259 Wakened by the Dove’s Trill: Structure and Meaning in the Preface to Rūmī’s Mathnawī, Book IV  Carl W. Ernst Beginnings are dificult, as all authors know. How should one start a com- plicated writing, in such a way that alert readers know how to interpret the text correctly? Plato is said to have rewritten the opening to his Republic many times. When an expert writer prefaces his work with a formal in- troduction, it is especially important to take that opening seriously, as an announcement of the purpose, context, and audience envisioned for the work. The introduction may be explicit, or it may fall back on allusive and indirect references, but in either case it arguably forms an essential part of the literary structure of the work. Here I would like to investigate one particular example of such an introduction, the preface to Book IV of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī’s Mathnawī. I am building on a previous analysis of the pref- aces to the irst three books of the Mathnawī and their relation to the open- ing dialogs with his disciple Ḥusām al-Dīn Chalabī, which are prominent- ly featured at the beginning of each book. 1 There I argued that Rūmī uses these prefaces to set up his primary goal as a teacher of Suism. That is, he wants to clarify the way in which language functions as a way to bring about the comprehension of a reality that is much larger than any concept. At the same time, he uses the dialogue form to highlight the shortcomings of language, together with the longing of spiritual aspirants who seek a way to overcome those limitations. Each of these prefaces plays varia- tions on this theme of the adequacy of language and the transcendence of the divine reality, with powerful gestures towards the key roles played by both Rūmī’s disciple Ḥusām al-Dīn and his spiritual mentor, Shams-i Tabrīz. The point is that Rūmī is a very deliberate author whose introduc- tory gestures are extremely important for understanding the purpose of his symbolic declarations. Here I would like to argue that the same applies to the preface of Book IV of the Mathnawī as well, although it stands out by 1 Carl W. Ernst, “‘A Little Indicates Much’: Structure and Meaning in the Prefaces to Rūmī’s Mathnawī,” in Mawlana Rumi Review, V (2014), pp. ___, which was a paper origi- nally given at conference on “Wondrous Words: The Poetic Mastery of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī,” sponsored by the Iran Heritage Foundation, British Museum, Sept. 13-15, 2007.