- For some few days it refrained from speech; the greengrocer, in repentance, heaved deep sighs,
- روزکی چندی سخن کوتاه کرد ** مرد بقال از ندامت آه کرد
- Tearing his beard and saying, “Alas! the sun of my prosperity has gone under the clouds.
- ریش بر میکند و میگفت ای دریغ ** کافتاب نعمتم شد زیر میغ
- Would that my hand had been broken (powerless) at the moment when I struck (such a blow) on the head of that sweet-tongued one?” 255
- دست من بشکسته بودی آن زمان ** که زدم من بر سر آن خوش زبان
- He was giving presents to every dervish, that he might get back the speech of his bird.
- هدیهها میداد هر درویش را ** تا بیابد نطق مرغ خویش را
- After three days and three nights, he was seated on the bench, distraught and sorrowful, like a man in despair,
- بعد سه روز و سه شب حیران و زار ** بر دکان بنشسته بد نومید وار
- Showing the bird every sort of hidden (unfamiliar) thing (in the hope) that maybe it would begin to speak.
- مینمود آن مرغ را هر گون شگفت ** تا که باشد کاندر آید او بگفت
- Meanwhile a bare-headed dervish, clad in a jawlaq (coarse woollen frock), passed by, with a head hairless as the outside of bowl and basin.
- جولقیی سر برهنه میگذشت ** با سر بیمو چو پشت طاس و طشت
- Thereupon the parrot cried to the dervish, as rational persons (might have done). 260
- طوطی اندر گفت آمد در زمان ** بانگ بر درویش زد که هی فلان
- How were you mixed up with the bald, O baldpate? Did you, then, spill oil from the bottle?”
- از چه ای کل با کلان آمیختی ** تو مگر از شیشه روغن ریختی
- The bystanders laughed at the parrot's inference, because it deemed the wearer of the frock to be like itself.
- از قیاسش خنده آمد خلق را ** کو چو خود پنداشت صاحب دلق را
- Do not measure the actions of holy men by (the analogy of) yourself, though shér (lion) and shír (milk) are similar in writing.
- کار پاکان را قیاس از خود مگیر ** گر چه ماند در نبشتن شیر و شیر
- On this account the whole world is gone astray: scarcely any one is cognisant of God's Abdál (Substitutes).
- جمله عالم زین سبب گمراه شد ** کم کسی ز ابدال حق آگاه شد
- They set up (a claim of) equality with the prophets; they supposed the saints to be like themselves. 265
- همسری با انبیا برداشتند ** اولیا را همچو خود پنداشتند
- “Behold,” they said, “we are men, they are men; both we and they are in bondage to sleep and food.”
- گفته اینک ما بشر ایشان بشر ** ما و ایشان بستهی خوابیم و خور
- In (their) blindness they did not perceive that there is an infinite difference between (them).
- این ندانستند ایشان از عمی ** هست فرقی در میان بیمنتها
- Both species of zanbúr ate and drank from the (same) place, but from that one (the hornet) came a sting, and from this other (the bee) honey.
- هر دو گون زنبور خوردند از محل ** لیک شد ز ان نیش و زین دیگر عسل
- Both species of deer ate grass and drank water: from this one came dung, and from that one pure musk.
- هر دو گون آهو گیا خوردند و آب ** زین یکی سرگین شد و ز ان مشک ناب
- Both reeds drank from the same water-source, (but) this one is empty and that one full of sugar. 270
- هر دو نی خوردند از یک آب خور ** این یکی خالی و آن پر از شکر
- Consider hundreds of thousands of such likenesses and observe that the distance between the two is (as great as) a seventy years' journey.
- صد هزاران این چنین اشباه بین ** فرقشان هفتاد ساله راه بین
- This one eats, and filth is discharged from him; that one eats, and becomes entirely the light of God.
- این خورد گردد پلیدی زو جدا ** آن خورد گردد همه نور خدا
- This one eats, (and of him) is born nothing but avarice and envy; that one eats, (and of him) is born nothing but the Light of the One (God).
- این خورد زاید همه بخل و حسد ** و آن خورد زاید همه نور احد
- This one is good (fertile) soil and that one brackish and bad; this one is a fair angel and that one a devil and wild beast.
- این زمین پاک و ان شوره ست و بد ** این فرشتهی پاک و ان دیو است و دد
- If both resemble each other in aspect, it may well be (so): bitter water and sweet water have (the same) clearness. 275
- هر دو صورت گر بهم ماند رواست ** آب تلخ و آب شیرین را صفاست
- Who knows (the difference) except a man possessed of (spiritual) taste? Find (him): he knows the sweet water from the brine.
- جز که صاحب ذوق کی شناسد بیاب ** او شناسد آب خوش از شوره آب
- Comparing magic with (prophetic) miracle, he (the ignorant one) fancies that both are founded on deceit.
- سحر را با معجزه کرده قیاس ** هر دو را بر مکر پندارد اساس