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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The "Solomon Poems" are devoted to the spiritual life, referring to:
(a) The hereafter.
(b) Man's fruitless pursuits.
(c) This world, not the next.
(d) How one can buy his or her way to heaven.

2. What does the fish with medium intelligence do in the tale of three fish in Book 2, Chapter 1?
(a) He eats two bugs.
(b) He rushes after the first fish.
(c) He finds a solution to his predicament.
(d) He laughs at the first fish.

3. Rumi advises people to accept help from holy scriptures and then:
(a) Seek a wise counselor.
(b) Find their inherent flaws.
(c) Let them go.
(d) Re-read the same scriptures a hundred times.

4. What does Rumi note about the destructive properties of candles in Book 2, Chapter 3?
(a) Even in daylight candles can burn cloth.
(b) One candle can ruin a whole village.
(c) They burn images into the mind as easily as they burn hands.
(d) Too much truth can be revealed by candlelight.

5. Kharraqani has difficulties with his disapproving:
(a) Father.
(b) Grandmother.
(c) Wife.
(d) Son.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Town and Country," when the shopkeeper visits his friend in the country, what does the countryside man do?

2. In the story of three fish that possess some measure of intelligence, found in Book 2, Chapter 1, who do the fish face?

3. In "Town and Country," how does the town man usually reply to his country friend's invitation to visit him in the country?

4. In a poem in Book 2, Chapter 1, what happens to the poor man when he vomits?

5. In addition to educating his listeners and readers, Rumi strives to:

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Rumi advise people to let go of scriptures after reading them?

2. Why is jealousy a recurrent theme in Rumi's work?

3. In the story where the king is in love with a girl, what ailment has afflicted her?

4. Summarize the shopkeeper's experience in "Town and Country."

5. Instead of doing battle on the military field, what should a good ruler strive for, according to Rumi?

6. Summarize the folklore Coleman Barks refers to when introducing the poems of Book 2, Chapter 2 to the reader.

7. In one of Rumi's poems, what happens when somebody comes looking for Sheik Kharraqani?

8. What happens to the three brothers who fall in love with a powerful princess?

9. In the story where a king falls in love with a girl, and the girl becomes ill, what does the king learn about himself after a doctor arrives on the scene?

10. As Sheik, what is Rumi's ruling philosophy?

(see the answer keys)

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