In Idries Shah's Wisdom of the Idiots, the 'idiots' are Sufis, called this because their wisdom penetrates to a depth which renders it inaccessible to the merely intelligent or academically-knowledgeable. The exercise-stories of the Sufis are tools prepared for a specific purpose. On this level the movements of the characters in a story portray psychological processes, and the story becomes a working blueprint of those processes. Wisdom of the Idiots...

A Sufi teaching tale from Afghanistan about an old woman who insists that an eagle must really be a pigeon.

A clever boy and other villagers devise a plan to improve the manners of one of their neighbors. Based on a folktale from Afghanistan.

As he gapes and growls at his ferocious reflection in a pool of water as shiny as a mirror, a terrified lion grows desperately thirsty.

Because she does not faithfully follow the instructions of Arif the Wise Man, the Queen of Hich-Hich gives birth to a half-boy, who grows up to be very clever and confronts a dragon in an effort to become whole.