In Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the fable of the lion, wolf, and fox concludes with the fox's prudent response to the wolf's violent death. When tasked with dividing the prey, the fox allocates all three animals to the lion, citing the 'wolf's condition' as his teacher in justice. Rumi utilizes this narrative to explain the spiritual concept of taking warning ($$عبرت$$) from the avoidable calamities of others. By observing the destruction of those who maintained 'selfhood and vainglory'—such as the Pharaohs or the people of 'Ad—the wise person is able to lay aside their own ego. Rumi identifies this capacity for historical introspection as the reason the Prophet Muhammad referred to his followers as the 'community shown mercy' ($$امت مرحومه$$), as they are granted the grace to learn from past errors without having to suffer the same punishments themselves.

The Fox's Wisdom and the Allegory of Taking Warning in the Masnavi

In Rumi's Masnavi, the fox's division of the prey serves as an allegory for the spiritually awakened soul. Instructed by the lion to divide the hunt, the fox allocates every portion to the lion, demonstrating absolute surrender and self-effacement (*fana*). When asked who taught him such justice, the fox replies that he learned from the fate of the egoistic wolf. This metaphor establishes the principle of recognizing the absolute sovereignty of the Divine, a concept Rumi immediately applies to prophets like Noah, who act as 'foxes' embodying the divine 'lion'.

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گرگ را بر کند سر آن سرفراز 
تا نماند دوسری و امتیاز
فانتقمنا منهم است ای گرگ پیر 
چون نبودی مرده در پیش امیر
بعد از آن رو شیر با روباه کرد 
گفت این را بخش کن از بهر خورد
سجده کرد و گفت کین گاو سمین 
چاشت‌خوردت باشد ای شاه گزین
وان بز از بهر میان روز را 
یخنیی باشد شه پیروز را
و آن دگر خرگوش بهر شام هم 
شب‌چرهٔ این شاه با لطف و کرم
گفت ای روبه تو عدل افروختی 
این چنین قسمت ز کی آموختی
از کجا آموختی این ای بزرگ 
گفت ای شاه جهان از حال گرگ
گفت چون در عشق ما گشتی گرو 
هر سه را بر گیر و بستان و برو
روبها چون جملگی ما را شدی 
چونت آزاریم چون تو ما شدی
ما ترا و جمله اشکاران ترا 
پای بر گردون هفتم نه بر آ
چون گرفتی عبرت از گرگ دنی 
پس تو روبه نیستی شیر منی
عاقل آن باشد که عبرت گیرد از 
مرگ یاران در بلای محترز
روبه آن دم بر زبان صد شکر راند 
که مرا شیر از پی آن گرگ خواند
گر مرا اول بفرمودی که تو 
بخش کن این را که بردی جان ازو
پس سپاس او را که ما را در جهان 
کرد پیدا از پس پیشینیان
تا شنیدیم آن سیاستهای حق 
بر قرون ماضیه اندر سبق
تا که ما از حال آن گرگان پیش 
همچو روبه پاس خود داریم بیش
امت مرحومه زین رو خواندمان 
آن رسول حق و صادق در بیان
استخوان و پشم آن گرگان عیان 
بنگرید و پند گیرید ای مهان
عاقل از سر بنهد این هستی و باد 
چون شنید انجام فرعونان و عاد
ور بننهد دیگران از حال او 
عبرتی گیرند از اضلال او

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## English translation
The lion tore off the wolf's head, so that no dual-headedness or claim to distinction should remain. “So We took vengeance on them” is this, old wolf: why were you not dead before the commander?

After that the lion turned to the fox and said, “Divide this for eating.” He prostrated and said, “This fat ox shall be your breakfast, O chosen king; and that goat, for the middle of the day, shall be a stew for the victorious king; and the other, the hare, shall also be for supper, the night-fare of this gracious and generous king.”

He said, “O fox, you have illuminated justice. From whom did you learn such division? Where did you learn this, O great one?” He said, “O king of the world, from the wolf's condition.”

He said, “Since you have become a pledge in love of us, take all three, receive them, and go. O fox, since you have wholly become us, how should we hurt you, since you have become us? We are yours, and all your prey is yours; set your foot upon the seventh heaven and rise. Since you took warning from the vile wolf, you are not a fox; you are my lion.”

The wise person is one who takes warning from the death of companions in an avoidable calamity.

At that moment the fox uttered a hundred thanks, saying, “The lion called me after that wolf. If he had first commanded me, ‘You divide this,’ who would have escaped with his life from him?”

So thanks be to Him who brought us forth in the world after those who came before, so that we heard those punishments of God set as lessons upon past generations, so that from the condition of those former wolves we, like the fox, may guard ourselves better.

For this reason the Messenger of Truth, truthful in speech, called us the community shown mercy.

Look plainly at the bones and wool of those wolves, and take counsel, O great ones.

The wise person lays aside this selfhood and vainglory when he hears the end of the Pharaohs and 'Ad. And if he does not lay it aside, others will take warning from his condition, from his misguidance.

