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6
4140-4189

  • (It says), “I am a royal falcon, I am fair and auspicious, I have nothing to do with carrion: I am not a vulture. 4140
  • Abandon the vulture, for I will be thy helper: a wing of mine is better for thee than a hundred vultures.”
  • How long wilt thou gallop blindly? For (learning) a trade and business one needs a master.
  • Do not disgrace thyself in the capital of China: seek a sage and do not separate thyself from him.
  • Hark, whatever the Plato of the age bids thee do, give up thy self-will and act in accordance with that (counsel).
  • All (who dwell) in China are saying in zeal for (the glory of) their King, “He begetteth not. 4145
  • Never in sooth has our King begotten a child; nay, he has not allowed a woman to approach him.”
  • When any king says of him something of this sort, he weds his (traducer's) neck to the cutting scimitar.
  • The King says (to such an one), “Since thou hast spoken these words, either prove that I have a wife and family—
  • And if thou prove that I have a daughter, thou art safe from my keen sword—
  • Or else without any doubt I will cut thy throat: I will tear the mantle (thy body) off the Súfí, thy spirit. 4150
  • Thou wilt never save thy head from the sword, O thou that hast spoken vain and lying words!
  • O thou that hast foolishly spoken an untruth, behold a moat full of severed heads!—
  • A moat filled from its bottom to its mouth with heads severed on account of this enormity.
  • All have been sacrificed to this (false) assertion: they have beheaded themselves with this assertion.
  • Beware! Regard this with a heedful eye: do not conceive or utter such an assertion!” 4155
  • (The two princes said), “Thou wilt make our lives bitter to us: who is inducing thee to (act like) this, O brother?
  • If one who is ignorant should journey a hundred years in blindness, that is not reckoned as a journey.
  • Do not go into battle unarmed, do not go recklessly into destruction.”
  • They said all this (to him), but the impatient (prince) replied, “These words (of warning) inspire me with repugnance.
  • My bosom is full of fire, like a brazier: the crop is ripe, ’tis time for the sickle. 4160
  • There was a (great) fortitude in my breast, (but) now it is no more: Love has set fire to the dwelling-place of fortitude.
  • My fortitude died on the night when Love was born: it has passed away—long live those who are present!
  • O thou that tellest (me) of (a stern) rebuke (from the King) and (terrible) punishments, I have passed beyond (all) that: do not beat a piece of cold iron!
  • I am (rushing) headlong: hey, let go my feet! Where in all my limbs is (any) understanding?
  • I am (like) a camel: I carry (my load) as long as I can, (but) when I fall down exhausted, I am glad to be killed. 4165
  • If there are a hundred moats full of severed heads, ’tis an absolute pleasantry in comparison with my anguish.
  • Nevermore in fear and dread will I beat such a drum of passion under a blanket.
  • Now I will plant my banner in the open plain: (let my fate be) either to lose my head or (to behold) the face of my adored one!
  • The throat that is not worthy of that wine—’tis best it should be cut by blows of the sword;
  • The eye that is not (rejoiced) in abundance by union with her—such an eye is best white (with disease) and blind; 4170
  • The ear that is not worthy of (hearing) her secret—tear it off, for it is no good on the head;
  • The hand in which there is not the (requisite) amount (to win her favour)—’tis best that it should be chopped off by the butcher's knife;
  • The foot by whose faring the spirit is not led into her narcissus-plot—
  • Such a foot is best in iron (chains), for such a foot is ultimately (the cause of) headache (affliction).
  • [Setting forth (the case of) the earnest seeker who does not refrain from exerting himself to the utmost, although he knows that the amplitude of God's bounty may cause the object of his desire to reach him from a different quarter and by means of work of a different kind which he has never imagined; but since all his thoughts and hopes are fixed on this particular method (of attaining his object), he continues to knock at this same door, (knowing that) maybe God most High will cause his appointed portion to reach him through some other door which he has not foreseen, ‘and will provide for him from a quarter on which he does not reckon’—‘Man proposes but God disposes.’ And, (again), a slave (of God) may conceive, as beseems a slave, that although he keeps knocking at this (particular) door he will be supplied from another door; and (nevertheless) God most High may cause his portion to reach him through this very door (at which he is knocking). In short, all these (doors) are the doors of one Palace. And the exposition thereof.]
  • Either this desire of mine will be fulfilled on this journey or when I return home from the journey. 4175
  • It may be that (the fulfilment of) my desire depends on going abroad and that after I have gone abroad I shall attain (to it) at home.
  • I will seek the Beloved with all my might and energy until I know whether I need not have sought (Him).
  • How should (the mystery of) His being with me enter my (spiritual) ear unless I wander round the world?
  • How should I apprehend the mystery of His being with me except after (making) long journeys?”
  • God hath said that He is with us, but He hath sealed the heart in order that it (the real meaning) may enter the heart's ear contrariwise (indirectly), not directly. 4180
  • When he (the seeker) has made (many) journeys and performed the duties of the Way, after that (and not before) the seal is removed from his heart.
  • As (in the arithmetical method of) “the two errors,” the excellent (successful) calculation (only) becomes clear to him after two mistakes.
  • After that, he says (to himself), “If I had known (the real nature of) this being with God, how should I have searched for Him?
  • (But) the knowledge thereof depended on journeying: that knowledge is not to be gained by keenness of thought.”
  • ’Tis just as the payment of the Shaykh's debts was contingent and dependent on the weeping of that (young) creature. 4185
  • (When) the confectioner's boy wept bitterly, the debts of the venerable Shaykh were discharged.
  • That spiritual tale has already been related in the course of the Mathnawí.
  • He (God) puts in thy heart the fear of (losing) a certain position, in order that no other (position) may be an object of hope to thee.
  • To thy hope (of gaining thy wish from that quarter) He attaches another advantage (beneficial result); but He grants thee thy wish from (the hands of) some one else.