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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book 2, Solomon Poems : Chapter 2, Beginning to the Turn.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the man in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2 accidentally soils himself, what does his host and friend do?
(a) Leaves for three days while his servants clean the home.
(b) Launders the garments and helps the man feel better.
(c) Laughs loudly and humiliates the man.
(d) Evicts him from his home.

2. What is the Mathnawi?
(a) A code of conduct expected of scholars who studied directly under Rumi.
(b) Six volumes of poetry Rumi wrote when Husam Chelebi was his scribe.
(c) The law of the land followed by Rumi and his contemporaries.
(d) Supreme counselor Rumi and other poets of his era turned to for guidance.

3. The purpose of Coleman Barks' preambles to Rumi's poems is to:
(a) Expand upon Barks' discomfort with each.
(b) Help the reader interpret each poem.
(c) Get the reader to come up with his or her own judgments.
(d) Add a new twist to the message of each poem.

4. In the story of a camel and a mouse found in Book 1, Chapter 3, what does the camel do when the two reach a body of water?
(a) Runs away.
(b) Encourages the mouse to continue.
(c) Tosses the mouse into the water.
(d) Takes a bath.

5. What happens when the Caliph meets a beautiful, mysterious woman from the city his men have invaded, in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2?
(a) The woman attacks him.
(b) He regrets his actions.
(c) One of his men attacks him.
(d) He falls in love with her.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who were Rumi's three main friends who inspired much of his poetry?

2. In a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2, several men invade a city because they are driven by what?

3. In a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3 involving a complicated love triangle consisting of a man and two women, Rumi explores what subjects?

4. What region in Afghanistan did Rumi come from?

5. What happens to the second son who tries to woo a Chinese princess in one of Rumi's poems in Chapter 2, Book 2?

(see the answer key)

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