How the Caliph's officers and chamberlains came forward to pay their respects to the Bedouin and to receive his gift.
When the Bedouin arrived from the remote desert to the gate of the Caliph's palace,
The court officers went to meet the Bedouin: they sprinkled much rose-water of graciousness on his bosom.
Without speech (on his part) they perceived what he wanted: it was their practice to give before being asked.
Then they said to him, “O chief of the Arabs, whence dost thou come? How art thou after the journey and fatigue?”
He said, “I am a chief, if ye give me any countenance (favour); I am without means (of winning respect) when ye put me behind your backs.
O ye in whose faces are the marks of eminence, O ye whose splendour is more pleasing than the gold of Ja‘far,
O ye, one sight of whom is (worth many) sights, O ye at the sight of whom pieces of gold are scattered (as largesse),
O ye, all of whom have become seeing by the light of God, who have come from God for the sake of munificence,
That ye may cast the elixir of your looks upon the copper of human individuals,
I am a stranger: I have come from the desert: I have come in hope of (gaining) the grace of the Sultan.
The scent of his grace covered (took entire possession of) the deserts: even the grains of sand were ensouled (thereby).
I came all the way to this place for the sake of dinars: as soon as I arrived, I became drunken with sight (contemplation).”
A person ran to the baker for bread: on seeing the beauty of the baker, he gave up the ghost.
A certain man went to the rose-garden to take his pleasure, and found it in the beauty of the gardener,
Like the desert Arab who drew water from the well and tasted the Water of Life from the (lovely) face of Joseph.
Moses went to fetch fire: he beheld such a Fire (the Burning Bush) that he escaped from (searching after) fire.
Jesus sprang up, to escape from his enemies: that spring carried him to the Fourth Heaven.
The ear of wheat became a trap for Adam, so that his existence became the wheat-ear (seed and origin) of mankind.
The falcon comes to the snare for food: it finds the fore-arm (wrist) of the King and fortune and glory.
The child went to school to acquire knowledge, in hope of (getting) its father's pretty bird (as a prize);
Then, by (going to) school, that child rose to the top, paid monthly fees (to his teacher), and became perfect (in knowledge).
‘Abbás had come to war for vengeance’ sake, for the purpose of subduing Ahmad (Mohammed) and opposing the (true) religion:
He and his descendants in the Caliphate became a back and front (complete support) to the (true) religion until the Resurrection.
“I came to this court in quest of wealth: as soon as I entered the portico I became (a spiritual) chief.
I brought water as a gift for the sake of (getting) bread: hope of bread led me to the highest place in Paradise.
Bread drove an Adam forth from Paradise: bread caused me to mix (made me consort) with those who belong to Paradise.
I have been freed, like the angels, from water and bread (materiality): without (any worldly) object of desire I move round this court, like the (revolving) sphere of heaven.”
Nothing in the world is without object (disinterested) in its movement (activity) except the bodies and the souls of (God's) lovers.
