بخش 120 - رجوع کردن به قصهٔ آن شخص کی به او گنج نشان دادند به مصر و بیان تضرع او از درویشی به حضرت حق

When the man who received the inheritance had squandered it and become a pauper, he began to cry “O Lord!” and weep and lament.

Verily, who shall knock at this Door, from which mercy is showered, without gaining in response a hundred springs (seasons of spiritual refreshment)?

He dreamed that he heard a Voice from heaven saying, “Thy fortune will be found in Cairo;

Go to Cairo: there thy affair will be set right. He (God) hath accepted thy humble petition: He is the (only) Object of hope.

In such-and-such a spot is a great treasure: thou must go to Cairo in quest of it.

Hark, O wretched man, go without any delay from Baghdád to Cairo and the home of sugar-candy.”

When he departed from Baghdád (and came) to Cairo, at the sight of Cairo his courage was restored,

(For he was) in hope of (the fulfilment of) the promise given by the heavenly Voice that he would find in Cairo the treasure to remove his trouble—

“In such and such a quarter and such and such a spot there is a buried treasure exceedingly rare and very choice.”

But of money for expenses, great or small, he had nothing left; and he was about to go and beg from the common folk,

But (feelings of) shame and honour held him back, (so that) he began to plant himself firmly on fortitude.

(Meanwhile), however, his soul fluttered (in distress) on account of hunger: he saw no means of escape from foraging and begging.

“At nightfall,” he said (to himself), “I will slip out very quietly, in order that I may beg in the dark without feeling ashamed.

At night I will chant (litanies) and bawl like a night-mendicant, that half a dáng may come to me from the roofs.”

Thus meditating, he went out into the street, and with these thoughts (in his head) he wandered to and fro.

At one moment shame and dignity prevented him (from begging), at another moment hunger said to him, “Beg!”

Till a third part of the night was gone, (he kept putting) one foot forward and one foot backward (hesitating and asking himself), “Shall I beg or shall I lie down to sleep with my lips dry?”