دور میشد این سؤال و این جواب ** ماند چون خر محتسب اندر خلاب
These questions and answers were becoming a (vicious) circle. The Inspector was left (stuck) in the mud, like an ass.
گفت او را محتسب هین آه کن ** مست هو هو کرد هنگام سخن
The Inspector said to him, “Come now, say ‘Ah’”; (but) the drunken man, at the moment of utterance, said “Hú, Hú.”
گفت گفتم آه کن هو میکنی ** گفت من شاد و تو از غم دم زنی
“I told you to say ‘Ah’,” said he; “you are saying ‘Hú’.” “(Because) I am glad,” he replied, “while you are bent with grief.
آه از درد و غم و بیدادی است ** هوی هوی می خوران از شادی است
‘Ah’ is (uttered) on account of pain and grief and injustice; the ‘Hú, Hú’ of the wine-drinkers is from joy.”
محتسب گفت این ندانم خیز خیز ** معرفت متراش و بگذار این ستیز2395
The Inspector said, “I know nothing about this. Get up, get up! Don't retail mystic lore, and leave off this wrangling.”
گفت رو تو از کجا من از کجا ** گفت مستی خیز تا زندان بیا
“Go away,” said the man; “what have you to do with me?” “You are drunk,” the Inspector said. “Get up and come to prison.”
گفت مست ای محتسب بگذار و رو ** از برهنه کی توان بردن گرو
Said the drunken man, “O Inspector, let me alone and go away. How is it possible to carry off pledges from one that is naked?
گر مرا خود قوت رفتن بدی ** خانهی خود رفتمی وین کی شدی
If indeed I had had the power to walk, I should have gone to my house—and (then) how would this (affair between us) have occurred?
من اگر با عقل و با امکانمی ** همچو شیخان بر سر دکانمی
Were I (still) possessed of understanding and of contingent (unreal) existence, I should be on the bench, (giving instruction) like the Shaykhs.”
دوم بار در سخن کشیدن سایل آن بزرگ را تا حال او معلوم تر گردد
How the inquirer, for the second time, drew that eminent (saint) into conversation, in order that his condition might be made better known (to the inquirer).
گفت آن طالب که آخر یک نفس ** ای سواره بر نی این سو ران فرس2400
That seeker said, “O thou mounted on the cane, pray, ride thy horse this way for one moment.”
راند سوی او که هین زوتر بگو ** کاسب من بس توسن است و تند خو
He rode towards him, crying, “Hark, say as quick as you can (what you want), for my horse is very restive and fierce-tempered.
تا لگد بر تو نکوبد زود باش ** از چه میپرسی بیانش کن تو فاش
Be quick, lest he kick you: explain clearly what you are asking about.”
او مجال راز دل گفتن ندید ** زو برون شو کرد و در لاغش کشید
He (the inquirer) saw no opportunity to tell his heart's secret: he at once made an evasion and drew him into jesting talk.
گفت میخواهم در این کوچه زنی ** کیست لایق از برای چون منی
He said, “I wish to marry a woman in this street: who is suitable for one like me?”
گفت سه گونه زناند اندر جهان ** آن دو رنج و این یکی گنج روان2405
“There are three kinds of women in the world,” said he: “two of those are a sorrow, and one is the soul's treasure.
آن یکی را چون بخواهی کل تراست ** و آن دگر نیمی ترا نیمی جداست
The first, when you marry her, is wholly yours; and the second is half yours and half separate (from you);
و آن سوم هیچ او ترا نبود بدان ** این شنودی دور شو رفتم روان
And the third, know she is not yours at all. You have heard this. Away (with you)!—I start in a trice—
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!’
چون که سوی دشت و نورش ره نبود ** هم در آن ظلمات جهدی مینمود
Inasmuch as he had no way (of getting out) to the open country and the light, he continued to make (such) an exertion even in that darkness.
گر خدایش پر دهد پر خرد ** برهد از موشی و چون مرغان پرد
If God give him wings, the wings of Wisdom, he will escape from mousiness and will fly like the birds;
ور نجوید پر بماند زیر خاک ** ناامید از رفتن راه سماک2435
But if he seek not wings, he will remain underground with no hope of traversing the path to Simák.
علم گفتاری که آن بیجان بود ** عاشق روی خریداران بود
Dialectic knowledge, which is soulless, is in love with (eager for) the countenance of customers;
گر چه باشد وقت بحث علم زفت ** چون خریدارش نباشد مرد و رفت
(But) though it is robust at the time of disputation, it is dead and gone when it has no customer.
مشتری من خدای است او مرا ** میکشد بالا که الله اشتری
My purchaser is God: He is drawing me aloft, for God hath purchased.
خونبهای من جمال ذو الجلال ** خونبهای خود خورم کسب حلال
My bloodwit (the reward of my self-sacrifice) is the beauty of the Glorious One: I enjoy my bloodwit (as) lawful earnings.
این خریداران مفلس را بهل ** چه خریداری کند یک مشت گل2440
Abandon these insolvent customers: what purchase can be made by a handful of (worthless) clay?