دفتر اول - بخش ۱۴۵ - ادب کردن شیر گرگ را کی در قسمت بی‌ادبی کرده بود / Book One - Section 145 - The Lion Punishing the Wolf Who Had Acted Disrespectfully in the Division

In Rumi's Masnavi, the story of the lion, the wolf, and the fox hunting together serves as a profound allegory of the human ego (*nafs*) in relation to the Divine. When the lion tests the wolf by asking him to divide the prey, the wolf's partition based on size and personal ownership reflects the ego's insolence (*bi-adabi*) and its failure to recognize the absolute oneness of the divine presence. By asserting a division between 'me' and 'thee' (*ma o to*), the wolf demonstrates a dualistic self-existence that must be annihilated. This metaphor underscores the spiritual danger of ego-assertion and highlights the necessity of absolute self-effacement (*fana*) before God.

The Metaphor of the Wolf's Division of the Prey in the Masnavi

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Ganjoor

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گفت نوح ای سرکشان من من نیم 
من ز جان مردم بجانان می‌زیم
چون بمردم از حواس بوالبشر 
حق مرا شد سمع و ادراک و بصر
چونک من من نیستم این دم ز هوست 
پیش این دم هرکه دم زد کافر اوست
هست اندر نقش این روباه شیر 
سوی این روبه نشاید شد دلیر
گر ز روی صورتش می‌نگروی 
غره شیران ازو می‌نشنوی
گر نبودی نوح را از حق یدی 
پس جهانی را چرا بر هم زدی
صد هزاران شیر بود او در تنی 
او چو آتش بود و عالم خرمنی
چونک خرمن پاس عشر او نداشت 
او چنان شعله بر آن خرمن گماشت
هر که او در پیش این شیر نهان 
بی‌ادب چون گرگ بگشاید دهان
همچو گرگ آن شیر بر دراندش 
فانتقمنا منهم بر خواندش
زخم یابد همچو گرگ از دست شیر 
پیش شیر ابله بود کو شد دلیر
کاشکی آن زخم بر تن آمدی 
تا بدی کایمان و دل سالم بدی
قوتم بگسست چون اینجا رسید 
چون توانم کرد این سر را پدید
همچو آن روبه کم اشکم کنید 
پیش او روباه‌بازی کم کنید
جمله ما و من به پیش او نهید 
ملک ملک اوست ملک او را دهید
چون فقیر آیید اندر راه راست 
شیر و صید شیر خود آن شماست
زانک او پاکست و سبحان وصف اوست 
بی نیازست او ز نغز و مغز و پوست
هر شکار و هر کراماتی که هست 
از برای بندگان آن شهست
نیست شه را طمع بهر خلق ساخت 
این همه دولت خنک آنکو شناخت
آنک دولت آفرید و دو سرا 
ملک و دولتها چه کار آید ورا
پیش سبحان پس نگه دارید دل 
تا نگردید از گمان بد خجل
کو ببیند سر و فکر و جست و جو 
همچو اندر شیر خالص تار مو
آنک او بی نقش ساده‌سینه شد 
نقشهای غیب را آیینه شد
سر ما را بی‌گمان موقن شود 
زان که مؤمن آینهٔ مؤمن بود
چون زند او نقد ما را بر محک 
پس یقین را باز داند او ز شک
چون شود جانش محک نقدها 
پس ببیند قلب را و قلب را

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## English translation
Noah said: 'O rebels, I am not I; I have died from the soul and am living through the Beloved. Since I died to the senses of humankind, God became my hearing, perception, and sight. Since I am not I, this breath is from Him; before this breath, whoever breathes is an unbeliever. Within the form of this fox there is a lion; one should not be bold toward this fox. If you look at him only in outward form, you will not hear from him the roar of lions. If Noah had not had a hand from God, why would he have overturned a world? He was a hundred thousand lions in one body; he was like fire and the world like a harvest-stack. Because the harvest-stack did not observe the tithe owed to him, he set such a flame upon that stack. Whoever, before this hidden lion, rudely opens his mouth like a wolf, that lion tears him apart like a wolf and recites over him, 'So We took vengeance on them.' He receives a wound like a wolf from the lion's hand; foolish before the lion is the one who grows bold. Would that the wound had fallen on the body, so that faith and heart might have remained whole. My strength broke when it reached this point; how can I make this secret manifest? Like that fox, make your belly small; do less fox-playing before him. Lay every 'we' and 'I' before Him; the kingdom is His kingdom, so give His kingdom to Him. When you come as poor ones on the straight path, the lion and the lion's prey themselves are yours. For He is pure, and 'Glory be to Him' is His attribute; He is without need of delicacy, marrow, or skin. Every prey and every miracle that exists is for the servants of that King. The King has no craving; He created all this fortune for the creatures' sake; blessed is the one who recognizes this. The One who created fortune and the two worlds: what use are kingdom and fortunes to Him? Before the Glorified One, then, guard the heart, so you will not be shamed by evil suspicion. For He sees secret, thought, and search as plainly as a hair in pure milk. Whoever has become image-free and plain-breasted becomes a mirror for the forms of the Unseen. He will become certain, without doubt, of our secret, because the believer is the believer's mirror. When he strikes our coin on the touchstone, he distinguishes certainty from doubt. When his soul becomes the touchstone of coins, then he sees both the counterfeit coin and the true coin.'

دفتر اول - بخش ۱۴۶ - تهدید کردن نوح علیه‌السلام مر قوم را کی با من مپیچید کی من روپوشم با خدای می‌پیچید در میان این بحقیقت ای مخذولان / Book One - Section 146 - Noah, Peace Be Upon Him, Threatening His People, Saying, 'Do Not Contend With Me, For I Am A Veil; In Reality You Are Contending With God Herein, O Forsaken Ones'

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