A Sufi teacher on his death-bed gave a bundle of papers to his disciple and said:
‘Take these. Some are written upon and others not. Those which are blank are as valuable as those which are not.’ The disciple took the papers, and studied those on which there was writing. The others he kept just as carefully, waiting until their value might be vouchsafed.
One day he was lying in a caravanserai, ill and shuddering with a fever, and a doctor was called, as he seemed on the point of death.
The doctor said:
‘We have no time to lose. Find a piece of paper, of fine quality, upon which I may write a talisman for the relief of his malady.’
The other people present looked all around. Searching the traveler’s knapsack they came upon some blank sheets in the bundle of writings of the Sufi teacher.
The physician tore up a sheet, and on it he inscribed a strange figure. ‘Steep this in water. When the ink has dissolved, give it to the patient, and he will be well in three hours,’ he said.
They did as he directed, and the disciple was soon cured. The effect had been due to a medicament which had been smeared by the wise man upon the blank page, unknown to anyone else.
When the disciple arrived at the abode of a venerable dervish, and told him of his experiences and desired to know the meaning of the blank pages, the dervish said:
‘O one of great prospects! You were cured by the virtue in the page, not by the talisman. ’
