He ran after him (the length of) two or three fields, till the fatigue threw him into a sweat.
تا دو سه میدان دوید اندر پیش ** تا در افگند آن تعب اندر خویش
At the moment when, rushing on, he had come so near to him that he might spring upon him and seize him,2795
اندر آن حمله که نزدیک آمدش ** تا بدو اندر جهد دریابدش
The second thief cried out to him, “Come, that you may see these signs of calamity.
دزد دیگر بانگ کردش که بیا ** تا ببینی این علامات بلا
Be quick and turn back, O man of (prompt) action, that you may see (how) very pitiable (is) the state of things here.”
زود باش و باز گرد ای مرد کار ** تا ببینی حال اینجا زار زار
He (the householder) said (to himself), “Maybe a thief is yonder: if I do not return at once, this (fate) will befall me.
گفت باشد کان طرف دزدی بود ** گر نگردم زود این بر من رود
He may lay hands upon my wife and child, (and in that case) how would it profit me to bind this thief (whom I am pursuing)?
در زن و فرزند من دستی زند ** بستن این دزد سودم کی کند
This Moslem is calling me in kindness: unless I return quickly, repentance will befall (me).”2800
این مسلمان از کرم میخواندم ** گر نگردم زود پیش آید ندم
In (confident) hope of the compassion of that well-disposed (friend), he left the thief and again set off (in another direction).
بر امید شفقت آن نیک خواه ** دزد را بگذاشت باز آمد به راه
“O good friend,” said he, “what is the matter? By whose hand (violence) is this lamentation and outcry of yours (caused)?”
گفت ای یار نکو احوال چیست ** این فغان و بانگ تو از دست کیست
“Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The pimping thief has gone this way. [ “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The thief whose wife is for hire (who prostitutes his wife to other men) has gone this way.]
گفت اینک بین نشان پای دزد ** این طرف رفته ست دزد زن بمزد
Look at the cuckold thief's footprints! Follow him by means of these marks and traces.”
نک نشان پای دزد قلتبان ** در پی او رو بدین نقش و نشان
He answered, “O fool, what are you telling me? Why, I had (as good as) caught him,2805
گفت ای ابله چه میگویی مرا ** من گرفته بودم آخر مر و را
(But) at your cry I let the thief go. I deemed you, ass (as you are), a (reasonable) man.
دزد را از بانگ تو بگذاشتم ** من تو خر را آدمی پنداشتم
What silly gabble and nonsense is this, O fellow? I (had) found the reality: what (use to me) is the clue?”
این چه ژاژست و چه هرزه ای فلان ** من حقیقت یافتم چه بود نشان
He replied, “I am giving you a clue to the real (thing). This is the clue; I am acquainted with the reality.”
گفت من از حق نشانت میدهم ** این نشان است از حقیقت آگهم
He (the householder) said, “You are an artful knave or else you are a fool; nay, you are a thief and cognisant of this affair.
گفت طراری تو یا خود ابلهی ** بلکه تو دزدی و زین حال آگهی
I was (on the point of) dragging my adversary along, (when) you let him escape, saying (to me), ‘Here are (his) traces.’”2810
خصم خود را میکشیدم من کشان ** تو رهانیدی و را کاینک نشان
You speak of (external) relations, (but) I transcend (all) relations. In union (with God) where are signs or evidences?
تو جهت گو من برونم از جهات ** در وصال آیات کو یا بینات
The man that is debarred (from the Essence) sees the (Divine) action (as proceeding) from the Attributes: he that has lost the Essence is in (confined to) the Attributes.
صنع بیند مرد محجوب از صفات ** در صفات آن است کاو گم کرد ذات
Inasmuch as those united (with God) are absorbed in the Essence, O son, how should they look upon His Attributes?
واصلان چون غرق ذاتند ای پسر ** کی کنند اندر صفات او نظر
When your head is at the bottom of the river, how will your eye fall on the colour of the water?
چون که اندر قعر جو باشد سرت ** کی به رنگ آب افتد منظرت
And if you come back from the bottom to the colour of the water, then you have received a coarse woollen garment and given (fine) fur (in exchange).2815
ور به رنگ آب باز آیی ز قعر ** پس پلاسی بستدی دادی تو شعر
The piety of the vulgar is sin in the elect; the unitive state of the vulgar is a veil in the elect.
طاعت عامه گناه خاصگان ** وصلت عامه حجاب خاص دان
If the king make a vizier a police inspector, the king is his enemy, he is not his friend.
مر وزیری را کند شه محتسب ** شه عدوی او بود نبود محب
Also, that vizier will have committed some offence: necessarily change (for the worse) is not (does not occur) without cause.
هم گناهی کرده باشد آن وزیر ** بیسبب نبود تغیر ناگزیر