بخش 113 - ذکر آن پادشاه که آن دانشمند را به اکراه در مجلس آورد و بنشاند ساقی شراب بر دانشمند عرضه کرد ساغر پیش او داشت رو بگردانید و ترشی و تندی آغاز کرد شاه ساقی را گفت کی هین در طبعش آر ساقی چندی بر سرش کوفت و شرابش در خورد داد الی آخره

(Whilst) a drunken king was feasting merrily, a certain jurist passed by his gate.

He gave directions, saying, “Bring him into this hall and give him a drink of the ruby wine.”

So they brought him to the king, (for) he had no choice (power to resist): he sat down in the hall, (looking) sour as poison and snakes.

(When) he (the cup-bearer) offered him wine, he angrily refused it and averted his eyes from the king and the cup-bearer,

Saying, “I have never drunk wine in my life: rank poison would please me better than wine.

Hey, give me some poison instead of the wine, that I may be delivered from myself and ye from this (impoliteness).”

Without having drunk wine, he began to make a row and became as disagreeable to the company as death and (its) pangs.

(This is) like (the behaviour of) carnal earthly-minded people in the world when they sit (associate) with spiritual folk.

God keeps His elect (ever) drinking secretly the wine of the free.

They offer the cup to one who is veiled (uninitiated), (but his) perception apprehends naught thereof except the (literal) words.

He averts his face from their guidance because he does not see their gift with his eye.

If there were a passage from his ear to his throat, the hidden meaning of their admonition would have entered his inward parts.

Inasmuch as his spirit is wholly fire, not light, who would throw anything but husks into a blazing fire?

The kernel remains outside and the husk, (consisting of mere) words, goes (in): how should the stomach be made warm and stout by husks?

The Fire of Hell torments only the husks: the Fire has nothing to do with any kernel;

And if a fire should dart its flames at the kernel, know that ’tis in order to cook it, not to burn it.

So long as God is the Wise, know that this law is perpetual (both) in the past and in the time that has not (yet) come.

The pure kernels and (also) the husks are pardoned by Him: how, then, should He burn the kernel? Far (be it) from Him!

If in His grace He beat the head of him (who resembles the husk), he (such an one) will feel an eager desire for the red wine;

And if He do not beat him, he will remain, like the jurist, with his mouth closed against the potations and festivity of these (spiritual) kings.

The king said to his cup-bearer, “O well-conducted (youth), why art thou silent? Give (it him) and put him in good humour.”

Over every mind there is a hidden Ruler, (who) cunningly diverts from his purpose whomsoever He will.

The sun in the East and his radiance are bound like captives in His chain.

He causes the (celestial) sphere to revolve immediately when He chants half of a cunning spell in its brain.

The mind which dominates another mind has (obtains) the dice (of victory) from Him: He is the Master- player.

He (the cup-bearer) gave him (the jurist) several cuffs on the head, saying, “Take (the cup)!” The tormented man drained it in dread of (receiving further) blows.

He became tipsy and merry and smiling (gay) as a garden: he began to act like a boon-companion and tell ridiculous stories and make jokes.

He became pot-valiant and jolly and snapped his fingers: in latrinam ivit ut mingeret.

Erat in latrina puella lunae similis, venustissima, una de regis ancillis.

When he espied her, his mouth gaped (in amazement), his reason fled and his body was ready for violence.

Per aeva coelebs vixerat: extemplo cupidine et furore accensus puellae manus injecit.

Valde trepidavit puella et clamorem sustulit: ei non poterat resistere, operam perdidit.

Femina viro in manus tempore congressus tradita is like dough in the hands of a baker.

He kneads it now gently, now roughly, and makes it groan under (the thumps of) his fist;

Now he draws it out flat on a board (rolling-pin), now for a bit he rolls it up;

Now he pours water on it and now salt: he puts it to the ordeal of oven and fire.

Thus are the sought and the seeker intertwined: (both) the conquered and the conqueror are (engaged) in this sport.

This sport is not between husband and wife only: this is the practice of everything that is loved and loves.

A mutual embracing, like (that of) Wís and Rámín, is obligatory (Divinely ordained) between eternal and non-eternal and between substance and accident;

But the sport is of a different character in each case: the embracing is for a different reason in each instance.

This is said as a parable for husband and wife, meaning, “O husband, do not dismiss thy wife unkindly.

On thy wedding-night did not the bridesmaid place her (the wife's) hand in thy hand as a goodly trust?

For the evil or good which thou doest unto her, O man worthy of confidence, God will do (the same) unto thee.”

To resume, on this occasion this jurist was so beside himself that neither continence nor asceticism remained in him.

The jurist threw himself on the nymph: his fire caught hold of her cotton.

Anima cum anima conjuncta est, corpora mutuo amplexu implicata tanquam duae aves abscissis capitibus tremebant.

What (to them) was the wine-party or the king or Arslán (the Turkish slave)? What (to them) was modesty or religion or fear and dread of (losing) their lives?

Their eyes were contorted like (the letters) ‘ayn and ghayn: here neither Hasan nor Husayn is seen distinctly.

It (the jurist's absence) became protracted, and how could he return (to the party)? The king's expectancy too passed beyond (all) bounds.

The king came to see what had happened: he beheld there (what resembled) the commotion (on the Day) of Calamity.

The jurist sprang up in terror and fled to the banquet-hall and hastily seized the wine-cup.

The king, full of fire and fury like Hell, was thirsting for the blood of the guilty pair.

When the jurist saw his enraged and wrathful countenance, which had become bitter and murderous as a cup of poison,

He shouted to his cup-bearer, “O solicitous (attendant), why do you sit (there) dumbfounded? Give (him wine) and put him in good humour!”

The king laughed and said, “O sir, I am restored to my good humour: the girl is thine.

I am the king: my business is (to show) justice and bounty: I drink of that which my munificence bestowed on my friend.

How should I give friend and kinsman for food and drink what I (myself) would not (eat and) drink as (gladly as) honey?

I let my pages eat and drink of that which I eat and drink at my own private table.

I give my slaves the same food, cooked or raw, as I eat myself.

When I put on a robe of silk or satin, I clothe my retainers in the same (fabric), not in coarse woollen garments.

I feel reverence for the all-accomplished Prophet, who said, ‘Clothe them in that wherewith ye clothe yourselves.’

Mustafá (Mohammed) gave his (spiritual) sons this injunction —Feed your dependents with what ye eat (yourselves).’”

You have often restored others to a good disposition: you have made them ready and willing to show fortitude.

(Now) manfully restore yourself too to (that) disposition: take the reason that meditates on fortitude as your guide.

When the guidance of fortitude becomes a wing for you, your spirit will soar to the zenith of the (Divine) Throne and Footstool.

See, when fortitude became a Buráq for him, how it carried Mustafá (Mohammed) up to the top of the (celestial) spheres.