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2
628-677

  • He replied, “My house and home consist in thy beneficence; as (in the case of) an infidel, thy prison is my Paradise.
  • گفت خان و مان من احسان تست ** همچو کافر جنتم زندان تست‏

  • If thou wilt drive me from the prison and turn me out, verily I shall die of destitution and beggary.”
  • گر ز زندانم برانی تو به رد ** خود بمیرم من ز تقصیری و کد

  • (He pleaded) like the Devil, who was saying, “O Preserver, O my Lord, grant me a respite till the day of Resurrection; 630
  • همچو ابلیسی که می‏گفت ای سلام ** رب أنظرنی إلی یوم القیام‏

  • For I am happy (to be) in the prison of this world, in order that I may be slaying the children of mine enemy,
  • کاندر این زندان دنیا من خوشم ** تا که دشمن زادگان را می‏کشم‏

  • (And), if any one have some food of faith and a single loaf as provision for the journey (to the life hereafter),
  • هر که او را قوت ایمانی بود ** و ز برای زاد ره نانی بود

  • I may seize it, now by plot and now by guile, so that in repentance they may raise an outcry (of lamentation);
  • می‏ستانم گه به مکر و گه به ریو ** تا بر آرند از پشیمانی غریو

  • (And in order that) sometimes I may threaten them with poverty, sometimes bind their eyes with (the spell of) tress and mole.”
  • گه به درویشی کنم تهدیدشان ** گه به زلف و خال بندم دیدشان‏

  • In this prison (the world) the food of faith is scarce, and that which exists is in (danger of being caught in) the noose (of destruction) through the attack of this cur. 635
  • قوت ایمانی در این زندان کم است ** وان که هست از قصد این سگ در خم است‏

  • (If) from prayer and fasting and a hundred helplessnesses (utter self-abnegations) the food of spiritual feeling come (to any one), he (the Devil) at once carries it off.
  • از نماز و صوم و صد بی‏چارگی ** قوت ذوق آید برد یک بارگی‏

  • I seek refuge with God from His Satan: we have perished, alas, through his overweening disobedience.
  • أستعیذ الله من شیطانه ** قد هلکنا آه من طغیانه‏

  • He is (but) one cur, and he goes into thousands (of people): into whomsoever he goes, he (that person) becomes he (Satan).
  • یک سگ است و در هزاران می‏رود ** هر که در وی رفت او او می‏شود

  • Whoever makes you cold (damps your spiritual ardour) know that he (Satan) is in him: the Devil has become hidden beneath his skin.
  • هر که سردت کرد می‏دان کاو در اوست ** دیو پنهان گشته اندر زیر پوست‏

  • When he finds no (bodily) form, he comes into (your) fancy, in order that that fancy may lead you into woe: 640
  • چون نیابد صورت آید در خیال ** تا کشاند آن خیالت در وبال‏

  • Now the fancy of recreation, now of the shop; now the fancy of knowledge, and now of house and home.
  • گه خیال فرجه و گاهی دکان ** گه خیال علم و گاهی خان و مان‏

  • Beware! say at once “God help me!” again and again, not with tongue alone but from your very soul.
  • هان بگو لاحولها اندر زمان ** از زبان تنها نه بلک از عین جان‏

  • The end of the story of the insolvent.
  • تتمه قصه مفلس

  • The Cadi said, “Show plainly that you are insolvent.” “Here are the prisoners,” he replied, “as thy witnesses.”
  • گفت قاضی مفلسی را وانما ** گفت اینک اهل زندانت گوا

  • “They,” said the Cadi, “are suspect, because they are fleeing from you and weeping blood (on account of your ill-treatment of them);
  • گفت ایشان متهم باشند چون ** می‏گریزند از تو می‏گریند خون‏

  • Also, they are suing to be delivered from you: by reason of this self-interest the testimony they give is worthless.” 645
  • از تو می‏خواهند هم تا وارهند ** زین غرض باطل گواهی می‏دهند

  • All the people belonging to the court of justice said, “We bear witness both to his (moral) degeneracy and his insolvency.”
  • جمله اهل محکمه گفتند ما ** هم بر ادبار و بر افلاسش گوا

  • Every one whom the Cadi questioned about his condition said, “My lord, wash thy hands of this insolvent.”
  • هر که را پرسید قاضی حال او ** گفت مولا دست ازین مفلس بشو

  • The Cadi said, “March him round the city for all to see, (and cry), ‘This man is an insolvent and a great rogue.’
  • گفت قاضی کش بگردانید فاش ** گرد شهر این مفلس است و بس قلاش‏

  • Make proclamations concerning him, street by street; beat the drum (as an advertisement) of his insolvency everywhere in open view.
  • کو به کو او را مناداها زنید ** طبل افلاسش عیان هر جا زنید

  • Let no one sell to him on credit, let no one lend him a farthing. 650
  • هیچ کس نسیه بنفروشد بدو ** قرض ندهد هیچ کس او را تسو

  • Whosoever may bring here a claim against him for fraud, I will not put him in prison any more.
  • هر که دعوی آردش اینجا به فن ** بیش زندانش نخواهم کرد من‏

