Dost thou know why the mirror (of thy soul) reflects nothing? Because the rust is not cleared from its face.
عاشق شدن پادشاه بر کنیزک رنجور و تدبیر کردن در صحت او
How the king fell in love with the sick handmaiden and made plans to restore her health.
بشنوید ای دوستان این داستان ** خود حقیقت نقد حال ماست آن35
O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very marrow of our inward state.
بود شاهی در زمانی پیش از این ** ملک دنیا بودش و هم ملک دین
In olden time there was a king to whom belonged the power temporal and also the power spiritual.
اتفاقا شاه روزی شد سوار ** با خواص خویش از بهر شکار
It chanced that one day he rode with his courtiers to the chase.
یک کنیزک دید شه بر شاه راه ** شد غلام آن کنیزک جان شاه
On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden: the king was enthralled by her.
مرغ جانش در قفس چون می‌‌طپید ** داد مال و آن کنیزک را خرید
Forasmuch as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its cage, he gave money and bought the handmaiden.
چون خرید او را و برخوردار شد ** آن کنیزک از قضا بیمار شد40
After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine destiny she sickened.
آن یکی خر داشت، پالانش نبود ** یافت پالان گرگ خر را در ربود
A certain man had an ass but no pack-saddle: (as soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried away his ass.
کوزه بودش آب می‌‌نامد به دست ** آب را چون یافت خود کوزه شکست
He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when he found water, the pitcher broke.
شه طبیبان جمع کرد از چپ و راست ** گفت جان هر دو در دست شماست
The king gathered the physicians together from left and right and said to them, “The life of us both is in your hands.
جان من سهل است جان جانم اوست ** دردمند و خسته‌‌ام درمانم اوست
My life is of no account, (but) she is the life of my life. I am in pain and wounded: she is my remedy.
هر که درمان کرد مر جان مرا ** برد گنج و در و مرجان مرا45
Whoever heals her that is my life will bear away with him my treasure and pearls, large and small.”
جمله گفتندش که جان‌‌بازی کنیم ** فهم گرد آریم و انبازی کنیم
They all answered him, saying, “We will hazard our lives and summon all our intelligence and put it into the common stock.
هر یکی از ما مسیح عالمی است ** هر الم را در کف ما مرهمی است
Each of us is a Messiah of a world (of people): in our hands is a medicine for every pain."
گر خدا خواهد نگفتند از بطر ** پس خدا بنمودشان عجز بشر
In their arrogance they did not say, “If God will”; therefore God showed unto them the weakness of Man.
ترک استثنا مرادم قسوتی است ** نی همین گفتن که عارض حالتی است
I mean (a case in which) omission of the saving clause is (due to) a hardness of heart; not the mere saying of these words, for that is a superficial circumstance.
ای بسا ناورده استثنا به گفت ** جان او با جان استثناست جفت50
How many a one has not pronounced the saving clause, and yet his soul is in harmony with the soul of it!
هر چه کردند از علاج و از دوا ** گشت رنج افزون و حاجت ناروا
The more cures and remedies they applied, the more did the illness increase, and the need was not fulfilled.
آن کنیزک از مرض چون موی شد ** چشم شه از اشک خون چون جوی شد
The sick girl became (thin) as a hair, (while) the eyes of the king flowed with tears of blood, like a river.
از قضا سرکنگبین صفرا فزود ** روغن بادام خشکی می‌‌نمود
By Divine destiny, oxymel increased the bile, and oil of almonds was producing dryness.
از هلیله قبض شد اطلاق رفت ** آب آتش را مدد شد همچو نفت
From (giving) myrobalan constipation resulted, relaxation ceased; and water fed the flames, like naphtha.
ظاهر شدن عجز حکیمان از معالجه‌‌ی کنیزک و روی آوردن پادشاه به درگاه خدا و در خواب دیدن او ولی را
How it became manifest that the physicians were unable to cure the handmaiden, and how the king turned his face towards God and dreamed of a holy man.
شه چو عجز آن حکیمان را بدید ** پا برهنه جانب مسجد دوید55
When the king saw the powerlessness of those physicians, he ran bare-footed to the mosque.