In Book Two of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the story of the ducklings raised by a domestic hen serves as a profound allegory for the human soul and its divine origin. The ducklings, though hatched and raised by a land-bound domestic hen (representing the material body and worldly attachments), instinctively yearn for the water (symbolizing the vast, divine spiritual realm). The hen fears the water and tries to keep the ducklings on land, just as the material world attempts to restrain the soul from its spiritual journey. Rumi uses this metaphor to remind humanity of its innate spiritual nature, urging the soul to ignore the fears of its earthly 'nurse' and return to the ocean of divine truth to which it truly belongs.