Page 124 - The Book of Rumi

Dogs’ Shelter in Winter

n wintertime, stray dogs fi nd little food in fi elds, as the landscape is fro-
Izen. Every year, the dogs gather and tell each other that if they survive the
freeze, next summer they must build themselves a shelter, because their under-
nourished bodies could never tolerate another harsh winter.
When summer arrives, the stray dogs begin to put on weight as food
becomes ample in the meadows and they can eat to their hearts’ delight. As
they gain weight and become more robust, they convince themselves that no
shelter would be large enough to contain their enormous, well-fed bodies.
In their hearts, they know better, and they try to stay focused on the
hardship they endured in past winters and the certainty that it will recur the
following year. But the dogs have become fat and lazy, able to convince them-
selves that no home will be capacious enough to shelter them from the cold.
Thus, the vicious cycle is repeated.

100