تا ترا اسبم نپراند لگد ** که بیفتی بر نخیزی تا ابد
Lest my horse let fly a kick at you, so that you fall and never rise up (again).”
شیخ راند اندر میان کودکان ** بانگ زد بار دگر او را جوان
The Shaykh rode off amongst the children, (but) the young man shouted to him once more,
که بیا آخر بگو تفسیر این ** این زنان سه نوع گفتی بر گزین2410
“Come, prithee declare the exposition of this. Thou hast said that these women are of three kinds: pick (them) out.”
راند سوی او و گفتش بکر خاص ** کل ترا باشد ز غم یابی خلاص
He rode towards him and said to him, “The virgin of your choice will be wholly yours, and you will gain freedom from sorrow;
و انکه نیمی آن تو بیوه بود ** و انکه هیچست آن عیال با ولد
And she that is half yours is the (childless) widow; and she that is nothing (to you) is the married woman with a child:
چون ز شوی اولش کودک بود ** مهر و کل خاطرش آن سو رود
When she has a child by her first husband, her love and whole heart will go to that quarter.
دور شو تا اسب نندازد لگد ** سم اسب توسنم بر تو رسد
(Now) get away, lest my horse launch a kick, and the hoof of my restive horse land upon you.”
های و هویی کرد شیخ و باز راند ** کودکان را باز سوی خویش خواند2415
The Shaykh gave a loud cry of jubilation and rode back: he again called the children to him.
باز بانگش کرد آن سایل بیا ** یک سؤالم ماند ای شاه کیا
That inquirer shouted to him once more, “Come (hither), I have one question left, O sovereign king.”
باز راند این سو بگو زودتر چه بود ** که ز میدان آن بچه گویم ربود
He rode back in this direction. “Say what it is,” he cried, “as quick as you can, for yonder child has enraptured my heart.”
گفت ای شه با چنین عقل و ادب ** این چه شیداست این چه فعل است ای عجب
Said the other, “O king, with such intelligence and erudition (as thou hast), what dissimulation is this? What acting is this? Oh, ’tis a marvel!
تو ورای عقل کلی در بیان ** آفتابی در جنون چونی نهان
Thou transcendest the Universal Intellect in (thy power of) elucidation. Thou art a sun: how art thou hid in madness?”
گفت این اوباش رایی میزنند ** تا در این شهر خودم قاضی کنند2420
He replied, “These rascals are proposing to make me Cadi in this their city.
دفع میگفتم مرا گفتند نی ** نیست چون تو عالمی صاحب فنی
I raised objections, (but) they said to me, ‘Nay, there is none so learned and accomplished as thou.
با وجود تو حرام است و خبیث ** که کم از تو در قضا گوید حدیث
Whilst thou art in existence, it is unlawful and wicked that any one inferior to thee should cite Prophetic Traditions in the office of Cadi.
در شریعت نیست دستوری که ما ** کمتر از تو شه کنیم و پیشوا
Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’
زین ضرورت گیج و دیوانه شدم ** لیک در باطن همانم که بدم
By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.
عقل من گنج است و من ویرانهام ** گنج اگر پیدا کنم دیوانهام2425
My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed).
اوست دیوانه که دیوانه نشد ** این عسس را دید و در خانه نشد
The (real) madman is he that has not gone mad, he that has seen this night patrol and has not gone home.
دانش من جوهر آمد نه عرض ** این بهایی نیست بهر هر غرض
My knowledge is substantial, not accidental; and this precious (thing) is not for (the purpose of gaining) every (worldly) interest.
کان قندم نیستان شکرم ** هم ز من میروید و من میخورم
I am a mine of candy, I am a plantation of sugar-canes: it is growing from me, and at the same time I am eating (of it).
علم تقلیدی و تعلیمی است آن ** کز نفورش مستمع دارد فغان
Knowledge is conventional and acquired (not real), when he (its owner) laments because the hearer is averse to (hearing) it.
چون پی دانه نه بهر روشنی است ** همچو طالب علم دنیای دنی است2430
Since it is (learned) as a bait (for popularity), not for the sake of (spiritual) enlightenment, he (the seeker of religious knowledge) is just as (bad) as the seeker of vile worldly knowledge;
طالب علم است بهر عام و خاص ** نی که تا یابد از این عالم خلاص
(For) he is seeking knowledge on account of the vulgar and the noble, not in order that he may win release from this world.
همچو موشی هر طرف سوراخ کرد ** چون که نورش راند از در گشت سرد
Like a mouse, he has burrowed in every direction, since the light drove him (back) from the door (the entrance to the hole) and said, ‘Away!’