Story of the person
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 2, section 78 of 113: Story of the person who was seeking after his stray camel and inquiring about it (قصه ی آن شخص که اشتر ضالهی خود میجست و میپرسید). Below, each of its 24 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
Story of the person who was seeking after his stray camel and inquiring about it. قصه ی آن شخص که اشتر ضالهی خود میجست و میپرسید
اشتری گم کردی و جستیش چست
چون بیابی چون ندانی کان تست
(If) you have lost a camel and sought it busily, how should you not know,when you find it, that it is yours?
ضاله چه بود ناقهای گم کردهای
از کفت بگریخته در پردهای
What is the stray? A lost she-camel: (she has) fled from your herd into a veil (of concealment).
آمده در بار کردن کاروان
اشتر تو ز آن میان گشته نهان
The caravaneers have begun to load, (but) your camel has disappeared from the midst (of the caravan).
میدوی این سو و آن سو خشک لب
کاروان شد دور و نزدیک است شب
You are running to and fro with parched lips; the caravan is (now) far away, and night is near.
رخت مانده بر زمین در راه خوف
تو پی اشتر دوان گشته به طوف
Your baggage is left on the ground, (lying) on the road of peril, (whilst) you are running about in search of the camel,
کای مسلمانان که دیده ست اشتری
جسته بیرون بامداد از آخوری
Crying, “O Moslems, who has seen a camel which this morning escaped from a stable?
هر که بر گوید نشان از اشترم
مژدگانی میدهم چندین درم
Whoever will tell (me) a clue to my camel, I will give so many dirhems as a reward (for the information).”
باز میجویی نشان از هر کسی
ریشخندت میکند زین هر خسی
You are requesting clues from every one: every rascal is making a mock of you on this account,
کاشتری دیدیم میرفت این طرف
اشتر سرخی به سوی آن علف
Saying, “We saw a camel going in this direction, a reddish camel (going) towards yonder pasturage.”
آن یکی گوید بریده گوش بود
و آن دگر گوید جلش منقوش بود
One (of them) says, “It was crop-eared,” and another says, “Its saddlecloth was embroidered.”
آن یکی گوید شتر یک چشم بود
و آن دگر گوید ز گر بیپشم بود
One says, “The camel had (only) one eye,” and another says, “It (was suffering) from mange (and) had no hair.”
از برای مژدگانی صد نشان
از گزافه هر خسی کرده بیان
For the sake of the reward every rascal, (speaking) at random, sets forth a hundred clues.
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