None of these sorcerers is equal to the old woman except me, the sagacious one, who have arrived from yonder shore.
نیست همتا زال را زین ساحران ** جز من داهی رسیده زان کران
Lo, by command of the Creator, I, like the hand of Moses, will utterly destroy her sorcery;
چون کف موسی به امر کردگار ** نک برآرم من ز سحر او دمار
For to me this knowledge hath come from yonder region, not from having been schooled in the sorcery which is held cheap (by the wise).
که مرا این علم آمد زان طرف ** نه ز شاگردی سحر مستخف
I am come to undo her sorcery, so that the prince may not remain pale-faced.
آمدم تا بر گشایم سحر او ** تا نماند شاهزاده زردرو
Go to the graveyard at the hour of the meal taken before dawn: beside the wall is a whitened tomb.3170
سوی گورستان برو وقت سحور ** پهلوی دیوار هست اسپید گور
Dig up that place in the direction of the qibla, that thou mayst behold the power and the working of God.”
سوی قبله باز کاو آنجای را ** تا ببینی قدرت و صنع خدا
This story is very long, and you (O reader) are weary: I will relate the cream (of it), I dismiss what is superfluous.
بس درازست این حکایت تو ملول ** زبده را گویم رها کردم فضول
He (the magician) untied those heavy knots: then he gave to the king's son a way (of escape) from the affliction.
آن گرههای گران را بر گشاد ** پس ز محنت پور شه را راه داد
The boy came to himself and with a hundred tribulations went running towards the throne of the king.
آن پسر با خویش آمد شد دوان ** سوی تخت شاه با صد امتحان
He made prostration and was beating his chin on the earth: the boy held in his arms a sword and winding-sheet.3175
سجده کرد و بر زمین میزد ذقن ** در بغل کرده پسر تیغ و کفن
The king ordered the city to be decorated, and the citizens and the despairing disappointed bride rejoiced.
شاه آیین بست و اهل شهر شاد ** وآن عروس ناامید بیمراد
The (whole) world revived once more and was filled with radiance: (the people said), “Oh, what a wondrous difference between that day (of sorrow) and to-day!”
عالم از سر زنده گشت و پر فروز ** ای عجب آن روز روز امروز روز
The king made such a (lavish) wedding-feast for him that sugared julep was (placed) before the dogs.
یک عروسی کرد شاه او را چنان ** که جلاب قند بد پیش سگان
The old witch died of vexation and gave up her hideous face and (foul) nature to Málik.
جادوی کمپیر از غصه بمرد ** روی و خوی زشت فا مالک سپرد
The prince was left in amazement: (he said to himself), “How did she rob me of understanding and insight?”3180
شاهزاده در تعجب مانده بود ** کز من او عقل و نظر چون در ربود
He beheld a newly wedded bride like the beauteous moon, who was (as a brigand) infesting the road of beauty (and occupying it) against (all) the (other) fair ones.
نو عروسی دید همچون ماه حسن ** که همی زد بر ملیحان راه حسن
He became senseless and fell on his face: for three days the heart (consciousness) vanished from his body.
گشت بیهوش و برو اندر فتاد ** تا سه روز از جسم وی گم شد فاد
Three days and nights he became unconscious of himself, so that the people were (sorely) perturbed by his swoon.
سه شبان روز او ز خود بیهوش گشت ** تا که خلق از غشی او پر جوش گشت
By means of rose-water and (other) remedies he came to himself (again): little by little, good and evil were apprehended by him (once more).
از گلاب و از علاج آمد به خود ** اندک اندک فهم گشتش نیک و بد
After a year the king said to him jokingly in conversation, “O son, bethink thee of that old friend (of thine),3185
بعد سالی گفت شاهش در سخن ** کای پسر یاد آر از آن یار کهن
Bethink thee of that bedfellow and that bed: do not be so faithless and harsh!”
یاد آور زان ضجیع و زان فراش ** تا بدین حد بیوفا و مر مباش
“Go to!” said he; “I have found the abode of joy, I am delivered from the pit of the abode of delusion.”
گفت رو من یافتم دار السرور ** وا رهیدم از چه دار الغرور
’Tis even so: when the true believer has found the way towards the Light of God, he averts his face from the darkness (of this world).
همچنان باشد چو مومن راه یافت ** سوی نور حق ز ظلمت روی تافت
Explaining that the prince is Man, the vicegerent of God, and that his father is Adam, the chosen one, the vicegerent of God, he to whom the angels bowed in worship; and that the old hag of Kábul is the World which separated Man from his Father by sorcery, while the prophets and saints are (like) the physician who applied the remedy.
در بیان آنک شهزاده آدمی بچه است خلیفهی خداست پدرش آدم صفی خلیفهی حق مسجود ملایک و آن کمپیر کابلی دنیاست کی آدمیبچه را از پدر ببرید به سحر و انبیا و اولیا آن طبیب تدارک کننده
O brother, know that thou art the prince born anew in the old world.
ای برادر دانک شهزاده توی ** در جهان کهنه زاده از نوی
The witch of Kábul is this World which made men captive to colour and perfume.3190
کابلی جادو این دنیاست کو ** کرد مردان را اسیر رنگ و بو