بخش 125 - مکرر کردن برادران پند دادن بزرگین را و تاب ناآوردن او آن پند را و در رمیدن او ازیشان شیدا و بی‌خود رفتن و خود را در بارگاه پادشاه انداختن بی‌دستوری خواستن لیک از فرط عشق و محبت نه از گستاخی و لاابالی الی آخره

The two (brothers) said to him, “In our souls are answers (to thy arguments), like stars in the sky.

Unless we (answer and) speak, the game will not come out right; and if we speak, thy heart will be grieved.

We are like frogs in the water: ’tis painful to speak, while the result of silence is suffocation and illness.

If we speak not, (our) friendship (with thee) has no light (of truth); and if we speak, ’tis without leave (from thee).”

Straightway he sprang up, crying, “Farewell, O kinsmen: verily this world and all therein is but a passing enjoyment,”

And darted away like an arrow from the bow, so that there was no opportunity (for them) to speak at that time.

He came intoxicated (with love) into the presence of the King of China and at once kissed the earth frenziedly (at his feet).

To the King their (his lovers') feelings, their passion and agitation, were (an) open (book) in every detail from first to last.

The sheep are busy in their pasture, but the shepherd knows all about the sheep.

(Any one of those of whom the Prophet said), “Each of you is a shepherd,” knows which of the flock is feeding and which is (engaged) in combat.

Although apparently he was far from those ranks, yet he was (in their midst) like the tambourine at a wedding-feast.

(He was) well acquainted with the burning and flaming (passion) of those who came to his court, (but) in his wisdom he had ignored them and kept silence.

That exalted (monarch) was in the midst (depths) of their souls, but he had purposely feigned to be unfamiliar (with them).

The form (appearance) of the fire is beneath the kettle; the spirit (reality) of the fire is in the soul of the kettle.

Its form is outside and its spirit inside: the spirit (real nature) of the soul's Beloved is (in the soul) like blood in the veins.

The prince knelt before the King, (while) ten announcers gave a description of his state.

Although the King knew it all long ago, yet the announcer was performing the duties of his office.

O sincere man, a single atom of the light of (mystic) knowledge within (thee) is better than a hundred announcers.

To confine one's attention to the announcer is a mark of being debarred (from access to real knowledge) and of (being preoccupied with) conjecture and (mere) opinion.

He whose scout is his inward eye—his eye will behold with the very acme of clairvoyance.

His soul is not content with traditional authority; nay, his feeling of (absolute) certainty comes from the inward eye.

Then the announcer opened his lips to describe his (the eldest brother's) plight in the presence of the elect King.

He said, “O King, he is fallen a prey to thy beneficence: show kingly favour (to him), for he has no means of escape.

He has clutched the saddle-strap of this empire: stroke his distraught head with thy (royal) hand!”

The King replied, “This youth will obtain (from me) every high dignity and sovereignty that he seeks.

I will bestow on him here (and now) twenty times as many kingdoms as he has relinquished, and myself into the bargain.”

He (the announcer) said, “Since thy royal majesty sowed in him the seed of love, how could it leave (in him) any passion except passion for thee?

’Tis so agreeable to him to be thy slave that kingship has become cold comfort to his heart.

He has gambled away kingship and princedom: for thy sake he has put up with living in exile.

He is a Súfí: he has flung away his mantle in ecstasy: how should he turn again to his mantle?

To hanker for the given away mantle and repent (of having given it) is as much as to say, ‘I have been swindled:

Put the mantle back here, O comrade, for that (ecstasy) was not worth it, that is, (not worth) this (mantle).’

Far be it from a lover that such a thought should occur to him; and if it do, dust ought to be (sprinkled) on his head.

Love is worth a hundred mantles like that of the body, which contains a (principle of) life and sensation and reason;

Especially the mantle of worldly dominion, which is cut short (exiguous): a pennyworth of intoxication with it is (results in) headache.

Worldly dominion is lawful (only) to those who indulge the body: we (lovers) are devoted to the everlasting kingdom of Love.

He (the prince) is Love's agent: do not deprive him of his employment, do not let him be employed in aught but loving thee.

The office (business) that veils me from (the sight of) thy face is the very essence of unemployment, though it is called ‘office.’

The cause of (his) delay in coming hither was lack of capability and defect of skill.”

(If) you go into a mine without (having) capability, you will not gain possession of a single grain (of gold),

Tanquam vir veneri inhabilis qui virginem emit: ea, etsi pectus argenteum (candidum) sit, frui quo pacto poterit?

(The incapable man is) like a lamp without oil or wick that gets neither much nor little from the (flaming) taper.

(If) one who cannot smell enter a garden, how should his brain (nose) be delighted by the fragrant herbs?—

Tanquam formosa et venusta hospita viri debilis; (and) like the sound of a harp or lute in the ears of the deaf;

(And) like the land-bird that falls into great waters: what should it find there but death and perdition?

(And) like one who, having no wheat, goes to a mill: nothing will be given to him except the whitening of his beard and hair (with flour).

The celestial mill bestows on those who have no wheat (only) whiteness of hair and weakness in the loins;

But on those who bring wheat with them this mill bestows empire and gives them sovereign power.

You must first be qualified for Paradise in order that from Paradise the (everlasting) life may be born to you.

What pleasure has the new-born child in wine and roast-meat and palaces and domes?

These parables have no limit: do not seek (more) words (of this kind): go and acquire capability!

(The announcer said), “He tarried until now for the sake of capability (qualification), (but) ere it was acquired his longing burst (all) bounds.”

He (the prince) said, “Capability too is imparted by the King: how should the body be made capable without (the intervention of) the soul?”

(Then) the favours of the King did away with his anguish: he had gone to hunt the King: he became the King's prey.

(The announcer said), “Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like thee does not catch his quarry till he is himself caught.”

’Tis certain that every seeker of princedom is thrown into captivity before (he gains) it.

Know that what is depicted on this mundane frontispiece is preposterous: every slave to the world is named “lord of the world.”

O wrong-thinking perversely-acting body, thou that hast enthralled a hundred thousand freemen,

Abandon this guileful plotting for a time: live free a few moments ere thou die;

For if, like the (heavily-laden) ass, thou hast no way of attaining to freedom, thy movement, like that of the bucket, can only be (down) into the well.

Go, take leave of my spirit for awhile: go, seek another companion instead of me.

My turn is finished: set me free, espouse another, (beguile) some one else.

O body with thy hundred (worldly) concerns, bid me farewell: thou hast taken my life: (now) seek another (victim).