The Prince and the Handmaid

A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair maiden and, by promises of gold, induced her to accompany him. After a time, she fell sick, and the prince had her tended by various physicians. However, as they all omitted to say, “God willing, we will cure her,” their efforts were of no avail. So the prince offered a prayer, and in answer, a physician was sent from heaven. He at once condemned his predecessors’ view of the case and, by a very skillful diagnosis, discovered that the real cause of the maiden’s illness was her love for a certain goldsmith of Samarcand. In accordance with the physician’s advice, the prince sent to Samarcand, fetched the goldsmith, and married him to the lovesick maiden. For six months, the pair lived together in the utmost harmony and happiness. At the end of that period, the physician, by divine command, gave the goldsmith a poisonous draught, which caused his strength and beauty to decay. He then lost favour with the maiden, and she was reunited with the king. This divine command was precisely similar to God’s command to Abraham to slay his son Ishmael and to the act of the angel in slaying the servant of Moses, beyond human criticism.

-Masnavi, Maulana Rumi