Shah Inayat was the head gardener of the Shalimar gardens of Lahore. These gardens are Mogul gardens. The shrine of Madho Lal Huseyn can be found there. Bullha Shah visited these gardens and as it was summer, he roamed in the mango-groves. Desirous of tasting the fruit he looked round for the guardian, but, not finding him there, he decided to help himself. To avoid the sin of stealing he looked at the ripe fruit and said: “Allah, al-Ghaneey!” (Allah, the Rich One). On the uttering of this invocation a mango fell in his hands. He repeated them several times and thus collected a few mangoes. Tying them in his scarf (a long piece of cloth wound round the shoulders…

Many hundreds of years ago there were two man of Kabul who fell upon very hard times. They lost all they owned and suffered great hardship and poverty. So great was their misfortune that, try as they might, they could not improve their position. Always something happened to them to cause them a setback. Great were the bodily hunger and distress of mind, which they suffered. Grief and sorrow lay upon them like a heavy cloud. One day one man said to the other: ‘We have suffered much and have toiled hard, yet there seems no hope of improving our lot. Let us leave this country and seek our fortune elsewhere. Surely that would be a wise move. The good…

While resting one summer’s day during the heat of the noon hour, the great Mogul king, Shah Jahan, was suddenly overcome with thirst. He clapped his hands for a servant to bring him water, but none of the palace servants happened to be nearby. Rising from his couch, he looked in the water jug that was always kept in his chamber. It was empty. “Water I must have,” said the king, “and that at once. And the only way to get it now is to go to the well and draw it up myself”. Leaving his royal chamber, he went to the well and drew up a bucket filled with fresh, cold water. But as he leaned forward to draw…

A woman recently explained that there is a difference between a labyrinth and a maze. This is what she said: “When you enter a labyrinth, there is only one way that leads to its centre. When walking it you sometimes appear to get further away from the centre, but when you continue you get step by step nearer to the centre.” This woman entered a maze together with her children. After about 45 minutes she still was wandering from one dead-end to another, while her children had already found the exit. From their standing point, they not only could see their mother but also could give her directions and guided her out of the maze. “One day” {writes Alberto Manguel…

Nawab Khadim Hasan was once approached for initiation. He asked the visitor if he would like a murshid who was a leaf, a stone or a log? The visitor was quite surprised and could not give a reply. So to save him the consternation Nawab Khadim Hasan gave him an explanation: If a leaf floats down a river and a stone is dropped on it, it sinks a little, then tilts and the stone falls off, and thus soon the leave alone is floating down the river. If you drop a stone in a river, it sinks. In fact if you tie anything to it, they both sink. But if a log floats down a river, you can grab it…

A king wanted to appoint a grandvizier. Three candidates competed for the king’s nomination to this high office, but the king was unable to decide which one of them was the most intelligent, and the most suitable for the post. At last, he decided to subject them to a competition, the winner of which would be chosen as grandvizier. The king summoned the three candidates and told them that he had prepared five balls, three of which were white and two were black. He said he would place one ball on the turban of each of the three men. Each of them would be able to see the balls on the heads of the other two, but would have to…