Beneath the chádar the man was exposed to view and clearly seen—very conspicuous, like a camel on a staircase.
زیر چادر مرد رسوا و عیان ** سخت پیدا چون شتر بر نردبان
She said, ‘’Tis a lady, one of the notables of the town: she has her share of wealth and fortune.
گفت خاتونیست از اعیان شهر ** مر ورا از مال و اقبالست بهر
I bolted the door, lest any stranger should come in suddenly unawares.’
در ببستم تا کسی بیگانه‌ای ** در نیاید زود نادانانه‌ای
The Súfí said, ‘Oh, what service is there (to be done) for her, that I may perform it without (expecting) any thanks or favour (in return)?’190
گفت صوفی چیستش هین خدمتی ** تا بر آرم بی‌سپاس و منتی
She (the wife) said, ‘Her desire is kinship and alliance (with us): she is an excellent lady, God knows who she is.
گفت میلش خویشی و پیوستگیست ** نیک خاتونیست حق داند که کیست
She wished to see our daughter privily; (but) as it happens, the girl is at school;
خواست دختر را ببیند زیر دست ** اتفاقا دختر اندر مکتبست
(So) then she said, Whether she (the daughter) be flour or bran, with (all my) soul and heart I will make her (my son's) bride.
باز گفت ار آرد باشد یا سبوس ** می‌کنم او را به جان و دل عروس
She has a son, who is not in the town: he is handsome and clever, an active lad and one that earns a living.’
یک پسر دارد که اندر شهر نیست ** خوب و زیرک چابک و مکسب کنیست
The Súfí said, ‘We are poor and wretched and inferior (in station); this lady's family are rich and respected.195
گفت صوفی ما فقیر و زار و کم ** قوم خاتون مال‌دار و محتشم
How should this (girl) be an equal match for them in marriage?—one folding door of wood and another of ivory!
کی بود این کفو ایشان در زواج ** یک در از چوب و دری دیگر ز عاج
In wedlock both the partners must be equal, otherwise it will pinch, and (their) happiness will not endure.’
کفو باید هر دو جفت اندر نکاح ** ورنه تنگ آید نماند ارتیاح
How the wife said that she (the lady) was not bent upon household goods, and that what she wanted was modesty and virtue; and how the Súfí answered her (his wife) cryptically.
گفتن زن کی او در بند جهاز نیست مراد او ستر و صلاحست و جواب گفتن صوفی این را سرپوشیده
She (the wife) said, ‘I gave such an excuse, but she said, No, I am not one who seeks (worldly) means.
گفت گفتم من چنین عذری و او ** گفت نه من نیستم اسباب جو
We are sick and surfeited with possessions and gold; we are not like the common folk in regard to coveting and amassing (wealth).
ما ز مال و زر ملول و تخمه‌ایم ** ما به حرص و جمع نه چون عامه‌ایم
Our quest is (for) modesty and purity and virtue: truly, welfare in both worlds depends on that.’200
قصد ما سترست و پاکی و صلاح ** در دو عالم خود بدان باشد فلاح
The Súfí once more made the excuse of poverty and repeated it, so that it should not be hidden.
باز صوفی عذر درویشی بگفت ** و آن مکرر کرد تا نبود نهفت
The wife replied, ‘I too have repeated it and have explained our lack of household goods;
گفت زن من هم مکرر کرده‌ام ** بی‌جهازی را مقرر کرده‌ام
(But) her resolution is firmer than a mountain, for she is not dismayed by a hundred poverties.
اعتقاد اوست راسختر ز کوه ** که ز صد فقرش نمی‌آید شکوه
She keeps saying, What I want is chastity: the thing sought from you is sincerity and high-mindedness.’
او همی‌گوید مرادم عفتست ** از شما مقصود صدق و همتست
The Súfí said, ‘In sooth she has seen and is seeing our household goods and possessions, (both) the overt and the covert—205
گفت صوفی خود جهاز و مال ما ** دید و می‌بیند هویدا و خفا
A narrow house, a dwelling-place for a single person, where a needle would not remain hid.
خانه‌ی تنگی مقام یک تنی ** که درو پنهان نماند سوزنی
Moreover, she in (her) guilelessness knows better than we (what is) modesty and purity and renunciation and virtue.
باز ستر و پاکی و زهد و صلاح ** او ز ما به داند اندر انتصاح
She knows better than we (all) the aspects of modesty, and the rear and front and head and tail of modesty.
به ز ما می‌داند او احوال ستر ** وز پس و پیش و سر و دنبال ستر
Evidently she (our daughter) is without household goods and servant, and she (the lady) herself is well-acquainted with virtue and modesty.
ظاهرا او بی‌جهاز و خادمست ** وز صلاح و ستر او خود عالمست
It is not required of a father to dilate on (his daughter's) modesty, when in her it is manifest as a bright day.’210
شرح مستوری ز بابا شرط نیست ** چون برو پیدا چو روز روشنیست
I have told this story with the intent that thou mayst not weave idle talk when the offence is glaring.
این حکایت را بدان گفتم که تا ** لاف کم بافی چو رسوا شد خطا