Rumi likens the soul of the believer to the porcupine: when you beat it, it spreads out its quills and grows bigger!
There is an animal called the porcupine that grows big and
fat when beaten with a stick.
The more you beat it, the more it thrives: it grows stout
on the blows of a stick.
The true believer’s soul is a porcupine, for it grows stout
on the blows of suffering.
This is why the suffering of the prophets and saints is
greater than that of any other creature.
~ Jalaluddin Rumi (A.D. 1207--1273)
