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Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
Jelāl was once standing at the edge of the moat round the city of Qonya, when a company of students, undergraduates of one of the colleges in the neighbourhood, seeing him, agreed to try him by asking the question: “Of what colour was the dog of the Seven Sleepers?”
Jelāl’s immediate, unpremeditated answer was: “Yellow. A lover is always yellow (sallow); as am I; and that dog was a lover.” The students bowed to him, and all became disciples.