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Rumi's Little Book of Love and Laughter: Teaching Stories and Fables
Rowdy, ecstatic, and sometimes stern, these teaching stories and fables reveal new and very human properties in Rumi's vision. Included here are the notorious "Latin parts" that Reynold Nicholson felt were too unseemly to appear in English in his 1920s translation. For Rumi, anything that human beings do--however compulsive--affords a glimpse into the inner life. Here are more than 40 fables or teaching stories that deal with love, laughter, death, betrayal, and the soul. The stories are exuberant, earthy, and bursting with vitality--much like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . The characters are guilty, lecherous, tricky, ribald, and finally possessors of opened souls. Barks "These teaching stories are a kind of scrimshaw--intricately carved, busy figures, confused and threatening, and weirdly funny. This is an entertaining collection from one of the greatest spiritual poets of all time, rendered by his most popular translator. "The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."--Rumi
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2016
129 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,170 books15.7k followersSufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 17, 2020
35th book of 2020 (159 Books read overall)
Quote from the Book I Liked - 'I will search for a friend with all my passion and all my energy until I learn that I don't need to search' (Page no. 20)
Rating - 2 Stars
*Important take from the book* - If reasonable people don't feel the presence of love within the universe, that doesn't mean it's not there. Eyesight is in conflict with inner knowing. (Page no. 72)
Plot Summary - Rowdy, ecstatic and sometimes stern, these teaching stories and fables reveal new and very human properties in Rumi's vision. Included here are the notorious "Latin parts" that Reynold Nicholson felt were too unseemly to appear in English in his 1920s translation. For Rumi, anything that human beings do however compulsive affords a glimpse into the inner life. Here are more than 40 fables or teaching stories that deal with love, laughter, death, betrayal and the soul. The stories are exuberant, earthy and bursting with vitality much like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The characters are guilty, lecherous, tricky, ribald and finally possessors of opened souls.
Barks writes: "These teaching stories are a kind of scrimshaw intricately carved, busy figures, confused and threatening and weirdly funny.
My Review - Rumi is in our heart since the day we first read any of his work. I suppose it relates to everyone and touches everyone here and there. But from the very start I don't like the translation of Coleman Barks, he simply just translates the stuff which completely empties the essence of Rumi's work to just plain emotionless text. It's not the first book by the translator that I read, I've also read 'The Essential Rumi' and it's the same there as well. I don't know who claims him to be the best translator of Rumi's work. From the country where I belong (India) where Parsi, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu are widely used in everyday conversations, this translation feels like a very very bad attempt. I've even read many of Rumi's work in other native and original languages and those texts have the power to connect and invoke emotions even in the rocks. Coleman work seems just a plain translation which sometimes fit but mostly doesn't make any sense and feels shallow. I would prefer to check the work of others and keep a distance from such.
Conclusion - Didn't like the translation much.
Full Review on Blog.
Link to Blog - The Tales of Fugitive Biker
Quote from the Book I Liked - 'I will search for a friend with all my passion and all my energy until I learn that I don't need to search' (Page no. 20)
Rating - 2 Stars
*Important take from the book* - If reasonable people don't feel the presence of love within the universe, that doesn't mean it's not there. Eyesight is in conflict with inner knowing. (Page no. 72)
Plot Summary - Rowdy, ecstatic and sometimes stern, these teaching stories and fables reveal new and very human properties in Rumi's vision. Included here are the notorious "Latin parts" that Reynold Nicholson felt were too unseemly to appear in English in his 1920s translation. For Rumi, anything that human beings do however compulsive affords a glimpse into the inner life. Here are more than 40 fables or teaching stories that deal with love, laughter, death, betrayal and the soul. The stories are exuberant, earthy and bursting with vitality much like a painting by Hieronymus Bosch or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The characters are guilty, lecherous, tricky, ribald and finally possessors of opened souls.
Barks writes: "These teaching stories are a kind of scrimshaw intricately carved, busy figures, confused and threatening and weirdly funny.
My Review - Rumi is in our heart since the day we first read any of his work. I suppose it relates to everyone and touches everyone here and there. But from the very start I don't like the translation of Coleman Barks, he simply just translates the stuff which completely empties the essence of Rumi's work to just plain emotionless text. It's not the first book by the translator that I read, I've also read 'The Essential Rumi' and it's the same there as well. I don't know who claims him to be the best translator of Rumi's work. From the country where I belong (India) where Parsi, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu are widely used in everyday conversations, this translation feels like a very very bad attempt. I've even read many of Rumi's work in other native and original languages and those texts have the power to connect and invoke emotions even in the rocks. Coleman work seems just a plain translation which sometimes fit but mostly doesn't make any sense and feels shallow. I would prefer to check the work of others and keep a distance from such.
Conclusion - Didn't like the translation much.
Full Review on Blog.
Link to Blog - The Tales of Fugitive Biker
February 15, 2024
Rating: ⭐ 3/5
Rumi's Little Book of Love and Laughter serves as an introduction to the timeless wisdom of the renowned Persian poet, Jalaluddin Rumi. Coleman Barks' translation attempts to capture the essence of Rumi's poetry, making it accessible to contemporary readers.
However, this one left me longing for a more comprehensive exploration of Rumi's vast literary legacy. It feels like just a literal translation of Rumi's work. While the inclusion of humor adds an enjoyable dimension, it overshadows the deeper philosophical and spiritual themes for which Rumi is well known.
Overall, those seeking to discover Rumi's poetic brilliance may find themselves yearning for a more substantial representation of his work.
Rumi's Little Book of Love and Laughter serves as an introduction to the timeless wisdom of the renowned Persian poet, Jalaluddin Rumi. Coleman Barks' translation attempts to capture the essence of Rumi's poetry, making it accessible to contemporary readers.
