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آن امینان بر در حجره شدند ** طالب گنج و زر و خمره بدند 2050
- Those trusted (officers) came to the door of the chamber: they began to search for the treasure and the gold and the jar.
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قفل را برمیگشادند از هوس ** با دو صد فرهنگ و دانش چند کس
- A number of them, (urged) by vain desire, unlocked the door with infinite dexterity and skill;
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زانک قفل صعب و پر پیچیده بود ** از میان قفلها بگزیده بود
- For it was a formidable lock with intricate bolts: he (Ayáz) had selected it from (many other) locks,
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نه ز بخل سیم و مال و زر خام ** از برای کتم آن سر از عوام
- Not that he was avaricious of silver and riches and crude (uncoined) gold, (but) in order to hide that secret (of his) from the vulgar,
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که گروهی بر خیال بد تنند ** قوم دیگر نام سالوسم کنند
- “Lest” (so he thought) “some people imagine evil, (while) others call me a hypocrite.”
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پیش با همت بود اسرار جان ** از خسان محفوظتر از لعل کان 2055
- With the man of lofty aspiration the soul's secrets are kept from the base (worldlings) more safely than the ruby in the mine.
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زر به از جانست پیش ابلهان ** زر نثار جان بود نزد شهان
- To fools gold seems better than the soul; in the opinion of (spiritual) kings gold is to be scattered on the soul (as an offering).
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می شتابیدند تفت از حرص زر ** عقلشان میگفت نه آهستهتر
- In greed of gold they (the officers) were hastening rapidly (to the chamber), (though) their reason was saying, “No; not so fast.”
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حرس تازد بیهده سوی سراب ** عقل گوید نیک بین کان نیست آب
- Greed runs in vain towards the mirage, (though) reason says, "Look carefully: it is not water."
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حرص غالب بود و زر چون جان شده ** نعرهی عقل آن زمان پنهان شده
- Greed was predominant (in them), and gold had become (dear to them) as their souls: at that moment the cry of reason was unheard.
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گشته صدتو حرص و غوغاهای او ** گشته پنهان حکمت و ایمای او 2060
- Greed and its clamours had become hundredfold; wisdom and its suggestions had vanished,
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تا که در چاه غرور اندر فتد ** آنگه از حکمت ملامت بشنود
- To the end that he (the greedy man) may fall into the pit of delusion, and then hearken to the reproaches of Wisdom.
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چون ز بند دام باد او شکست ** نفس لوامه برو یابید دست
- When his wind (idle self-conceit) is broken by imprisonment in the trap,the rebuking soul gets the upper hand over him.
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تا به دیوار بلا ناید سرش ** نشنود پند دل آن گوش کرش
- Until his head comes against the wall of affliction, his deaf ear will not listen to the counsel of his heart.
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کودکان را حرص گوزینه و شکر ** از نصیحتها کند دو گوش کر
- Greed for walnut-cake and sugar makes the ears of children deaf to admonitions;
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چونک دردت دنبلش آغاز شد ** در نصیحت هر دو گوشش باز شد 2065
- (Only) when the pain of his abscess begins do his (the child's) ears become open to good advice.
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حجره را با حرص و صدگونه هوس ** باز کردند آن زمان آن چند کس
- Then the party (of searchers), with cupidity and a hundred kinds of vain desire, opened the chamber.
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اندر افتادند از در ز ازدحام ** همچو اندر دوغ گندیده هوام
- They swarmed in through the doorway, jostling each other, like vermin (falling) on fetid buttermilk.
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عاشقانه در فتد با کر و فر ** خورد امکان نی و بسته هر دو پر
- They (the insects) fall on it triumphantly, like lovers, (but) there is no possibility of drinking, and both wings are stuck.
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بنگریدند از یسار و از یمین ** چارقی بدریده بود و پوستین
- They (the officers) looked to the left and to the right: there was (only) a torn pair of shoon and a sheepskin jacket.
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باز گفتند این مکان بینوش نیست ** چارق اینجا جز پی روپوش نیست 2070
- After (having looked), they said (to one another), “This place is not without balm: the shoon are only (displayed) here as a blind.
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هین بیاور سیخهای تیز را ** امتحان کن حفره و کاریز را
- Hey, bring sharp picks: try excavation and tunnelling.”
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هر طرف کندند و جستند آن فریق ** حفرهها کردند و گوهای عمیق
- The (searching) party dug and searched in every direction: they dug holes and deep cavities.
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حفرههاشان بانگ میداد آن زمان ** کندههای خالییم ای کندگان
- Thereupon the holes were (virtually) crying out to them, “We are empty holes, O ye stinkers!”
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زان سگالش شرم هم میداشتند ** کندهها را باز میانباشتند
- Accordingly they (the officers) were ashamed of that (evil) thought (concerning Ayáz) and filled up the holes again.