Ages 12 years & over. A collection of stories from Rumi's classic opus The Mathnawi, this astounding compilation of over 24,000 verses is carefully adapted for younger audiences. Best known for his spiritual poetry and the whirling dance of sufi practice he inspired, Rumi's influence continues to spread around the world.

Philip Pullman, author of 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, has remarked that "after nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world." This new collection of Rumi stories fills that need. This fresh prose translation of 105 short teaching stories by Rumi, which form the core of the six-volume Masnavi, explores the hidden spiritual aspects of everyday experience. Rumi transforms the seemingly mundane events of daily life into profound Sufi teaching moments. These prose gems open the mystical portal to the world of the ancient mystic. These stories include well-known and popular tales such as "Angel of Death," "The Sufi and His Cheating Wife," "Moses and the Shepherd," "Chickpeas," and "The Greek and Chinese Painters" as well as the less commonly quoted parables: "The Basket Weaver," "The Mud Eater," and "A Sackful of Pebbles." Rumi's voice alternates between playful and authoritative, whether he is telling stories of ordinary lives or inviting the discerning reader to higher levels of introspection and attainment of transcendent values. Mafi's translations delicately reflect the nuances of Rumi's poetry while retaining the positive tone of all of Rumi's writings, as well as the sense of suspense and drama that mark the essence of the Masnavi.

Retold in award-winning writer Kamla K. Kapur’s elegant, flowing language, Rumi’s tales of wisdom and humanity are given fresh life in this modern masterpiece. Rumi: Tales of the Spirit is a sweet, comforting, and at times, fiery guide to nourishing the spirit. In a hopeful but pragmatic tone, timeless storyteller Rumi and award-winning author and playwright Kamla Kapur guide us through the trials of life and teach us to embrace suffering, to pray even when it feels hopeless, and ultimately, to surrender to the cosmic will. In twelve fresh and powerful tales of wisdom, we learn to trust in ourselves and in the universe, experience joy in good times and bad, and find the strength to persevere through life’s struggles. Kapur has been studying Rumi for twenty years. Through her detailed analysis of his life and work and her own understanding of the human condition and the present-day literary scene, Kapur brings new life to these centuries-old stories while staying true to their roots in Rumi’s time and place. These retellings convey Rumi’s deep insight on the human condition and bring to light the vast and subtle meanings of his stories that are often lost in translation. Through this work, we see that people around the world and across time have always been connected by the hopes, dreams, and inner struggles that make up the human experience. Personal, poignant, and woven with fierce passion for life and the divine, Rumi: Tales of the Spirit will leave you with heart-wrenching gratitude for life’s trials and gifts.

Rowdy, ecstatic, and sometimes stern, these teaching stories and fables reveal new and very human properties in Rumi's vision. Included here are the notorious "Latin parts" that Reynold Nicholson felt were too unseemly to appear in English in his 1920s translation. For Rumi, anything that human beings do--however compulsive--affords a glimpse into the inner life. Here are more than 40 fables or teaching stories that deal with love, laughter, death, betrayal, and the soul. The stories are exuberant, earthy, and bursting with vitality--much like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The characters are guilty, lecherous, tricky, ribald, and finally possessors of opened souls. Barks writes: "These teaching stories are a kind of scrimshaw--intricately carved, busy figures, confused and threatening, and weirdly funny. This is an entertaining collection from one of the greatest spiritual poets of all time, rendered by his most popular translator. "The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."--Rumi

The 13th century Sufi poet Rumi traveled in a landscape divided between the Persian and Byzantine empires, and his works express the passions, fables, and faith of both worlds. In this book, Rumi enthusiast Kamla Kapur reworks some of his writings into 30 tales of wit, wisdom, and faith. The basis for her stories is Reynold A. Nicholson’s translation of Rumi’s six-volume Mathnawi, an epic mystical poem of more than 25,000 verses. Kapur brings this dense, intimidating work into a far more readable form, putting her own spin on the stories yet remaining true to Rumi’s vision. In charming tales such as “The Witch of Kabul” and “Moses Learns a Lesson,” she brings Rumi’s verses to life as clever fables. Pilgrimage to Paradise gives readers one of Persia’s greatest literary treasures in an accessible form that enlightens as it entertains.

On his way from Tangiers to China, the medieval Moorish traveller Ibn Battuta arrives in Konya, Turkey where the legendary dervish Rumi had lived, danced and died. More than half a century may have passed since his death, but his poetry remains alive, inscribed in every stone and tree and pathway. Rumi’s followers entrust Ibn Battuta with a manuscript of his life stories to spread word of the mystic on his travels. As Battuta reads and recites these tales, his listeners discover their own lives reflected in these stories—fate has bound them, and perhaps you, to Rumi. A Mirrored Life reaffirms the magical powers of storytelling, making us find Rumi in each of our hearts.

The Masnavi of Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), a massive poem of some 25,000 rhyming couplets, by common consent ranks among the world's greatest masterpieces of religious literature. The material which makes up the Masnavi is divisible into two different categories: theoretical discussion of the principal themes of Sufi mystical life and doctrine, and stories of fables intended to illustrarte those themes as they arise. This selection of tales is the most accessible introduction to this giant epic for the non-perisan reader.

In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick), incarnates Rumi's timeless message of love The Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz—that together explore the enduring power of Rumi's work. Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mir­rors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.

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