You struck the stone (flint) against the iron (steel): the fire did not flash out! This may not be; or if it be (so), ’tis rare.
سنگ بر آهن زدی آتش نجست ** این نباشد ور بباشد نادرست
He to whom felicity and salvation are not apportioned (by God)—his mind regards naught but the rarities.
آنک روزی نیستش بخت و نجات ** ننگرد عقلش مگر در نادرات
(He says) that such and such a one sowed seed and had no crop, while that (other) one bore away an oyster-shell (from the sea), and the shell had no pearl (within it).
کان فلان کس کشت کرد و بر نداشت ** و آن صدف برد و صدف گوهر نداشت
(He says that in the cases of) Bal‘am son of Bá‘úr and the accursed Iblís, their acts of worship and their religion availed them not.
بلعم باعور و ابلیس لعین ** سود نامدشان عبادتها و دین
The hundreds of thousands of prophets and travellers on the Way do not come into the mind of that evil-thinking man.4790
صد هزاران انبیا و ره‌روان ** ناید اندر خاطر آن بدگمان
He takes these two (examples) which produce (spiritual) darkness: how should (his) ill fate put aught but this in his heart?
این دو را گیرد که تاریکی دهد ** در دلش ادبار جز این کی نهد
Oh, there is many a one that eats bread with a glad heart, and it becomes the death of him: it sticks in his gullet.
بس کسا که نان خورد دلشاد او ** مرگ او گردد بگیرد در گلو
Go, then, O ill-fated man, do not eat bread at all, lest thou fall like him into bale and woe!
پس تو ای ادبار رو هم نان مخور ** تا نیفتی همچو او در شور و شر
Hundreds of thousands of folk are eating loaves of bread and gaining strength and nourishing the (vital) spirit.
صد هزاران خلق نانها می‌خورند ** زور می‌یابند و جان می‌پرورند
How hast thou fallen into that rare (calamity), unless thou art deprived (of blessedness) and art born a fool?4795
تو بدان نادر کجا افتاده‌ای ** گر نه محرومی و ابله زاده‌ای
He (the ill-fated man) has forsaken this world full of sunshine and moonlight and has plunged his head into the pit,
این جهان پر آفتاب و نور ماه ** او بهشته سر فرو برده به چاه
Saying, “If it is true, then where is the radiance?” Lift up thy head from the pit and look, O miserable wretch!
که اگر حقست پس کو روشنی ** سر ز چه بردار و بنگر ای دنی
The whole world, east and west, obtained that light, (but) whilst thou art in the pit it will not shine upon thee.
جمله عالم شرق و غرب آن نور یافت ** تا تو در چاهی نخواهد بر تو تافت
Leave the pit, go to the palace and the vineyards; do not wrangle here, know that quarrelling is unlucky.
چه رها کن رو به ایوان و کروم ** کم ستیز اینجا بدان کاللج شوم
Beware! Do not say, “Mark you, such and such a one sowed seed, and in such and such a year the locusts devoured what he had sown.4800
هین مگو کاینک فلانی کشت کرد ** در فلان سالی ملخ کشتش بخورد
Why, then, should I sow? for there is danger in this respect. Why should I scatter this corn(-seed) from my hand?”
پس چرا کارم که اینجا خوف هست ** من چرا افشانم این گندم ز دست
And (meanwhile) he who did not neglect to sow and labour fills his barn (with grain), to your confusion.
و آنک او نگذاشت کشت و کار را ** پر کند کوری تو انبار را
Since he (the lover) was patiently knocking at a door, at last one day he obtained a meeting in private.
چون دری می‌کوفت او از سلوتی ** عاقبت در یافت روزی خلوتی
From fear of the night-patrol he sprang by night into the orchard: (there) he found his beloved, (radiant) as candle and lamp.
جست از بیم عسس شب او به باغ ** یار خود را یافت چون شمع و چراغ
At that moment he said to the Maker of the means (by which he had attained to his desire), “O God, have mercy on the night-patrol!4805
گفت سازنده‌ی سبب را آن نفس ** ای خدا تو رحمتی کن بر عسس
Unbeknown (to me), Thou hast created the means: from the gate of Hell Thou hast brought me to Paradise.
ناشناسا تو سببها کرده‌ای ** از در دوزخ بهشتم برده‌ای
Thou hast made this affair (dread of the night-patrol) a means, to the end that I may not hold (even) a single thorn in contempt.”
بهر آن کردی سبب این کار را ** تا ندارم خوار من یک خار را
In (consequence of) the fracture of a leg God bestows a wing; likewise from the depths of the pit He opens a door (of escape).
در شکست پای بخشد حق پری ** هم ز قعر چاه بگشاید دری
(God saith), “Do not consider whether thou art on a tree or in a pit: consider Me, for I am the Key of the Way.”
تو مبین که بر درختی یا به چاه ** تو مرا بین که منم مفتاح راه
If you wish (to read) the rest of this tale, seek (it), O my brother, in the Fourth Book.4810
گر تو خواهی باقی این گفت و گو ** ای اخی در دفتر چارم بجو