Dec. 23, 1823 - Clement Moore's "Visit from Saint Nicholas" 1st. published

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FROM: Dogs and Madmen:

Stories from the Sufi Tradition

By Tom McClellan

(with F. E. Abernathy)

Reprinted from The Bounty of Texas

(a Texas Folklore Society Annual)

THE SUFI constitute a mystical tradition affiliated with Islam. Although Sufis claim to he carriers of sacred knowledge originating among the prophet Mohammed's inner circle about 600 A.1)., Sufism had its formal beginning two hundred years later. The movement developed as a reaction against growing formalism in the Islamic religion and the luxury and laxity that beset it during the spread of the Islamic Empire.

The objective of the Sufi was the perfection of the individual and a union with Allah. These goals were pursued by developing discipline over body and mind and practicing love for one's fellow man.

The knowledge and ways of Sufism were transmitted orally and informally from masters to disciples through direct teachings. Sufism was also transmitted informally and indirectly in parables or stories, such as those below, and in such poems as those found in the quatrains of Omar Khayyam.

Although the traditional folk tales were long existent only in the oral tradition, the publication of Idries Shah's "The Way of the Sufi" Octagon Press, Ltd.,1980) made a number of them available to the public. The story below is an idiomatic recasting of a story from Shah's book.

A CERTAIN Master was once asked what first inspired him to seek the Way. "It began with a dog," he said.

"One spring of my youth was particularly cheerless. Though lovers walked with one another's love and flowers burst from red-green

branches, I found no pleasure, no renewal, only anguish.

"I found a park with a pond and rested, hoping the peace of the calm water would enter my tormented soul. Then a dog arrived, a sorry sight. His hide was scarred by mange; his tongue was thirst-swollen. Every rib announced the extremity of his condition.

"The dog approached the pond but was frightened by his own reflection. He yelped and ran a little way. Then his thirst drew him back just as surely as his reflection frightened him again, so he snarled and whimpered and withdrew, scrawny tail trailing between ankles. Then, again, victim of his need, he approached, and, victim of his fear, shrank away.

"And so continued approaching and retreating, until only enough energy remained in him to crawl one last time to the brink, gather himself shuddering with terror, and, finally leap with a blood-freezing howl into that which he most feared.

"Of course, he shattered his reflection, and drank and drank and drank and drank, yes, and enjoyed the bath as well.

"Need I say, beloved disciple, that in the plight of that pathetic cur I saw the image of my own unhappy state. Thus, I was inspired to seek salvation, by observing a thirsty dog.

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