- Oh, I wonder, is he dead or alive? (Evidently) he has no fear of wolves or enemies.’
- ای عجب مردهست یا زنده که او ** مینترسد هیچ از گرگ و عدو
- They came on and touched him with their hands: that venerable man deliberately said nothing.
- آمدند و دست بر وی میزدند ** قاصدا چیزی نگفت آن ارجمند
- He did not stir, he did not even move his head or open his eyes, because he was making a trial.
- هم نجنبید و نجنبانید سر ** وا نکرد از امتحان هم او بصر
- Then they said, ‘This poor disappointed man has had a stroke of apoplexy caused by hunger.’ 2410
- پس بگفتند این ضعیف بیمراد ** از مجاعت سکته اندر اوفتاد
- They fetched bread and (also) food in a kettle, that they might pour it into his mouth and (down) his throat.
- نان بیاوردند و در دیگی طعام ** تا بریزندش به حلقوم و به کام
- Thereupon the man purposely clenched his teeth, in order to see (test) the truth of that promise.
- پس بقاصد مرد دندان سخت کرد ** تا ببیند صدق آن میعاد مرد
- They felt pity for him and said, ‘This man is starving and perishing with hunger and at the point of death’;
- رحمشان آمد که این بس بینواست ** وز مجاعت هالک مرگ و فناست
- (So) they brought a knife and hastily made a rift in his closed teeth.
- کارد آوردند قوم اشتافتند ** بسته دندانهاش را بشکافتند
- They poured soup into his mouth and forced into it fragments of bread. 2415
- ریختند اندر دهانش شوربا ** میفشردند اندرو نانپارهها
- He said (to himself), ‘O (my) heart, even though thou art keeping silence, thou knowest the secret and art showing a (great) disdain.’
- گفت ای دل گرچه خود تن میزنی ** راز میدانی و نازی میکنی