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The Importance of Gourdcrafting
There was a maidservant
who had cleverly trained a donkey
to perform the services of a man.
From a gourd,
she had carved a flanged device
to fit on the donkey's penis, to keep him
from going too far into her.
She had fashioned it just to the point
for her pleasure, and she greatly enjoyed
the arrangement, as often as she could!
She thrived, but the donkey was getting
a little thin and tired-looking.
The mistress began to investigate. One day
she peeked through a crack in the door
and saw the animal's marvelous member
and the delight of the girl
stretched under the donkey.
She said nothing. Later, she knocked on the door
and called the maid out on a errand,
a long and complicated errand.
I won't go into details.
The servant knew what was happening, though.
"Ah, my mistress," she thought to herself,
"you should not send away the expert.
When you begin to work without full knowledge,
you risk your life. Your shame keeps you
from asking me about the gourd, but you must
have that to join with this donkey.
There's a trick you don't know!"
But the woman was too fascinated with her idea
to consider any danger. She led the donkey in
and closed the door, thinking, "With no one around
I can shout in my pleasure."
She was dizzy
with anticipation, her vagina glowing
and singing like a nightingale.
She arranged the chair under the donkey,
as she had seen the girl do. She raised her legs
and pulled him into her.
Her fire kindled more,
and the donkey politely pushed as she urged him to,
pushed through and into her intestines,
and without a word, she died.
The chair fell one way,
and she the other.
The room was smeared with blood.
Reader,
have you ever seen anyone martyred
for a donkey? Remember what the Qur'an says
about the torment of disgracing yourself.
If you die of what that leads you to do,
you are just like this woman on the floor,
She is an image of immoderation.
Remember her,
and keep your balance.
The maidservant returns and says, "Yes, you saw
my pleasure, but you didn't see the gourd
that put a limit on it. You opened
your shop before a Master
taught you the craft."
-- Mathanawi V: 1333-1405
Version by Coleman Barks
The Essential Rumi
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995
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