The Flight of the Tortoise

Persian text in nasta'liq script. One of the greatest Persian mystical poets is Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad Jami (d.1492), who belonged to the Naqshbandi Sufi order. Amongst the numerous works of mystical poetry that Jami produced is his Haft awrang (Seven Thrones). It is a collection of seven individual didactic and moralising works, and includes this poem, Tuhfat al-ahrar, which treats a series of individual themes illustrated by anecdotes inserted into the text. This illustration depicts one such amusing anecdote - on the virtue of silence - featuring a tortoise who befriends two ducks. Wishing to fly away with them, a plan is devised whereby the tortoise bites hold of a stick, either end of which is held in the beak of one of the ducks, who warn their friend to keep his mouth firmly shut. However, when they fly over a group of astonished people, the tortoise cannot resist calling out to them and so falls to his death, thus illustrating the folly of idle talk.