Elephant
• Noah and the building of the Ark
• The Thief who said he was beating a Drum
• The meaning of Prudence
• The Vow made by the Dogs every winter
• The Divine Providence manifested in the creation of Hell
• Kings compared to the Báb-i Saghír at Jerusalem
• The Súfí who fell into ecstasy on seeing an empty food-wallet
• Jacob’s love for Joseph
• The Amir and the Slave who took delight in the ritual Prayer
• The Faith of the Worldly
• Hidden Saints
• Anas and the Prophet’s napkin
• How the Prophet saved a caravan of Arabs from death in the Desert
• Miracles wrought by the Prophet on the same occasion
• Need and distress call forth the Bounty of God
• The Babe that bore witness to the Prophet
• The Eagle that carried off the Prophet’s boot
• The Man who asked Moses to teach him the language of Beasts and Birds
• The Woman whose twenty children all died in infancy
• Why Hamza in his old age refused to protect himself with a coat of mail
• The advantages of Deliberation
• The death of Bilál
• The World and the Body
• Statute and Analogy
• The reverence due to the Shaykhs from their disciples
• Conventional and intuitive knowledge
• Faná and Baqá
• The Wakíl of Bukhárá and his Master
• The appearance of the Holy Spirit in human shape to Mary, the Mother of Jesus
• The most beautiful City
• The Lover in the haunted Mosque
• The worldliness of Galen
• How Satan deceived the Quraysh
• The Boy who beat a tomtom in order to scare a Camel on which they were beating a drum
• Comparison of the true Believer suffering tribulation to peas being boiled in a pot
• The Mathnawí and its critics
• The outer and inner sense of the Qur’án
• Why the Saints take refuge in mountains and caves
• How the mountains joined in the song of David
• The Foal that would not drink
• The cry of the Devil
• How each element in the Body is drawn to its original source, and the Soul likewise
• The Prophet and the Captives
• The Gnat and the Wind in the presence of Solomon
• The perfidious Lover

Book IV

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• The perfidious Lover (continued)
• The Preacher who prayed for the wicked
• The answer of Jesus to the question, “What is the hardest thing to bear?”
• The Súfí who caught his wife with a strange man
• The Names of God
• Comparison of the World to a bath-stove
• The Tanner who fainted on smelling otto and musk
• The Jew who tempted ‘Alí
• The building of the Farther Mosque (the Temple of Solomon)
• “The Faithful are naught but brothers”
• The unspoken Sermon of the Caliph ‘Uthmán
• Man the Macrocosm
• Comparison of the Prophet and the Moslem saints to the Ark of Noah
• Solomon and Bilqís
• The Miracles of Shaykh ‘Abdullah Maghribí
• The Druggist and the Clay-eater
• The Dervish and the Carrier of firewood
• Ibráhím ibn Adham and his abandonment of his Kingdom
• The thirsty man who climbed a walnut-tree and dropped walnuts into the water
• Halíma and the infant Mohammed
• The Worldly and the Spiritual
• The Poet and the two Viziers
• Pharaoh and Hámán
• The Demon who sat on the throne of Solomon
• How Cain learned the grave-digger’s trade
• The Súfi who contemplated the beauty of the Garden in his own heart
• Worldly knowledge and power a dangerous weapon in the hands of the wicked
• “O thou that wrappest thyself”
• The Slave whose allowance was reduced
• Man half angel and half beast
• Majnún and his she-camel
• The Divine and the Thief who stole his turban
• The World’s enticement and warning
• The food of the Saints
• Death the touchstone of pretension
• The hypocritical Encomiast
• The divine Physicians
• How Abd Yazíd (Báyazíd) Bistámí predicted the birth of Abu‘l-Hasan Kharraqáni
• How the wind blew perversely against Solomon
• Abu’l-Hasan at the tomb of Abú Yazíd
• The Man who took counsel with his enemy
• The Prophet’s appointment of a Young Man of Hudhayl to command the army
• The Ecstasy of Báyazíd
• The wise, the half-wise, and the foolish
• The Three Fishes
• The ablutionary Prayers
• The Man who failed to profit by the wise counsels of a Bird
• Moses and Pharaoh as types of Reason and Imagination
• The spiritual vision in which all the senses become one
• Moses and Pharaoh
• The World’s assault on the Unseen
• The Purification of the Heart
• “I was a Hidden Treasure”
• “Speak ye unto men according to the measure of their understandings
• The Prophet’s promise of Paradise to ‘Ukkásha
• The royal Falcon and the Old Woman
• ‘Alí’s advice to the Mother whose child was in danger of falling from the top of the water-spout
• Like attracts like
• The Prophet and the Arab Chiefs
• Paradise and Hell are the effects of Divine Mercy and Wrath
• The Argument between the Atheist and the Mystic
• The Purpose of Creation
• Why Moses was loved by God
• The King and his Boon-companion and the Courtier who acted as intercessor
• Abraham rejects the proffered help of Gabriel
• The mystery of Life and Death
• Body and Spirit
• The Prince and the Witch of Kabúl
• The Ascetic who laughed while the people were dying of hunger
• Live in harmony with Universal Reason
• The Sons of ‘Uzayr
• “Verily, I ask pardon of God seventy times every day”
• The weakness of the discursive Reason
• Submission to the Saints
• The Mule and the Camel
• The Egyptian and the Israelite
• The Pear-tree of Illusion
• The spiritual Evolution of Man
• Divine immanence in Creation
• Dhu’l-Qarnayn and Mount Qaf
• The Ant that saw the pen writing
• The Prophet’s vision of Gabriel in his real form

