In Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, as the hare deliberately delays his arrival, the waiting lion grows fiercely angry. He bitterly regrets listening to the "determinists" (the prey animals), feeling that their persuasive speech deceived him and fettered his innate strength. Using the lion's realization as a springboard, Rumi introduces a fundamental Sufi metaphor distinguishing between outward form and inner essence. He compares speech and outward appearances to the "skin" or shell, and true meaning to the "kernel" or soul. Rumi cautions that eloquent, colorful words can act as a deceptive skin that conceals a defective core, fleeting "like a design on water." In stark contrast to the transient rhetoric and caprice of worldly kings, the profound "messages of the Creator" and the prophets possess eternal validity and enduring spiritual truth.