Directorio Okouko

The Discontented Dervishes
November 2, 2007

The Discontented Dervishes is a collection of stories by the 13th century Sufi poet Sa’di as retold by author Arthur Scholey. Most of the work in this collection falls under the categories of parable or fable. The collection’s name comes from a story in which a generous king goes out disguised as an Arab and overhears two discontented dervishes complaining about the injustice of those that have wealth in this world. One dervish says, “I do believe that if our King Salih were to walk through that door I should dash his brains out with my shoe!” (4). The king proceeds back to his palace then sends a servant to escort the two dervishes to the palace where they are treated lavishly. Later the king reprimands the dervishes with “I hope you both see now that I am not the sort of king who, in his grandeur, turns away his face from the helpless – that I am not, in fact, the monarch that you abused in the mosque this morning” (6). Sa’di is famous for his line about feeling bad about not having shoes until he met a man who had no feet. The imagery in these stories is interesting, but I suspect something may be missing in this translation and in Scholey’s retelling. A lot of the stories come across as too preachy or flat. I was excited to explore this writing as I’m not overly familiar with Persian work, but I wasn’t altogether pleased with what I found here