He asked, “How many years hast thou lived, my lad? Say (it) out and don't hide (it) away but count up (correctly).”1115
گفت عمرت چند سالست ای پسر ** بازگو و در مدزد و بر شمر
He replied, “Eighteen, seventeen, or sixteen, or fifteen, O adoptive brother.”
گفت هجده هفده یا خود شانزده ** یا که پانزده ای برادرخوانده
“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back usque ad cunnum matris tuae!” [“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back until (you return to) your mother’s vagina!”]
گفت واپس واپس ای خیره سرت ** باز می‌رو تا بکس مادرت
Story in exposition of the same topic.
حکایت در تقریر همین سخن
A certain man begged an Amír to give him a horse: he said, “Go and take that grey horse.”
آن یکی اسپی طلب کرد از امیر ** گفت رو آن اسپ اشهب را بگیر
He replied, “I don't want that one.” “Why not?” he asked. “It goes backward and is very restive,” said he;
گفت آن را من نخواهم گفت چون ** گفت او واپس‌روست و بس حرون
“It goes back, back very hard in the direction of its rump.” He replied, “Turn its tail towards home!”1120
سخت پس پس می‌رود او سوی بن ** گفت دمش را به سوی خانه کن
The tail of this beast you are riding, (namely), your carnal soul, is lust; hence that self-worshipper goes back, back.
دم این استور نفست شهوتست ** زین سبب پس پس رود آن خودپرست
O changer, make its (carnal) lust, which is the tail, to be entirely lust for the world hereafter.
شهوت او را که دم آمد ز بن ** ای مبدل شهوت عقبیش کن
When you bind its lust (and debar it) from the loaf, that lust puts forth its head from (is transformed into) noble reason.
چون ببندی شهوتش را از رغیف ** سر کند آن شهوت از عقل شریف
As, when you lop off a (superfluous) branch from a tree, vigour is imparted to the well-conditioned branches.
هم‌چو شاخی که ببری از درخت ** سر کند قوت ز شاخ نیک‌بخت