{"id":409,"date":"2022-02-26T07:37:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T07:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qsconsultants.in\/blog\/?p=409"},"modified":"2022-02-26T07:37:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T07:37:02","slug":"the-silent-couple-world-tales-idries-shah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qsconsultants.in\/blog\/the-silent-couple-world-tales-idries-shah\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silent Couple \u2013 World Tales \u2013 Idries Shah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), as we begin today \u2018let us remember this about \u2018Attention\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week I bring to your attention yet another story which is extracted from an interesting and thought provoking work, \u2018World Tales\u2019 by Idries Shah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018World Tales,\u2019 is divided into five volumes and contains stories from great works like Panchatantra<\/em>, Thousand and One Nights, <\/em>Straparola, Boccaccio, Chaucer and Shakespeare and a dozen others which now form the basis of the classic literature of Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Silent Couple<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time there was a newly married couple; still dressed in their wedding finery, they relaxed in their new home when the last of the guests at their feast had left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Dear husband,\u2019 said the young lady, \u2018do go and close the door to the street, which has been left open.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Me shut it?\u2019 said the groom. \u2018A bridegroom in this splendid costume, with a priceless robe and a dagger studded with jewels? How could I be expected to do such a thing? You must be out of your mind. Go and shut it yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018So!\u2019 shouted the bride, \u2018you expect me to be your slave: a gentle beautiful creature like me, wearing a dress of finest silk \u2013 that I should get up on my wedding day and close a door which looks onto the public street? Impossible.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were both silent for a moment or two, and the lady suggested that they should make the problem the subject of forfeit. Whoever spoke first, they agreed, should be the one to shut the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were two sofas in the room, and the pair settled themselves, face to face, one on each, sitting mutely looking at one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had been in this posture for two or three hours when a party of thieves came by and noticed that the door was open. The robbers crept into the silent house, which seemed so deserted, and began to load themselves with every portable object of any value which they could find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bridal couple heard them come in, but each thought that the other should attend to the matter. Neither of them spoke or moved as the burglars went from room to room, until at length they entered the sitting room and at first failed to notice the utterly motionless couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still the pair sat there, while the thieves collected all the valuables, and even rolled up the carpets under them. Mistaking the idiot and his stubborn wife for wax dummies, they stripped them of their personal jewels \u2013 and still the couple said nothing at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thieves made off, and the bride and her groom sat on their sofa throughout the night. Neither would give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When daylight came, a policeman on his beat saw the open street door and walked into the house. Going from room to room he finally came upon the pair and asked them what was happening, Neither man nor wife deigned to reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policeman called massive reinforcements and the swarming custodians of the law became more and more enraged at the total silence, which to them seemed obviously a calculated affront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officer in charge at last lost his temper and called out to one of his men: \u2018Give that man a blow or two, and get some sense out of him!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this the wife could not restrain herself: \u2018Please, kind officers,\u2019 she cried, \u2018do not strike him \u2013 he is my husband!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I won!\u2019 shouted the fool immediately, \u2018so you have to shut the door!\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

World Tales – Idries Shah<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many traditional tales have a surface meaning (perhaps just a socially uplifting one) and a secondary, inner significance, which is rarely glimpsed consciously, but which nevertheless acts powerfully upon our minds.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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World Tales by Idries Shah<\/a><\/blockquote>