Book V

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• Parable of the Four Birds
• Description of the Duck
• The Prophet and the Greedy Infidel
• The Light which is the Food of the Spirit
• Description of the Peacock
• Diversity of Intelligences
• The Arab of the Desert and his Dog
• The Sage and the Peacock
• “No monkery in Islam”
• Description of the Crow
• The Gazelle in the Donkey-stable
• Muammad Khwárizmsháh and the people of Sabzawár
• Description of the Cock
• “The Lowest of the Low”
• The two Worlds
• The value of Works
• “And He is with you”
• The Man who claimed to be a Prophet
• The Devoted Lover
• The Disciple who imitated the Shaykh
• The Maidservant and the Ass
• Parable of the Parrot which is taught to speak by seeing its image in a mirror
• The Puppies that barked before they were born
• The People of Zarwán
• The Creation of Adam
• The illusion of causes
• Death and Resurrection
• The infinite mercy of God
• The Story of Ayáz
• Laylá and Majnún
• The Ascetic and his jealous Wife
• The repentance of Nasúh
• The Fox and the Ass
• The Ass that envied the Arab horses
• The Ascetic who made trial of his trust in God
• Parable of the Camel
• The effeminate Youth
• The Man who was afraid of being taken for an Ass
• Shaykh Muhammad Sar-razí of Ghazna
• The Disciple in dreadof hunger
• The Cow in the green Island
• The Christian ascetic who went about with a lamp in the day-time
• Debate between a Moslem and a Magian on the subject of free-will
• The Dervish who reproached God
• The beauty of Laylá
• A story of Júhí
• The Infidel and Báyazíd
• The Muezzin with the harsh voice
• The Cat and the Meat
• The Amír and the Ascetic
• Ziyá-yi Dalq and his Brother
• Dalqak’s game of Chess with the Sháh of Tirmid
• The Prophet on Mount Hirá
• The World that is living, speaking, and hearing
• The Guest who took offence and departed
• A Father’s advice to his married Daughter
• The cowardly Súfí
• ‘Iyádí and the Greater Warfare
• The Man who tormented his Carnal Soul
• The Caliph and the Captain
• The Magicians of Pharaoh

Book VI

• Preface (in prose)
• Proem
• The Bird on the City-wall
• The temptation of Free-will
• The Hindu Slave and his Master’s daughter
• The Thief who put out the light
• The Story of Ayáz (continued)
• The Fowler and the Bird
• The Man whose Ram was stolen
• The Watchman who cried out after the Robbers had gone
• The Lover who fell asleep
• The Turkish Amír and the Minstrel
• ‘A’isha and the Blind Man
• “Die before ye die”
• A Poet’s rebuke to the Shí’ites of Aleppo
• Parable of the Ant
• The Man who gave the drum-call for breakfast at midnight
• The Story of Bilál
• The Story of Hilál
• The Horse that went backward
• Mohammed and Jesus
• The ugly old Hag who wanted a Husband
• The Dervish and the Man of Gílán
• The Beggar and the House where nothing could be got
• The Man who was desperately ill, and the Story of the Súfi and the Cadi
• Sultan Mahmud and the Hindú Boy
• The Turk and the Tailor
• The Fakir and the Hidden Treasure
• Shaykh Abu ‘l-Hasan Kharraqáni and his Disciple
• Man the vicegerent of God
• The Three Travellers and the sweetmeat
• The Camel, the Ox, and the Ram
• Dalqak and the King of Tirmid
• The Mouse and the Frog
• Sultan Mahmúd and the Night-thieves
• The Sea-cow and the Pearl
• ‘Abdu ‘l-Ghawth and the Peris
• The insolvent Dervish and the Police Inspector of Tabríz
• Ja’far-i Tayyár’s irresistible attack on a fortress
• Parable of the man who sees double
• The Khwárizmsháh and the beautiful Horse
• The imprisonment of Joseph
• The Three Princes who fell in love with the portrait of the Princess of China
• The Sadr-i Jahán of Bukhárá and the Jurist
• Story of two Brothers
• The King who forced a learned Doctor to drink wine with him
• Imra’u ‘l-Qays and the King of Tabúk
• The Man who dreamed of a Hidden Treasure
• The Cadi and the Wife of Júhí
• The Prophet and ‘Alí
• Hell and the true Believer
• The Story of Nimrod
• The miracles of Shaybán Rá’í
• The Man who left his property to the laziest of his three Sons
• Parable of the Child and the Bogle

References

• The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rumi, edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation and commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson, in 8 volumes, London: Messrs Luzac & Co., 1925-1940. Contains the text in Persian. First complete English translation of the Mathnawí.