The maidservant, the ass, and the gourd
Several passages in the tales told in the Mathnawi contain sexually explicit language, and when Professor Nicholson translated Rumi’s book into English he saw fit to translate these passages into Latin. In the following version of the tale of the maidservant, the ass, and the gourd, these passages have been rendered into English.
A lady’s maid had trained an ass to perform the sexual functions of a man. Using a gourd, she had made a device to prevent the ass’s penis from penetrating too far during intercourse: had the whole of the ass’s member gone into her, it would have wreaked havoc in her womb and intestines. The maid, who had fashioned the gourd to perfection, gained much satisfaction from the arrangement and enjoyed herself so often that the ass began to lose weight. The mistress of the house was puzzled as to why the ass was looking thin, so she took him to the blacksmith and asked, ‘What sickness has caused this ass to become so thin?’ As the blacksmith was unable to help, she decided to investigate the matter for herself. Then one day, through a crack in the door, she saw the little narcissus lying under the ass. It was mounting her in exactly the same way as a man takes a woman. Marvelling at the size of the ass’s member, she said to herself, ‘Since this is possible, I have the greater right since it is my ass. It has been perfectly trained: the table has been laid and the lamp is lit.’ Pretending to have seen nothing, she knocked on the door, calling to the maid to open. The maid hid the gourd and, taking up a broom in her hand, opened the door, pretending she had been cleaning the room.
‘You cunning vixen,’ said the mistress under her breath. ‘You’ve put on a prim face and picked up a broom, depriving the ass of his food.’ Concealing her lust, the mistress acted the innocent, sent the maid on an errand, closed the door behind her, and said, ‘Now I can enjoy myself in private.’ . . .
The maid went on her errand, thinking to herself, ‘O mistress, you’ve sent the expert away. You were too embarrassed to ask me about the device of the gourd, and without my expert knowledge you will foolishly put your life at risk.’ . . .