A Sufi sat under the banyan tree, moving his prayer-beads in time with the waterwheel turning in the nearby garden.
One night, the gardener loosed the bullock from the wheel and went home, while the Sufi kept praying... and his prayers made the waterwheel keep turning!
In the morning, the garden was flooded.
"Did you do this, madman?" the gardener shouted angrily.
The Sufi said nothing, but simply got up and walked away... and the banyan tree followed him!
When the gardener saw the tree uproot itself to accompany the Sufi, he realized this was one of God's holy saints.
Inspired by: Sufi Stories from Around the World by Debjani Chatterjee
Notes: This is story 16 in the book. Little is known about Malik Shah, a Sufi saint from Sindh, but he is associated with the famous Makli Hill site in Sindh; you can read more at Wikipedia, and you can also read there about prayer beads, as used in many religious traditions.
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