“Once a man came and knocked at the door of his friend. His friend said, ‘Who art thou, O faithful one?’ He said, ‘’Tis I.’ He answered, ‘There is no admittance. There is no room for the raw at my well-cooked feast. Naught but fire of separation and absence Can cook the raw one and free him from hypocrisy! Since thy _self_ has not yet left thee, Thou must be burned in fiery flames.’ The poor man went away, and for one whole year Journeyed burning with grief for his friend’s absence. His heart burned till it was cooked; then he went again And drew near to the house of his friend. He knocked at the door in fear and trepidation Lest some careless word should fall from his lips. His friend shouted, ‘Who is that at the door?’ He answered, ‘’Tis thou who art at the door, O beloved!’ The friend said, ‘Since ’tis I, let me come in, There is not room for two I’s in one house.’” _From the Masnavi of Jalal-ud-din Rumi, trans, by E. H. Whinfield._ [Sidenote: _Hafiz and Saadi_] Some short quotations here following are taken from _Flowers culled from Persian Gardens_ (Manchester, 1872): “Everyone, whether he be abstemious or self-indulgent is searching after the Friend. Every place may be the abode of love, whether it be a mosque or a synagogue.... On thy last day, though the cup be in thy hand, thou may’st be borne away to Paradise even from the corner of the tavern.” _Hafiz_. “I have heard a sweet word which was spoken by the old man of Canaan (Jacob)—‘No tongue can express what means the separation of friends.’” _Hafiz_. “Neither of my own free will cast I myself into the fire; for the chain of affection was laid upon my neck. I was still at a distance when the fire began to glow, nor is this the moment that it was lighted up within me. Who shall impute it to me as a fault, that I am enchanted by my friend, that I am content in casting myself at his feet?” _Saadi_. Hahn in his _Albanesische Studien_, already quoted (p. 20), gives some of the verses of Neçin or Nesim Bey, a Turco-Albanian poet, of which the following is an example:— “Whate’er, my friend, or false or true, The world may tell thee, give no ear, For to separate us, dear, The world will say that one is two. Who should seek to separate us May he never cease to weep. The rain at times may cease; but he In Summer’s warmth or Winter’s sleep May he never cease to weep.” Besides literature there is no doubt a vast amount of material embedded in the customs and traditions of these countries and awaiting adequate recognition and interpretation. The following quotations may afford some glimpses of interest. [Sidenote: _Suleyman and Ibrahim_] Suleyman the Magnificent.—The story of Suleyman’s attachment to his Vezir Ibrahim is told as follows by Stanley Lane-Poole:—