In (confident) hope of the compassion of that well-disposed (friend), he left the thief and again set off (in another direction).
بر امید شفقت آن نیک خواه ** دزد را بگذاشت باز آمد به راه
“O good friend,” said he, “what is the matter? By whose hand (violence) is this lamentation and outcry of yours (caused)?”
گفت ای یار نکو احوال چیست ** این فغان و بانگ تو از دست کیست
“Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The pimping thief has gone this way. [ “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The thief whose wife is for hire (who prostitutes his wife to other men) has gone this way.]
گفت اینک بین نشان پای دزد ** این طرف رفته ست دزد زن بمزد
Look at the cuckold thief's footprints! Follow him by means of these marks and traces.”
نک نشان پای دزد قلتبان ** در پی او رو بدین نقش و نشان
He answered, “O fool, what are you telling me? Why, I had (as good as) caught him,2805
گفت ای ابله چه میگویی مرا ** من گرفته بودم آخر مر و را
(But) at your cry I let the thief go. I deemed you, ass (as you are), a (reasonable) man.
دزد را از بانگ تو بگذاشتم ** من تو خر را آدمی پنداشتم
What silly gabble and nonsense is this, O fellow? I (had) found the reality: what (use to me) is the clue?”
این چه ژاژست و چه هرزه ای فلان ** من حقیقت یافتم چه بود نشان
He replied, “I am giving you a clue to the real (thing). This is the clue; I am acquainted with the reality.”
گفت من از حق نشانت میدهم ** این نشان است از حقیقت آگهم
He (the householder) said, “You are an artful knave or else you are a fool; nay, you are a thief and cognisant of this affair.
گفت طراری تو یا خود ابلهی ** بلکه تو دزدی و زین حال آگهی
I was (on the point of) dragging my adversary along, (when) you let him escape, saying (to me), ‘Here are (his) traces.’”2810
خصم خود را میکشیدم من کشان ** تو رهانیدی و را کاینک نشان