This anthology contains stories drawn from the repertories of dervish masters going back more than a thousand years in Europe and the Islamic world.

Tales of the Dervishes is one of Idries Shah’s cornerstone collections of Sufi tales, fables and legends. For centuries dervish masters have instructed their disciples with these teaching-stories which are said to increase perception and knowledge and provide a better understanding of the human condition.

Shah spent years traveling in three continents to collect and compare the oral and manuscript versions of these remarkable parables — partly culled from Turkish, Persian and Arabic sources. Their true function, beyond sheer entertainment, as a metaphorical teaching instrument is so little-known in the modern world, that no popular terms exist to describe them.

Tales of the Dervishes offers a valuable postscript to each story, providing a brief account of its origin, use, and place in the tradition of Sufism.

‘An astonishingly generous and liberating book ... strikingly appropriate for our time and situation ... a jewel flung in the market-place.’

SUNDAY TIMES

‘Challenges our intellectual assumptions at almost every point.’

THE OBSERVER

‘A collection of diamonds…likely to endure in the manner of the Koran and the Bible.’

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

‘…equal, and sometimes surpass, in relevance, piquancy and humour the best of the spiritual and ethical teachers of the West.’

KIRKUS BOOKS

‘These teaching-tales could become a permanent part of the reader's experience.’

COUNTRY LIFE

‘Beautifully translated…equips men and women to make good use of their lives.’

THE NATION

Preface
The Three Fishes
The Food of Paradise
When the Waters Were Changed
The Tale of the Sands
The Blind Ones and the Matter of the Elephant
The Dog, the Stick and the Sufi
How to Catch Monkeys
The Ancient Coffer of Nuri Bey
The Three Truths
The Sultan Who Became an Exile
The Story of Fire
The Ogre and the Sufi
The Merchant and the Christian Dervish
The Golden Fortune
The Candlestick of Iron
Strike on This Spot
Why the Clay Birds Flew Away
The Gnat Namouss and the Elephant
The Idiot, the Wise Man and the Jug
The Wayward Princess
The Bequest
The Oath
The Idiot in the Great City
The Founding of a Tradition
Fatima the Spinner and the Tent
The Gates of Paradise
The Man Who Was Aware of Death
The Man Who Was Easily Angered
The Dog and the Donkey
Carrying Shoes
The Man Who Walked on Water
The Ant and the Dragonfly
The Story of Tea
The King Who Decided to Be Generous
The Cure of Human Blood
The Dam
The Three Dervishes
The Four Magic Treasures
The Dreams and the Loaf of Bread
Bread and Jewels
The Limitations of Dogma
The Fisherman and the Genie
The Time, the Place and the People
The Parable of the Three Domains
Valuable—and Worthless
The Bird and the Egg
Three Pieces of Advice
The Mountain Path
The Snake and the Peacock
The Water of Paradise
The Horseman and the Snake
Isa and the Doubters
In the Street of the Perfume-Sellers
The Parable of the Greedy Sons
The Nature of Discipleship
The Initiation of Malik Dinar
The Idiot and the Browsing Camel
The Three Jewelled Rings
The Man with the Inexplicable Life
The Man Whose Time Was Wrong
Maruf the Cobbler
Wisdom for Sale
The King and the Poor Boy
The Three Teachers and the Muleteers
Bayazid and the Selfish Man
The People Who Attain
Wayfarer, Strangeness and Savetime
Timur Agha and the Speech of Animals
The Indian Bird
When Death Came to Baghdad
The Grammarian and the Dervish
The Dervish and the Princess
The Increasing of Necessity
The Man Who Looked Only at the Obvious
How Knowledge Was Earned
The Lamp Shop
The Chariot
The Lame Man and the Blind Man
The Servants and the House
The Generous Man
The Host and the Guests
The King’s Son
Appendix
Authors and teachers, in chronological order

This book contains stories from the teachings of Sufi masters and schools, recorded during the past thousand years.

The material has been collected from Persian, Arabic, Turkish and other classics; from traditional teaching story collections, and from oral sources which include contemporary Sufi teaching centres.It therefore represents ‘work material’ in current use as well as significant quotations from literature which has inspired some of the greatest Sufis of the past.

Teaching material used by Sufis has always been judged solely by the criterion of its general acceptance by Sufis themselves. For this reason no historical, literary or other conventional test can be applied in deciding as to what may be included and what left out.

In accordance with the local culture, the audience and the requirements of the Teaching, Sufis have traditionally made use of appropriate selections from their unparalleled riches of transmitted lore.

In Sufi circles, it is customary for students to soak themselves in stories set for their study, so that the internal dimensions may be unlocked by the teaching master as and when the candidate is judged ready for the experiences which they bring.
At the same time, many Sufi tales have passed into folklore, or ethical teachings, or crept into biographies. Many of them provide nutrition on many levels, and their value as entertainment-pieces alone cannot be denied.

From Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah
Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah

Idries Shah was born in India in 1924 into an aristocratic Afghan family. He was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition and is considered one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.

Shah devoted his life to collecting, translating and adapting key works of Sufi classical literature for the needs of the West. Called by some 'practical philosophy' - these works represent centuries of Sufi and Islamic thought aimed at developing human potential. His best-known works include the seminal book The Sufis, several collections of teaching stories featuring the ‘wise fool’ Nasrudin, Reflections and Knowing How to Know.

Shah's corpus - over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and cultural studies - have been translated into two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. They are regarded as an important bridge between the cultures of East and West.