Who am I?

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The last of the great Persian poets was Jami (1414 -

92), born at Jam in

Khorasan. In one of his poems, he alludes to the

ancient “pumpkin” story,

which is one of my favorites. It runs something as

follows:

Once upon a time there was an absent-minded man who

had no equal in

forgetting things. He had an intelligent and trusted

friend who wanted to help

him to remember himself.

This friend attached a pumpkin to his neck and said,

“Now listen, old man,

one day you might completely lose yourself and not

know who you are.

Therefore, as a sign I tie this pumpkin around your

neck, so that every

morning when you wake up you will see the pumpkin and

know that you are

there.”

Every day the forgetful one saw the pumpkin after

waking up in the morning

and said to himself, “I am not lost”. After some time,

when he had become

used to self-identification through the pumpkin, the

friend asked a stranger to

remain with the absent-minded man, take away the

pumpkin from his neck

during his sleep and tie it around his own neck.

The stranger did this, and when the absent-minded man

woke up in the

morning, he did not see the pumpkin around his neck.

So he said to himself,

“I am lost.” Then he saw it on the other man’s neck

and said to him, “You

are me. But then who am I?”

 

Nasrudin

 

 

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