Rumi's Masnavi - To the Shaykh's questions he gave answer good and right, like the answers of Khadir

To the Shaykh's questions he gave answer good and right, like the answers of Khadir—

مر سؤال شیخ را داد او جواب ** چون جوابات خضر خوب و صواب‏

(Namely) those answers to the questions of Moses which Khadir, (inspired) by the all-knowing Lord, set forth to him,

آن جوابات سؤالات کلیم ** کش خضر بنمود از رب علیم‏

(So that) his difficulties became solved, and he (Khadir) gave to him (Moses) the key to every question (in a way) beyond telling.

گشت مشکلهاش حل و افزون زیاد ** از پی هر مشکلش مفتاح داد

The dervish also had (a spiritual) inheritance from Khadir; (hence) he bent his will to answering the Shaykh. 3530

از خضر درویش هم میراث داشت ** در جواب شیخ همت بر گماشت‏

He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.

گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است‏

Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.

آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم‏

If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;

هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن‏

But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.

ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است‏

If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean. 3535

هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد می‏دان که اوسط آن بود

When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.

چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی‏