Wikijunior:Stories/Quarreling Over Names

Grape

Back in the thirteenth century in the city of Konya in Anatolia, a man gave four persons a silver coin. The first one who was a Persian said, "I will give this for buying some angur".

The second one who was an Arab said, "No! I want inab, not angur, you deceitful!"

The third one who was a Turk said, "No! I don't want inab. I want üzüm!"

The fourth one who was a Greek said, "Quit all this talk! I want staphyle!".

Soon a fighting erupted among the four men. They were striking at each other with their fists, while being ignorant of the hidden meaning of the names.

Then a master, with knowledge of numerous languages, arrived and gave them a cluster of grape. "By means of this one silver coin, I granted the wishes of all of you. Your one coin became like four coins. Four enemies became as one from unity".

The opposition among people takes place because of names. Peace occurs when they look at the underlying meaning.

Sources

• Rumi, Masnavi-e Ma'navi, translated by R. Nicholson