تفسير و تاويل نخستين داستان مثنوي

An Allegorical Commentary on the First Story of Masnavi Maulavi

The story about "the Shah And Slave Girl" in the first part of "Masnavi" is a perfect allegory through Maulavi shows human spiritual revolution as prophets and saints educate. The story is briefly as fallows. There was a religious king who was going to hunt and by chance he saw a pretty slave girl in the throughway and fell in love with her. Therefore, he bought the girl but immediately she became ill. So, the king gathered all the physicians to remedy the illness, but they were unable to do that. When the king understood their inability, he went to a place of worship and in the capacity of a weak person he prayed and asked help from the Merciful God: While he was crying he fell asleep and saw in his dream that an old sage came and promised that "if an old saint comes to you tomorrow he would be a holly-blessed saint and the best physician for your patient". Next day the holly sage came and visited the sick girl; and after the necessary examinations, he said that there was not any sickness with her body but she has fallen in love with someoneʹ and demonstrated that her beloved is a goldsmith who lives in Samarqand city. Then he commanded the king that ʹhe had to invite the goldsmith by some deceit. The sageʹs order was done and the girl with her beloved had a happy life for six months. After that time ʹthe holly sage made some poisoned sherbetʹ and ordered the young goldsmith to drink it. Then the girlʹs beloved became ugly and gradually went to be ill looking and little by little passed away. As soon as he died, the fire of love extinguished in girlʹs heart and the patient was cured and healed. This essay attempts to show that the story is an allegory and needs a hermeneutic interpretation.