ما از آنجا آمدیم اینجا غریب ** تو چرا مخصوص باشی ای ادیب
We (too) came hither as strangers from that place (realm): why shouldst thou be specially endowed (with prophecy), O accomplished one?”
نه شما چون طفل خفته آمدیت ** بی‌خبر از راه وز منزل بدیت
(He replied), “Did not ye come like a sleeping child? Ye were ignorant of the way and the destination.
از منازل خفته بگذشتید و مست ** بی‌خبر از راه و از بالا و پست 1125
Ye passed through the (different) stages asleep and intoxicated, unconscious of the way and (its) ups and downs;
ما به بیداری روان گشتیم و خوش ** از ورای پنج و شش تا پنج و شش
(But) we (prophets) set out in wakefulness and well (aware) from beyond the five (senses) and the six (directions) to (this world of) the five and six,
دیده منزلها ز اصل و از اساس ** چون قلاووز آن خبیر و ره‌شناس
Having perceived (all) the stages from the source and foundation, possessed of experience and knowing the way like (skilled) guides.”
شاه را گفتند اشکنجه‌ش بکن ** تا نگوید جنس او هیچ این سخن
They said to the king, “Put him to the rack, that a person of his sort may never (again) speak such words.”
شاه دیدش بس نزار و بس ضعیف ** که به یک سیلی بمیرد آن نحیف
The king saw that he was very thin and infirm, so that such an emaciated man would die at a single blow.
کی توان او را فشردن یا زدن ** که چو شیشه گشته است او را بدن 1130
(He thought to himself), “How is it possible to torture or beat him, since his body has become as (fragile as) a glass?
لیک با او گویم از راه خوشی ** که چرا داری تو لاف سر کشی
But I will speak to him kindly and say, ‘Why dost thou boast of (this) high estate?’
که درشتی ناید اینجا هیچ کار ** هم به نرمی سر کند از غار مار
For here harshness is of no use: ’tis by gentleness that the snake puts forth its head (is induced to come forth) from the hole.”