If the beetle feels a desire for some (particular) rose-water, that constitutes a proof of its not being rose-water.
گر گلابی را جعل راغب شود ** آن دلیل ناگلابی میکند
If any false coin is eager for the touchstone, uncertainty and doubt enter into (the fact of) its being a touchstone.
گر شود قلبی خریدار محک ** در محکیاش در آید نقص و شک
The thief wants night, not day––mark this! I am not night, I am day, for I shine throughout the world.
دزد شب خواهد نه روز این را بدان ** شب نیام روزم که تابم در جهان
I am discerning, I am exceedingly discriminating and sieve-like, so that the chaff finds no passage through me.
فارقم فاروقم و غلبیروار ** تا که کاه از من نمییابد گذار
I make the flour distinct from the bran, in order to show that this is the (external) forms, and that the (inward) souls (essences).2090
آرد را پیدا کنم من از سبوس ** تا نمایم کاین نقوش است آن نفوس
I am as the scales of God in the world: I reveal (the difference of) every light thing from the heavy.
من چو میزان خدایم در جهان ** وانمایم هر سبک را از گران
A calf deems the cow God; the ass (deems God) one who is fond (of it) and that which accords with its desires.
گاو را داند خدا گوسالهای ** خر خریداری و در خور کالهای
I am not a cow, that the calf should be fond of me; I am not thistles, that a camel should browse on me.
من نه گاوم تا که گوسالهم خرد ** من نه خارم کاشتری از من چرد
He (the unbeliever) supposes that he has done me an injury; nay, he has wiped away the dust from my mirror.”
او گمان دارد که با من جور کرد ** بلکه از آیینهی من روفت گرد
How the madman sought to ingratiate himself with Jálínús (Galen), and how Jálínús was afraid.
تملق کردن دیوانه جالینوس را و ترسیدن جالینوس
Jálínús said to his companions, “Let (one of you) give me such-and-such a medicine.”2095
گفت جالینوس با اصحاب خود ** مر مرا تا آن فلان دارو دهد
Then said that person to him, “O master of (many) sciences, this medicine is sought (as a cure) for madness.
پس بدو گفت آن یکی ای ذو فنون ** این دوا خواهند از بهر جنون
Far be this from thy intellect! Say no more (about it).” He replied, “A madman turned his face to me,
دور از عقل تو این دیگر مگو ** گفت در من کرد یک دیوانه رو
Looked pleasantly on my face for a while, made little eyes at me, and plucked my sleeve.
ساعتی در روی من خوش بنگرید ** چشمکم زد آستین من درید
Had there not been in me congeniality with him, how would that ill-favoured man have turned his face towards me?
گر نه جنسیت بدی در من از او ** کی رخ آوردی به من آن زشت رو
Had he not seen (in me) one of his own kind, how should he have approached? How should he have thrown himself upon (attached himself to) one of another kind?”2100
گر ندیدی جنس خود کی آمدی ** کی به غیر جنس خود را بر زدی
When two persons come into touch with each other, without any doubt there is something in common between them.
چون دو کس بر هم زند بیهیچ شک ** در میانشان هست قدر مشترک
How should a bird fly except with its own kind? The society of the uncongenial is the grave and the tomb.
کی پرد مرغی مگر با جنس خود ** صحبت ناجنس گور است و لحد
The cause of a bird's flying and feeding with a bird that is not of its own kind.
سبب پریدن و چریدن مرغی با مرغی که جنس او نبود
Said a certain sage, “I saw a crow running about in the desert with a stork.
آن حکیمی گفت دیدم هم تکی ** در بیابان زاغ را با لکلکی
I marvelled long, and I investigated their case, in order that I might find the clue (as to) what it was that they had in common.
در عجب ماندم بجستم حالشان ** تا چه قدر مشترک یابم نشان
When, amazed and bewildered, I approached them, (then) indeed I saw that both of them were lame.”2105
چون شدم نزدیک، من حیران و دنگ ** خود بدیدم هر دوان بودند لنگ
In particular, (how should) a royal falcon, which is of the highest heaven, (consort) with an owl, which is of the low earth?
خاصه شهبازی که او عرشی بود ** با یکی جغدی که او فرشی بود
That one is the sun of ‘Illiyyún, while the other is a bat which belongs to Sijjín.
آن یکی خورشید علیین بود ** وین دگر خفاش کز سجین بود
That one is a luminary, free from every defect, while this (other) one is a blind man begging at every door.
آن یکی نوری ز هر عیبی بری ** وین یکی کوری گدای هر دری
That one is a moon that strikes (its beams) upon the Pleiades, while this (other) one is a worm that lives in dung.
آن یکی ماهی که بر پروین زند ** وین یکی کرمی که در سرگین زید
That one has the face of a Joseph, the breath of a Jesus, while this (other) one is a wolf or an ass with a bell.2110
آن یکی یوسف رخی عیسی نفس ** وین یکی گرگی و یا خر با جرس