I will seek a girl who is the offspring of a righteous man, not the offspring of a stern-visaged king.”
شاه خود این صالحست آزاد اوست ** نی اسیر حرص فرجست و گلوست
This righteous man is himself a king, he is free, he is not the prisoner of lust and gluttony.
مر اسیران را لقب کردند شاه ** عکس چون کافور نام آن سیاه
They (the people) have given (those) prisoners the title of “king” by inversion, just as Káfúr (Camphor) is the name of that negro.
شد مفازه بادیه‌ی خون‌خوار نام ** نیکبخت آن پیس را کردند عام
The blood-drinking (deadly) wilderness is named mafáza (place of safety); the vulgar call the leper Níkbakht (Fortunatus).
بر اسیر شهوت و حرص و امل ** بر نوشته میر یا صدر اجل3125
They have described the prisoner of lust and anger and ambition by the name of Mír or Sadr-i ajall (most honourable prince).
آن اسیران اجل را عام داد ** نام امیران اجل اندر بلاد
To those prisoners of Doom (asírán-i ajal) the vulgar in (all) the lands have given the title of “most honourable Amírs” (amírán-i ajall).
صدر خوانندش که در صف نعال ** جان او پستست یعنی جاه و مال
They call high-placed (Sadr) him whose soul is (placed) low in the vestibule, that is to say, (worldly) power and riches.
شاه چون با زاهدی خویشی گزید ** این خبر در گوش خاتونان رسید
When the king chose (matrimonial) relationship with an ascetic, this news came to the ears of (his) ladies.
اختیار کردن پادشاه دختر درویش زاهدی را از جهت پسر و اعتراض کردن اهل حرم و ننگ داشتن ایشان از پیوندی درویش
How the king chose the daughter of a poor ascetic for his son and how the ladies of the harem raised objections and disdained the (proposed) alliance with the dervish.
مادر شه‌زاده گفت از نقص عقل ** شرط کفویت بود در عقل نقل
The prince's mother, from deficiency of understanding, said, “According to reason and tradition equality (of rank) is requisite.
تو ز شح و بخل خواهی وز دها ** تا ببندی پور ما را بر گدا3130
Thou from stinginess and miserliness and shrewdness wishest to ally our son with a beggar.”