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Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
While Sultan Veled was yet a child, his father, Jelālu-’d-Dīn, was once discoursing on the miracle of the rod of Moses, which swallowed up the rods and other engines of Pharaoh’s magicians, related to have been in such quantities as to form seventy camel-loads, and yet that staff became no thicker or longer than before.
Turning to Sultan Veled, his father asked how this could be, and to what it could be likened for the sake of illustration.
The child at once replied: “In a very dark night, if a lighted taper be brought into a large room or hall, it instantly devours all the darkness, and yet remains a little taper.”
Jelāl jumped up from his seat, ran to his son, took the child to his bosom, kissed him with effusion, and then said: “May God bless thee, my child! Verily, thou hast strung a pearl of the very first water on the string of illustration.”