وانک اندر لابه و در ماجرا ** می‌فریباند بهر نوعی مرا
And how in supplication and pleading (with Me) he would fain beguile Me with every sort (of persuasion).”
طوطیان و بلبلان را از پسند ** از خوش آوازی قفس در می‌کنند
Parrots and nightingales are put into cages because they give pleasure by their sweet song;
زاغ را و چغد را اندر قفس ** کی کنند این خود نیامد در قصص
(But) how should crows and owls be caged? This has never been recorded in story.
پیش شاهد باز چون آید دو تن ** آن یکی کمپیر و دیگر خوش‌ذقن 4230
When two persons, one of them a decrepit old man and the other a fair-chinned (youth), come to (a baker who is) an admirer of handsome boys,
هر دو نان خواهند او زوتر فطیر ** آرد و کمپیر را گوید که گیر
And both ask for bread, he will at once fetch the unleavened bread and bid the old man take it;
وآن دگر را که خوشستش قد و خد ** کی دهد نان بل به تاخیر افکند
But how should he (immediately) give bread to the other, by whose figure and cheeks (countenance) he is pleased? Nay, he will delay him
گویدش بنشین زمانی بی‌گزند ** که به خانه نان تازه می‌پزند
And say to him, “Sit down a (little) while, ’twill do (thee) no harm; for the new bread is baking in the house”;
چون رسد آن نان گرمش بعد کد ** گویدش بنشین که حلوا می‌رسد
And when, after the work (of baking is finished), the hot bread is brought to him (the youth), he (the baker) will say to him, “Sit down, for halwá (sweetmeat) is coming.”
هم برین فن داردارش می‌کند ** وز ره پنهان شکارش می‌کند 4235
In this same fashion he is always detaining him and seeking covertly to make him his prey,
که مرا کاریست با تو یک زمان ** منتظر می‌باش ای خوب جهان
Saying, “I have some (important) business to do with thee: wait a moment, O beauty of the world!”
بی‌مرادی مومنان از نیک و بد ** تو یقین می‌دان که بهر این بود
Know for sure that this is the reason why the true believers suffer disappointment (whether) in (seeking) good or (in avoiding) evil.
رجوع کردن به قصه‌ی آن شخص کی به او گنج نشان دادند به مصر و بیان تضرع او از درویشی به حضرت حق
Returning to the Story of the person who was given a clue to the treasure (buried) at Cairo, and setting forth his supplication to God on account of his poverty.
مرد میراثی چو خورد و شد فقیر ** آمد اندر یا رب و گریه و نفیر
When the man who received the inheritance had squandered it and become a pauper, he began to cry “O Lord!” and weep and lament.
خود کی کوبد این در رحمت‌نثار ** که نیابد در اجابت صد بهار
Verily, who shall knock at this Door, from which mercy is showered, without gaining in response a hundred springs (seasons of spiritual refreshment)?
خواب دید او هاتفی گفت او شنید ** که غنای تو به مصر آید پدید 4240
He dreamed that he heard a Voice from heaven saying, “Thy fortune will be found in Cairo;
رو به مصر آنجا شود کار تو راست ** کرد کدیت را قبول او مرتجاست
Go to Cairo: there thy affair will be set right. He (God) hath accepted thy humble petition: He is the (only) Object of hope.
در فلان موضع یکی گنجی است زفت ** در پی آن بایدت تا مصر رفت
In such-and-such a spot is a great treasure: thou must go to Cairo in quest of it.
بی‌درنگی هین ز بغداد ای نژند ** رو به سوی مصر و منبت‌گاه قند
Hark, O wretched man, go without any delay from Baghdád to Cairo and the home of sugar-candy.”
چون ز بغداد آمد او تا سوی مصر ** گرم شد پشتش چو دید او روی مصر
When he departed from Baghdád (and came) to Cairo, at the sight of Cairo his courage was restored,
بر امید وعده‌ی هاتف که گنج ** یابد اندر مصر بهر دفع رنج 4245
(For he was) in hope of (the fulfilment of) the promise given by the heavenly Voice that he would find in Cairo the treasure to remove his trouble—
در فلان کوی و فلان موضع دفین ** هست گنجی سخت نادر بس گزین
“In such and such a quarter and such and such a spot there is a buried treasure exceedingly rare and very choice.”
لیک نفقه‌ش بیش و کم چیزی نماند ** خواست دقی بر عوام‌الناس راند
But of money for expenses, great or small, he had nothing left; and he was about to go and beg from the common folk,
لیک شرم و همتش دامن گرفت ** خویش را در صبر افشردن گرفت
But (feelings of) shame and honour held him back, (so that) he began to plant himself firmly on fortitude.
باز نفسش از مجاعت بر طپید ** ز انتجاع و خواستن چاره ندید
(Meanwhile), however, his soul fluttered (in distress) on account of hunger: he saw no means of escape from foraging and begging.
گفت شب بیرون روم من نرم نرم ** تا ز ظلمت نایدم در کدیه شرم 4250
“At nightfall,” he said (to himself), “I will slip out very quietly, in order that I may beg in the dark without feeling ashamed.
هم‌چو شبکوکی کنم شب ذکر و بانگ ** تا رسد از بامهاام نیم دانگ
At night I will chant (litanies) and bawl like a night-mendicant, that half a dáng may come to me from the roofs.”