The Sultan and the Harem
a parable
Once upon a time a
Sultan in a
fantastic land began recruiting
brides for his harem. The handsome Sultan attracted brides from throughout the land. The sultan afforded many delights to the women of his new harem. They shared
stories and jokes and became a family.
Over time, the harem became so
self-involved that they did not notice the Sultan had vanished. Over time in the harem,
cliques formed, then politics, and finally the wives would
fight amongst themselves. Each clique claimed an exclusive understanding of the Sultan. Each claimed they knew what was best for the
Sultan.
They noticed the Sultan was gone when
no new wives came to the harem. The harem wives were aging; their beauty and charms
faded.
The time came when the wisest wives decided to search for the Sultan. They searched high and low, near and far. One day they found a letter addressed to the harem which read:
Each of you have defined a piece of who I am. Each of you is right, but you are mired in fighting, and beauty has left you. The only way to restore beauty to the harem, and honor me, is to stop fighting each other, and start believing in the harem as a community. I am alive, and am still the person that each of you love. Do not abandon me, and I will return.
~ Love The Sultan
The crones looked to each other, and looked at
what the harem had become. Their
tears flowed in salty trails of sorrow.
They heard the voice of the sultan, laughing in their ears.
"You are
letting go of your history - This is the
first step to
becoming the
harem you could be, and heralds my return."