Once, the city of Baghdad was hit by a major catastrophe. The water bodies of the city were contaminated with dirty water which was making the city's people very sick. It was decided that an old gentleman called Asif will carry water for the city's people on his donkey cart. Asif used to go from house to house with his water cart and supply water to each and every household.
His donkey's name was Mahtab. Poor donkey was tired of carrying very heavy weight of water everyday for over a month now and his back was bent with all the burden. Since it was an emergency and Asif was the only water courier, he was hard pressed for time. Asif used to beat Mahtab mercilessly with his whip the minute the poor donkey slowed down. Mahtab's back now had deep wounds. Mahtab, who used to be loyal and jovial earlier, now wished that death may come soon and free him from this endless suffering.
Once when Asif was on one of his rounds, he met Karim who was one of Asif's old friend. Karim used to attend to the Sultan's horses in the royal stable. He saw the sorry state of the donkey and had pity on him. He asked Asif, " Why does this poor donkey look so spent?"
Asif replied, " Its not his fault. He looks like this as he does back breaking work with very little food. I can't feed him much as my income is low.
Karim offered to take Mahtab to the royal stables and let him eat properly and rest for some time.
Asif couldn't be happier. He immediately accepted the offer and left his donkey with Karim hoping that Mahtab will recover his strength. Soon Mahtab found himself in the middle of strong Arabian horses. And in no time he understood that he was much weaker and inferior to these wonderful and powerful horses that surrounded him. And he became disheartened and turned to GOD.
"Even though I am a donkey, I am one of your creations GOD. Why should there be so much difference between these four legged relatives of mine and me? why should I carry so much burden and cry in pain in the night while these horses can rest in this comfortable stable? Why should I go hungry most of the times when these horses have so much food to eat? Why should I suffer so much? Why is it that these horses live in so much luxury and I live in so much misery?" sobbed Mahtab.
The donkey kept crying for a long time. He wished that death would come upon him soon and he is free from all this misery. All of a sudden, he heard a loud war trumpet blazing outside. It was soon clear that the Persians had attacked Baghdad and the city was under siege. Soon the royal soldiers rushed in to the stable and galloped away on their war trained horses. Mahtab was the only one left in the stable.
The next morning, the horses started to return to the stable one by one. A lot of them were grievously injured with cuts on their legs and some with arrows stuck on them. They were crying in pain. One horse who had a large cut on his leg came close to Mahtab and collapsed right next to him. Soon the royal servants started tending to the horses with medicines and bandages.
Seeing this was an eye opener for Mahtab. He immediately bowed down before the GOD and started praying. " O divine master, Please forgive me for my rambling earlier. I am happy with my misery, atleast I am safe. I will happily exchange this comfort of stable for my drudgery in the earlier days. Please let me go back to my master."
The donkey was relieved to be back with his cruel owner next week.
The END
Learnings
1.As we all have learnt, the grass is always greener on the other side. The donkey is jealous of the royal life of the horses not knowing that the horses were exposed to war and death regularly.
2. The donkey's master Asif appears very cruel to Mahtab but Asif himself does not have many options. He happily sent his donkey with Karim knowing fully well that Mahtab could do with some rest. How many of us can correlate this story with their situations in office?
3. What is fair and what is unfair is a matter of perspective. As long we live our lives with a strong belief that the divine works with precise logic and justice, we can avoid a lot of frustrations and drama in our daily lives. We may not be able be to understand the reason for everything that happens to us at , but having the faith in HIM will help us carry on.
4. Sometimes not getting/ being something/somebody may also turn out to be a blessing. The donkey is happy to suffer with his cruel master Asif rather than die in the war. So Sometimes living a 'commoner' life may also be a blessing. Think about it!
STORY CREDIT: This story has its source in the six volumes of Masnavi by Jalalu'din Rumi, translated by Maryam Mafi
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