However, this one left me longing for a more comprehensive exploration of Rumi's vast literary legacy. It feels like just a literal translation of Rumi's work. While the inclusion of humor adds an enjoyable dimension, it overshadows the deeper philosophical and spiritual themes for which Rumi is well known.
Overall, those seeking to discover Rumi's poetic brilliance may find themselves yearning for a more substantial representation of his work.
November 28, 2021
Some stories were interesting and some were not so explanatory.
June 24, 2025
If you become addicted to looking back,
half your life will be spent in distraction,
and other half in regret.
(Mathnawi, IV, 1332-1342, 1353-1357)
Rumi's writing is filled with wisdom and charm although I give this a 3 star as Coleman Barks' translation felt hollow and bland which is a shame since it's his translations of Rumi which are widely in circulation.
July 30, 2023
I picked up this book on my trip to India because I had heard that Rumi was regarded as one of the greatest poets. The start was somewhat nice but then it just became 100% Islamic preaching and worship of the prophet Muhammad. Too religious for my taste so couldn't even finish the last 25% or so.
Want to read
October 30, 2016I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
July 18, 2019
naaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Big fan of Rumi but this book is not at all written well
Big fan of Rumi but this book is not at all written well
March 9, 2020
oh god! its so bad, that i wont even give it any star!
so clinical.
so clinical.
March 17, 2020
I will conclude it with one word "Disappointing". I feel complete waste of time.
May 19, 2020
Never thought I would say this about something relating to Rumi, but this book absolutely sucks! Mr Coleman is a horrible translator. He has reduced the essence of the original Sufi text.
April 16, 2020
I think @elifshafaq is the one who sowed the seed of love for Rumi or Rumis' work in us when she published 'forty rules of love'. For me it was her, & after reading forty rules of love, (which lives up to the hype) , I wanted to read more of him.
❤️
So, I started picking up books which had 'Rumi' in the title. I was curious to give this one a read because most of the people didn't like this book for obvious reasons.Reading this one requires having an open mind & heart & definitely meant for a mature audience.
🤷♀️
This book was sensual and explicit, which came both as a shock & a surprise.its not something you'd expect.But, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The fables include very human attributes/properties - guilty, lecherous, infidelity and tricky. The book contains almost 40 fables about love, sex, laughter, betrayal, death and inner self aka soul.
🖤
❤️
So, I started picking up books which had 'Rumi' in the title. I was curious to give this one a read because most of the people didn't like this book for obvious reasons.Reading this one requires having an open mind & heart & definitely meant for a mature audience.
🤷♀️
This book was sensual and explicit, which came both as a shock & a surprise.its not something you'd expect.But, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The fables include very human attributes/properties - guilty, lecherous, infidelity and tricky. The book contains almost 40 fables about love, sex, laughter, betrayal, death and inner self aka soul.
🖤
March 16, 2018
I read parts of this to a lonely dog, who was howling because his family was gone on vacation and left him behind to tend the house, but with a sitter coming by every night to sleep over and keep him company. Sometimes he stopped and listened while I read to him, parked on a folding chair in the patio outside his picture window. A good read.
July 23, 2020
A curate's egg - good in parts.
December 21, 2024
Interesting but it didn’t make me feel special as some of the other Coleman Bark books have done.
April 20, 2025
bruhh what to say? that's so bad like ewwww the language the meaning the concept was just out of my mind.. I seriously don't understand what the heck they were talking about like eww
I HATE ITTTTTTTT
I HATE ITTTTTTTT
June 12, 2025
Only read this when I was outside and I highly recommend it. If you’re able to read these out loud thats fun too.
June 7, 2020
Rumi, a Sufi poet and an Islamic scholar has a complete subject to himself. The art of submission to Allah inside out, no questions asked, no stones unturned on this road less travel HOWEVER to study Moulana Rumi through Coleman Barks is a mistake. Barks has jeopardised Rumi's work to being a minimalist idea of resistance to mainstream Islam. Not only that, Barks has translated rather transformed the meaning of Mathnavi to personal suiting of non Muslim audience. He has projected a very leftist view of Rumi that doesn't exist. Is it a bona fide effort from Coleman. God knows but surely he has destroyed the essence of Rumi's prime work to satisfy his white Catholic audience twisting the Persian Mathnavi into English language in such a manner that makes Mathnavi a universal feat whereas it is only truly Islamic in nature. This will be my last book from Coleman. Period!
June 22, 2023
I’m not going to pretend that I understood the meaning of every metaphor in this book. Irrespective of that I found the book to be slightly pretentious. I couldn’t feel the depth of the words written in it. I can’t be sure yet if it was because of the way it was translated until I read other translators’ works on Rumi. I have also not read any other works of Coleman Barks therefore my review of his writing is based only on his translations in this book.
At the moment (when I’m writing this review just after finishing it) I’m neutral about recommending this book. It’s neither a ‘must-have’ nor a ‘never-have‘ book.
At the moment (when I’m writing this review just after finishing it) I’m neutral about recommending this book. It’s neither a ‘must-have’ nor a ‘never-have‘ book.
October 22, 2025
“ An empty mirror and your worst destructive habits,
When they are held up to each other,
That’s when the real making begins.
That’s what art and crafting are.”
When they are held up to each other,
That’s when the real making begins.
That’s what art and crafting are.”
August 17, 2022
I enjoyed it and learned alot just like i learned alot from forty rules of love.
May 29, 2022
i had huge expectations, but this managed to be... boring? i find the translation of this book mind-numbingly dull.
July 24, 2023
I just hated this book. OMG very distasteful and disconnected!!!
January 26, 2025
Ratings: 2.8/5 stars
This book was poorly translated 😑
This book was poorly translated 😑
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews