Beware How Highly You Think of Yourself

With all the self-help gurus running around these days, you'd think the most common problem we have is a lack of self-esteem. While that may be true, we also suffer from the opposite end of the spectrum in thinking far too much of ourselves. That is, we often feel like we deserve more than what we have, that other people should treat us with deference, and that the world should revolve around OUR axis. If you do, rest assured that there will be someone who will set out to humble you (and most likely succeed). So we learn in this wonderful tale from Iraq.

The Khalifa (or Caliph) was walking through the city of Bagdad one winter's day with one of his ministers. This minister was very wise, and often put on airs because of it. Though the Khalifa valued his wisdom, we was often annoyed at the minister's treatement of others. As the two walked by the river, they came across a fuller (a person who makes cloth full or fluffy) beting a sheepskin in the water. The Khalifa stopped at the fuller and asked, "You have twelve, do you need these three?" The fuller responded, "For the sake of the thirty and two." The minister looked confused, not just at the question, but at the response. The Khalifa noticed his minister and continued by asking the fuller, "How is the far?" "It is now near," the fuller responded. The minister looked even more confused at this and the Khalifa continued. "If I send you a goose, will you pluck it for me?" "I will pluck its feathers and return it to you," the fuller answered simply. The Khalifa nodded and then moved off. After a short while, the Khalifa turned to his minister and asked if he understood what the two had said. The minister honestly admitted that he had not. "I give you three hours to determine the riddle," the Khalifa said sternly. "If you have not discovered it by then, I shall cut off your head." The minister bowed and left the Khalifa. The first place he went was to his home where he gathered up a large bag of gold coins and headed back to the fuller. When he arrived, he told the fuller that he would like to ask him some questions. The fuller responded that he would answer the questions the minister had for one hundred gold coins each. The minister accepted the terms, responding that the loss of coins was better than the loss of his head. Then he asked what the Khalifa had meant with the twelve and three. The fuller first asked for the hundred coins, then replied, "The Khalifa said there are twelve months in the year, do I also need to work during these three winter months? I responded that for the sake of my teeth I did, for if I do not work, I not eat." The minister nodded, but the answer to the first question put him nowhere near the answer to the second, so he asked what was meant by the near and far exchange. The fuller asked for the next hundred gold coins then answered, "The Khalifa asked how my vision was. When I was young I could see clearly far, but now I can only see clearly that which is near." The minister nodded again. Still, he could not guess the third part of the riddle and asked the fuller. To this the fuller responded that he must have all the gold that the minister had left. The minister handed over the bag with the last of his gold coins. "The goose is you," the fuller responded, "and now that I have thoroughly plucked you, you may return to the Khalifa." The minister, shamed and humbled, left the fuller and returned to the Khalifa a wiser and better man.

It's important to keep in mind, as this Iraqi tale tells us, that there is nothing wrong with being wise or clever. All three men in the tale are that. However, the warning comes that putting yourself above others by virtue of some trait you possess (cleverness, strength, wealth, etc.) is a fault, a fault that others will resent, and a fault that one day someone will come along and humble you with.

Have a question you want to ask? Send me an email and I'll be happy to find you an answer in folktales!