Four people were once travelling together.

Each one of them was of a respective ethnicity.

There was a Persian, an Arab, a Turk, and a Greek.

They collectively had one dirham amongst themselves.

It was unanimously decided that this money would be used to purchase some fruit.

The Persian stated that he wanted the type of fruit to be "Angur".

The Arab dissented, saying that they should buy "Inab" instead.

The Turk insisted that "Uzum" be bought.

Not to be outdone, the Greek vehemently wanted the money to be used on the fruit of his choice - "Astaphil".

None of the companions were willing to budge on his choice of fruit.

During the course of this heated argument, a wise man happened to pass by.

Hearing their dispute, the wise man said that they were quarelling for nothing.

This is because "Angur", "Inab", "Uzum", and "Astaphil" all mean grapes in their respective languages.

In fact, all of them were wishing for one and the same thing.

Taken and adapted from Stories from Rumi

Published by:
Maktaba-e-Noor
P. O. Box 96786
Brixton 2019