Sheikh Attar's Works and the Tales of Rumi

Djalal-al-Din Muhammad Mawlavi in his Masnavi makes use of the tale form to express the grand mystical learnings. The source for his didactic tales was Attar-e-Neishabouri’s works with whom he was acquainted from early childhood. Their meeting in Neishabour and the granting of Asrar Namih by Attar to him is well-known. In this article the endeavor is to introduce some of the tales of Masnavi which are somehow related to and are directly or indirectly derived from Attar’s mystical works.