Albeit this saying is exceedingly disgraceful, there are boasts on this account amongst the stokers.
این سخن گرچه که رسوایی‌فزاست ** در میان تونیان زین فخرهاست
(One of them says), “Thou hast carried (only) six baskets ere nightfall; I have carried twenty baskets without trouble.”255
که تو شش سله کشیدی تا به شب ** من کشیدم بیست سله بی کرب
He that was born in the stove and never saw purity, the smell of musk produces a painful effect upon him.
آنک در تون زاد و پاکی را ندید ** بوی مشک آرد برو رنجی پدید
Story of the tanner who fainted and sickened on smelling otto and musk in the bazaar of the perfumers.
قصه‌ی آن دباغ کی در بازار عطاران از بوی عطر و مشک بیهوش و رنجور شد
A certain man fell senseless and curled up as soon as he came into the bazaar of the perfumers.
آن یکی افتاد بیهوش و خمید ** چونک در بازار عطاران رسید
The scent of the perfume (floating) from the goodly perfumers smote him, so that his head reeled and he fell on the spot.
بوی عطرش زد ز عطاران راد ** تا بگردیدش سر و بر جا فتاد
He fell unconscious, like a carcase, at noontide in the middle of the thoroughfare.
هم‌چو مردار اوفتاد او بی‌خبر ** نیم روز اندر میان ره‌گذر
Thereupon the people gathered over him, all crying Lá hawl and applying remedies.260
جمع آمد خلق بر وی آن زمان ** جملگان لاحول‌گو درمان کنان
One was putting his hand on his (the tanner's) heart, while another sprinkled rose-water upon him;
آن یکی کف بر دل او می براند ** وز گلاب آن دیگری بر وی فشاند
(For) he did not know that from (smelling) rose-water in the meadow (the bazaar) that calamity had overtaken him.
او نمی‌دانست کاندر مرتعه ** از گلاب آمد ورا آن واقعه
One was massaging his hands and head, and another was bringing moist clay mixed with straw (to serve as a cold plaster);
آن یکی دستش همی‌مالید و سر ** وآن دگر کهگل همی آورد تر
One compounded incense of aloes-wood and sugar, while another was divesting him of part of his clothes;
آن بخور عود و شکر زد به هم ** وآن دگر از پوششش می‌کرد کم
And another felt his pulse, to see how it was beating; and another was smelling his mouth,265
وآن دگر نبضش که تا چون می‌جهد ** وان دگر بوی از دهانش می‌ستد
To see whether he had drunk wine or eaten beng or hashish: the people (having exhausted every resource) remained in despair at his insensibility.
تا که می خوردست و یا بنگ و حشیش ** خلق درماندند اندر بیهشیش
So they speedily brought the news to his kinsfolk—“Such and such a person is lying there in a state of collapse;
پس خبر بردند خویشان را شتاب ** که فلان افتاده است آن‌جا خراب
No one knows how he was stricken with catalepsy, or what it was that led to this public exposure.”
کس نمی داند که چون مصروع گشت ** یا چه شد کو را فتاد از بام طشت
That stout tanner had a brother, (who was) cunning and sagacious: he came at once in hot haste.
یک برادر داشت آن دباغ زفت ** گربز و دانا بیامد زود تفت
(With) a small quantity of dog's dung in his sleeve, he cleft (his way through) the crowd and approached (the senseless man) with cries of grief.270
اندکی سرگین سگ در آستین ** خلق را بشکافت و آمد با حنین
“I know,” said he, “whence his illness arises: when you know the cause (of a disease), the (means of) curing (it) is manifest.
گفت من رنجش همی دانم ز چیست ** چون سبب دانی دوا کردن جلیست
When the cause is unknown, the remedy for the illness is difficult (to find), and in that (case) there are a hundred grounds to which it may be referred;
چون سبب معلوم نبود مشکلست ** داروی رنج و در آن صد محملست
(But) when you have ascertained the cause, it becomes easy: knowledge of causes is the means of expelling ignorance.”
چون بدانستی سبب را سهل شد ** دانش اسباب دفع جهل شد
He said to himself, “The smell of that dog's dung is multiplied in his brain and veins.
گفت با خود هستش اندر مغز و رگ ** توی بر تو بوی آن سرگین سگ
Up to the waist in filth, he is absorbed in the tanner's craft till nightfall, seeking his livelihood.275
تا میان اندر حدث او تا به شب ** غرق دباغیست او روزی‌طلب