In the conclusion to the tale of the boastful man in Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the man's facade of wealth is abruptly shattered by divine intervention. In response to the silent prayer of his starving belly, a cat steals the fatty sheep-tail he used to grease his mustache, and his child unwittingly exposes the loss to the public. Although this strips the man of his false honor, the humiliation ironically leads to his redemption. The wealthy onlookers, moved to genuine compassion by his revealed destitution, finally feed him to satiety. Rumi uses this narrative climax to demonstrate that abandoning ego and embracing truthful vulnerability is the necessary prerequisite for receiving authentic divine mercy and spiritual nourishment.