#nasrudin

[maryfranlmes]

The porcelain I painted a while back

[stellastra-scribbles]

N'es-R'din

[idriesshah]

[tygerbug]

Once in his travels, Nasrudin came upon a magic show. It was hot outside and admission was free, so he entered the theater and sat down. The magician appeared in a puff of swirling, multicolored smoke. "I am the Great Aldini!" he said. "A magician, and a sorcerer too! I am, as you will shortly see, the greatest sorcerer who ever lived!" The audience laughed. The magician was old, and his shabby coat had seen better days. "I see a lot of familiar faces," he said. "Is there anyone in the audience who is not a magician?" The audience laughed. Nasrudin was not a magician, but he felt that raising his hand would be rude. "Just get on it with it, old man," shouted a man sitting next to Nasrudin. The audience laughed. The magician laughed too. At least he had a sense of humor about himself. Nasrudin had seen other magic shows, and they were very much like this one. Perhaps, thought Nasrudin, this was the man who taught all those other magicians. The magician must have been a great teacher, thought Nasrudin, because he did almost nothing in his act that Nasrudin had not seen before. But what the magician did, he did beautifully. There was a sparkle in his eye and he moved and acted like a much younger man. While the men in the audience laughed and jeered and booed him, the children were dazzled. They thought they were witnessing real live magic, from a real live sorcerer. How sad, Nasrudin thought to himself. The children are too young to have seen all of this before. But they are still young, thought Nasrudin. They have time to learn how to be less amazed. The Great Aldini called a man out of the audience, and told him to choose from a deck of playing cards. Aldini then launched the deck of cards into the air, where they flew gracefully, as if they were alive. Nasrudin knew this was impossible, so he decided not to be entertained by it. "Is this your card?" asked the Great Aldini. The children cheered as the older men booed. The loud man sitting next to Nasrudin said, "The man from the audience is his son, or his daughter, or his friend. It's an easy trick. He'll never be as great as Master Zappo." The Great Aldini did a trick with three golden balls. His hands moving like lightning, he made the balls appear and disappear, and finally released from the largest of them an Arabian dove, who flew out over the audience. The children cheered as the older men booed. The loud man sitting next to Nasrudin said, "It's done with wires, concealed in his sleeves. He's got a dozen balls stashed in there. An easy trick. He'll never be as great as Master Zappo." The Great Aldini wheeled out a box and did a trick with a rabbit. He made the animal appear and disappear before pulling it out of his stovepipe hat. The children cheered as the older men booed. The loud man sitting next to Nasrudin said, "It's done with three rabbits, hiding in the hat and hiding in the box. The oldest trick of all. He'll never be as great as Master Zappo." "You may know me as a teacher," said the Great Aldini, "but I was once a student of the great Master Zappo, who died so many years ago." A hush fell over the audience, as if the magician had committed a crime by even saying the name of the old master. "I still am a student," said the magician, "even at my advanced age, and I have worked all my life to try to be as great as he was." The audience laughed. "This was his greatest trick," said the magician, "and the one I could never master. I can do about half of what he could, but I think that's enough." The Great Aldini raised his arms, his long coat trailing behind him like the wings of a bird. He flapped his arms a few times, as if he were trying to fly. He huffed and puffed and breathed heavily with the effort. The audience laughed. And then he flew, flapping his arms like the wings of a bird, and flying in spirals out over the audience, spinning and twirling. No one laughed. And then he stopped, hovering over an old woman in the audience. He reached out his hand and she took it. He lifted her up and they embraced, and then danced a slow and old-fashioned dance, hovering in the air while turning slowly. Nasrudin had never seen anything quite so beautiful, which of course meant there must be some trick to it, and that this was all very stupid and fake. After the show, when everyone else had left, Nasrudin stayed behind to talk to the magician, who was packing up his things. Three rabbits, as the man in the audience had said. Two doves and a dozen golden balls. "That was a very good trick," said Nasrudin. "You must have been a very good teacher." The Great Aldini smiled. "I became a teacher when people stopped paying to come to my shows. I think I taught magic to every man in that audience. But I haven't performed like this in a very long time. I think this was my last show." "Were you really a student of the Great Master Zappo?" asked Nasrudin. Nasrudin had never heard the name before, but he must have been very great indeed. "I wasn't," said the magician. "I'm a liar, a hustler and a fraud. Zappo had no students. I studied his act. I watched him perform a hundred times. But I never could figure out all his tricks. He ended every show by rising into the air and flying." "All done with wires, of course," said Nasrudin, because that's what the loud man next to him would have said. "Of course," said the magician, "But I could never recreate the method. It's the greatest regret of my life." "So how did you perform the trick?" asked Nasrudin. "With wires," said the Great Aldini. "At least at first. For ten years I performed the trick with wires in my coat like Master Zappo had, but it was never as good as he was, and never as good as it needed to be. I learned, in the end, that it was easier to simply learn how to fly." Nasrudin didn't understand, but the magician's wife now entered from behind the curtain. It was time for the magician to leave. "Like I said," said the magician, "I'm a liar, a hustler and a fraud. I hope you enjoyed my little show." And Nasrudin watched as The Great Aldini took his wife's hand and flew away, twirling and soaring over the golden city until they vanished into the clouds. Nasrudin thought to himself that he had never seen anything quite so beautiful, which meant, of course, that what he had just seen was something very dull and ordinary, and that he shouldn't spend any more time thinking about it. "What a wonderful teacher he must have been," thought Nasrudin, "in order to become so very ordinary." RIP Richard Williams.

[philipchircop]

MEMENTO

Once, someone requested of Mulla Nasrudin: “Give me your ring as a memento, so that whenever I look at it I will remember you.”

Mulla replied: “You cannot have the ring. But whenever you want to remember me, just look at your finger and remember that I did not give you the ring!”

Source: Houman Farzad Classic Tales of Mulla Nasreddin Mazda Pub, 2015

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[fundacionidriesshah]

Una mujer extraordinaria

Nasrudín llegó en la mitad de la noche a su casa después de un largo viaje. Al entrar en la cocina encontró la estufa fría y las alacenas vacías. Despertó a su mujer y le anunció su regreso. “Es tarde. ¿Te gustaría algo de beber algo antes de dormir?”, le preguntó su esposa, frotándose los ojos. “¡Qué tesoro de mujer eres!”, exclamó Nasrudín. “La mayoría de las esposas correría por todas partes preguntándose cómo encontrar a estas horas los ingredientes para un estofado. Pero también estás dispuesta a ofrecerme té”.

El mundo de Nasrudín Puedes leer más cuentos como este, aquí: http://idriesshahfoundation.org/es/libros/el-mundo-de-nasrudin/

[laurabarrettblog]

The World of Nasrudin: Book covers

Last year I got to work on a second set of book covers for the Idries Shah Foundation. The first series, The World Tales, originally collected and published by the scholar in 1979 were republished 2 years ago in a limited edition by the foundation.

As the books were collections of folk tales from around the world and rich in imagery, I was in my element so I was delighted to be asked to illustrate the covers for Shah’s Mulla Nasrudin series too.

Nasrudin is a wonderfully wise fool of Eastern folklore, and the tales left me giggling to myself on the tube whilst reading them! Originally illustrated by the fantastic Richard Williams (animator of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and many others), my new designs had a lot to live up to, and I really hope I’ve done this much loved character justice. The new covers feature beautiful metallic foiling. Here’s a peek at the inside dustjackets.

[stellastra-scribbles]

kids these days istg...