Art of listening

The Language of the Ass Sage Saadi, of Shiraz, was walking along a street with his disciple when he saw a man trying to get his mule to start walking. When the animal refused to budge, the man began to insult him with the worst words he knew.

“Do not be silly”, said Saadi, “The donkey will never learn your language. It is best to soothe him, and begin to learn his language”.

Before walking away, Saadi said to the man, “Before entering into a fight with an ass, be it animal or human, think of what just happened”.

The Horn That Drove Away the Tigers

A man came to a village with a mysterious horn that had red and yellow cloth, glass beads and animal bones dangling from it.

“This is a horn that will make the tigers go away”, said the man, “As of today, for a modest daily fee, I’ll play every morning, and you will never be devoured by these terrible animals again”.

The villagers, terrified by the threat of attack by a wild animal, agreed to pay what the newcomer asked.

As the many years passed, the owner of the horn became rich and built a beautiful castle for himself. One morning, a young man who was walking past, asked who owned the castle. Upon hearing the story of the man with the horn, he decided to go there to talk to the man himself.

“I heard that you have a horn that drives away tigers”, the boy said, “But it turns out that there are no tigers in our country to drive away”.

The man summoned all the villagers to come to his castle immediately, and once they had gathered, he asked the boy to repeat what he had said.

“Did you hear exactly what he said?” shouted the man to the villagers as soon as the boy was finished, “This is the irrefutable proof of the power of my horn!”

Understanding Silence

In a desert of Africa, a master and his disciple were walking. When night fell, the two set up a tent, and lay down to rest.
“What silence!” said the disciple.
“Never say, ‘what silence!’”, replied the master, “Instead, always say ‘I’m not able to listen to nature’”.

Matisse and Renoir

The painter Henri Matisse has been visiting the great Renoir weekly at his studio since he was a young boy. When Renoir was attacked by arthritis, Matisse began go visit him daily to deliver food, brushes and paints, always trying to convince the master that he was an artist, too.

One day, noting that every stroke made Renoir groan in pain, Matisse could not contain himself and said, “Grand Master, your work is already vast and important. Why keep torturing yourself like this?”
“Very simple. The beauty remains”, Renoir answered him, “the pain passes”.

© Translated by Michelle Artimez