جامه خواب آورد و گسترد آن عجوز ** گفت امکان نه و باطن پر ز سوز
The old woman brought the bed-clothes and spread them. She said, “There is no possibility (of speaking), and my heart is filled with burning (grief).
گر بگویم متهم دارد مرا ** ور نگویم جد شود این ماجرا
If I speak, he will hold me suspect; and if I say nothing, this affair will become serious.”
فال بد رنجور گرداند همی ** آدمی را که نبودستش غمی
A man who has not suffered any pain is made ill by a bad omen.
قول پیغامبر قبوله یفرض ** ان تمارضتم لدینا تمرضوا1580
It is obligatory to accept the saying of the Prophet, “If ye pretend to be sick beside me, ye will become (actually) sick.”
گر بگویم او خیالی بر زند ** فعل دارد زن که خلوت می‌کند
“If I tell him (that he is not ill), he will cast up (conceive) a vain fancy (and will think to himself), ‘My wife has an (evil) design, for she is making arrangements to be alone.
مر مرا از خانه بیرون می‌کند ** بهر فسقی فعل و افسون می‌کند
She is getting me out of the house, she is plotting and cajoling for the purpose of some wickedness.’”
جامه خوابش کرد و استاد اوفتاد ** آه آه و ناله از وی می‌بزاد
She prepared his bed, and the master fell down (upon it): sighs and moans were arising from him.
کودکان آنجا نشستند و نهان ** درس می‌خواندند با صد اندهان
The boys sat there, reciting their lesson with a hundred sorrows in secret,
کین همه کردیم و ما زندانییم ** بد بنایی بود ما بد بانییم1585
Thinking, “We have done all this and (still) we are prisoners: it was a bad building (a badly devised plan), and we are bad builders.”
دوم بار وهم افکندن کودکان استاد را کی او را از قرآن خواندن ما درد سر افزاید
How for the second time the boys made the master imagine (that he was ill), saying that their recitation of the Qur’án would increase his headache.
گفت آن زیرک که ای قوم پسند ** درس خوانید و کنید آوا بلند
The clever boy said, “O good fellows, recite the lesson and make your voices loud.”
چون همی‌خواندند گفت ای کودکان ** بانگ ما استاد را دارد زیان
When they were reciting (loudly), he said, “Boys, the noise we are making will do the master harm.
درد سر افزاید استا را ز بانگ ** ارزد این کو درد یابد بهر دانگ
The master's headache will be increased by the noise: is it worth while that he should suffer pain for the sake of (a few) pence?”