  • His insolvency has been proven to me: he has nothing in his possession, (neither) money nor goods.”
  • پیش من افلاس او ثابت شده است ** نقد و کالا نیستش چیزی به دست‏

  • Man is in the prison of this world in order that peradventure his insolvency may be proven.
  • آدمی در حبس دنیا ز آن بود ** تا بود کافلاس او ثابت شود

  • Our God has also proclaimed in our Qur’án the insolvency of the Devil,
  • مفلسی دیو را یزدان ما ** هم منادی کرد در قرآن ما

  • Saying, “He is a swindler and insolvent and liar: do not make any partnership or do any trade with him.” 655
  • کاو دغا و مفلس است و بد سخن ** هیچ با او شرکت و سودا مکن‏

  • And if you do so (and) bring (vain) pretexts to him, he is insolvent: how will you get profit from him?
  • ور کنی او را بهانه آوری ** مفلس است او صرفه از وی کی بری‏

  • When the trouble started, they brought on the scene the camel of a Kurd who sold firewood.
  • حاضر آوردند چون فتنه فروخت ** اشتر کردی که هیزم می‏فروخت‏

  • The helpless Kurd made a great outcry; he also gladdened the officer (appointed to seize the camel) with (the gift of) a dáng;
  • کرد بی‏چاره بسی فریاد کرد ** هم موکل را به دانگی شاد کرد

  • (But) they took away his camel from the time of forenoon until nightfall, and his lamentation was of no use.
  • اشترش بردند از هنگام چاشت ** تا شب و افغان او سودی نداشت‏

  • Upon the camel sat that sore famine (the insolvent), while the owner of the camel was running at its heels. 660
  • بر شتر بنشست آن قحط گران ** صاحب اشتر پی اشتر دوان‏

  • They sped from quarter to quarter and from street to street, till the whole town knew him by sight.
  • سو به سو و کو به کو می‏تاختند ** تا همه شهرش عیان بشناختند

  • Before every bath and market-place all the people gazed on his (features and) figure.
  • پیش هر حمام و هر بازارگاه ** کرده مردم جمله در شکلش نگاه‏

  • (There were) ten loud-voiced criers, Turks and Kurds and Anatolians and Arabs, (proclaiming),
  • ده منادی گر بلند آوازیان ** کرد و ترک و رومیان و تازیان‏

  • “This man is insolvent and has nothing: let no one lend him a single brass farthing;
  • مفلس است این و ندارد هیچ چیز ** قرض تا ندهد کس او را یک پشیز

  • He does not possess a single mite, patent or latent: he is a bankrupt, a piece of falsehood, a cunning knave, an oil-bag. 665
  • ظاهر و باطن ندارد حبه‏ای ** مفلسی قلبی دغایی دبه‏ای‏

  • Beware and beware! Have no dealings with him; when he brings the ox (to sell), make fast the knot.
  • هان و هان با او حریفی کم کنید ** چون که کاو آرد گره محکم کنید

  • And if ye bring this decayed fellow to judgement, I will not put a corpse in prison.
  • ور به حکم آرید این پژمرده را ** من نخواهم کرد زندان مرده را

  • He is fair-spoken and his throat is very wide; (he is clad) with a new inner garment (of plausibility) and a tattered outer garment.
  • خوش دم است او و گلویش بس فراخ ** با شعار نو دثار شاخ شاخ‏

  • If he puts on that (inner) garment for the purpose of deceiving, it is borrowed in order that he may beguile the common folk.”
  • گر بپوشد بهر مکر آن جامه را ** عاریه است او و فریبد عامه را

  • Know, O simple man, that words of wisdom on the tongue of the unwise are (as) borrowed robes. 670
  • حرف حکمت بر زبان ناحکیم ** حله‏های عاریت دان ای سلیم‏

  • Although a thief has put on a (fine) robe, how should he whose hand is cut off take your hand (lend you a helping hand)?
  • گر چه دزدی حله‏ای پوشیده است ** دست تو چون گیرد آن ببریده دست‏

  • When at nightfall he (the insolvent) came down from the camel, the Kurd said to him, “My abode is far (from here) and a long way off.
  • چون شبانه از شتر آمد به زیر ** کرد گفتش منزلم دور است و دیر

  • You have ridden on my camel since early morning: I (will) let the barley go, (but I will not take) less than the cost of (some) straw.”
  • بر نشستی اشترم را از پگاه ** جو رها کردم کم از اخراج کاه‏

  • "What, then," he rejoined, "have we been doing until now? Where are your wits? Is nobody at home?
  • گفت تا اکنون چه می‏کردیم پس ** هوش تو کو، نیست اندر خانه کس‏

  • The (sound of the) drum (giving notice) of my insolvency reached the Seventh Heaven, and you have not heard the bad news! 675
  • طبل افلاسم به چرخ سابعه ** رفت و تو نشنیده‏ای بد واقعه‏

  • Your ear has been filled with foolish hope; (such) hope, then, makes (one) deaf (and) blind, my lad.”
  • گوش تو پر بوده است از طمع خام ** پس طمع کر می‏کند کور ای غلام‏

  • Even clods and stones heard this advertisement—“he is insolvent, he is insolvent, this scoundrel.”
  • تا کلوخ و سنگ بشنید این بیان ** مفلس است و مفلس است این قلتبان‏