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The Mathnawi story of the Lion of no parts – a poetic version by
Barks and a literal translation from Nicholson
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In Qazwin, they have a custom of tattooing themselves
for good luck, with a blue ink, on the back
of the hand, the shoulder, wherever.
A certain man goes to his barber
and asks to be given a powerful, heroic, blue lion
on his shoulder blade. "And do it with flair!
I've got Leo ascending. I want plenty of blue!"
But as soon as the needle starts pricking,
he howls,
"What are you doing?"
"The lion."
"Which limb did you start with?"
"I began with the tail."
"Well, leave out the tail. That lion's rump
is in a bad place for me. It cuts off my wind."
The barber continues, and immediately
the man yells out,
"Ooooooooo! Which part now?"
"The ear."
"Doc, let's do a lion with no ears this time."
The barber shakes his head, and once more the needle,
and once more the wailing,
"Where are you now?"
"The belly."
"I like a lion without a belly."
The master lion-maker
stands for a long time with his fingers in his teeth.
Finally he throws the needle down.
"No one has ever
been asked to do such a thing! To create a lion
without a tail or a head or a stomach.
God himself could not do it!"
Brother, stand the pain.
Escape the poison of your impulses.
The sky will bow to your beauty, if you do.
Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun.
Turn away from the cave of your sleeping.
That way a thorn expands to a rose.
A particular glows with the universal.
What is it to praise?
Make yourself particles.
What is it to know something of God?
Burn inside that presence. Burn up.
Copper melts in the healing elixir.
So melt yourself in the mixture
that sustains existence.
You tighten your two hands together,
determined not to give up saying "I" and "we."
This tightening blocks you.
-- Mathnawi I: 2981-3021
Poetic version by Coleman Barks
(Derived from Nicholson's translation)
"The Essential Rumi"
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995
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***How the man of Qazwin was tattooing the figure of
a lion in blue on his shoulders, and (then) repenting
because of the (pain of the) needle-pricks.***
Hear from the narrator this story about the way and custom
of the people of Qazwin.
They tattoo themselves in blue with the point of a
needle on body and hand and shoulders, so as to suffer no
injury.
A certain man of Qazwin went to a barber and said, "Tattoo
me (and) do it charmingly (artistically)."
"O valiant sir," said he, "what figure shall I tattoo?" He
answered, "Prick in the figure of a furious lion.
Leo is my ascendant: tattoo the form of a lion. Exert your-
self, prick in plenty of the blue dye."
"On what place," he asked, "shall I tattoo you? Said he,
"Prick the design of the beauty* on my shoulder-blade."
As soon as he began to stick in the needle, the pain of it
settled in the shoulder,
And the hero fell a-moaning--"O illustrious one, you have
killed me: what figure are you tattooing?"
"Why," said he, "you bade me do a lion," "What limb (of
the lion)," asked the other, "did you begin with?"
"I have begun at the tail," said he. "O my dear friend*,
he cried, "leave out the tail!
My breath is stopped by the lion's tail and rump: his rump
has tightly closed (choked) my windpipe.
Let the lion be without a tail, O lion-maker for my heart
is faint from the blows of the prong (the tattooer's needle)."
That person commenced to prick in (the blue) on another
part (of the man's shoulder) without fear, without favour,
without mercy.
He yelled--"Which of his members is this?" "This is his
ear, my good man," the barber replied.
"O Doctor," said he, "let him have no ears: omit the ears
and cut the frock short."
The barber began to insert (his needle) in another part: once
more the man of Qazwin set out to wail,
Saying, "What is the member (you are pricking in) now on
this third spot?" He replied, "This is the lion's belly, my dear
sir."
"Let the lion have no belly," said he: "what need of a belly
for the picture that is (already) sated*?"
The barber became distraught and remained in great be-
wilderment: he stood for a long time with his fingers in his
teeth;
Then the master flung the needle to the ground and said,
"Has this happened to anyone in the world?
Who (ever) saw a lion without a tail and head and belly? God
himself did not create a lion like this."
O brother, endure the pain of the lancet, that you may escape
from the poison of your miscreant self (nafs),
For sky and sun and moon bow in worship to the people who
have escaped from self-existence.
Anyone in whose body the miscreant self has died, sun and
cloud obey his command.
Since his heart has learned to light the candle (of spiritual
knowledge and love), the sun cannot burn him.
God hath made mention of the rising sun as turning aside--
like that*--from their cave.
The thorn becomes entirely beautiful, like the rose, in the
sight of the particular that is going towards the Universal.
What is (the meaning of) to exalt and glorify God? To deem
yourself despicable and (worthless) as dust.
What is (the meaning of) to learn the knowledge of God's
unity? To consume yourself in the presence of the One.
If you wish to shine like day, burn up your night-like self-
existence.
Melt away your existence, as copper (melts away) in the
elixir, in the being of Him who fosters (and sustains) existence.
You have fastened both your hands tight on (are determined
not to give up) "I" and "we": all this (spiritual) ruin is caused
by dualism*.
-- Mathnawi I: 2981 - 3021
Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson
"The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi"
E.J.W. Gibb Memorial, 1990
* "The beauty": literally, "idol".
* "O my dear friend": literally "O my two eyes."
* "The picture that is already sated": I.e., "It has already
imbibed as much of the blue dye as I can bear."
* "Turning aside like that": I.e., "towards the right hand,"
as stated in Qur'an, XVIII, 16.
* "Dualism": literally, "by two existents."
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