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
They (the criers) said it till nightfall, and it made no impression on the owner of the camel, because he was full of (idle) hope, full.
تا به شب گفتند و در صاحب شتر ** بر نزد کاو از طمع پر بود پر
God's seal lies upon the hearing and sight: within the veils is many a form and many a sound.
هست بر سمع و بصر مهر خدا ** در حجب بس صورت است و بس صدا
He communicates to the eye that which He wills of beauty and of perfection and of amorous looks;680
آن چه او خواهد رساند آن به چشم ** از جمال و از کمال و از کرشم
And He communicates to the ear that which He wills of music and glad tidings and cries (of rapture).
و انچه او خواهد رساند آن به گوش ** از سماع و از بشارت وز خروش
The world is full of remedies, but you have no remedy till God opens a window for you.
کون پر چاره ست و هیچت چاره نی ** تا که نگشاید خدایت روزنی