The Hoopoe Answers the Crow
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 1, section 68 of 171: The hoopoe's answer to the attack of the crow (جواب گفتن هدهد طعنه‌‌ی زاغ را). Below, each of its 14 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
The hoopoe’s answer to the attack of the crow جواب گفتن هدهد طعنه‌‌ی زاغ را
گفت ای شه بر من عور گدای
قول دشمن مشنو از بهر خدای
He said, “O king, for God’s sake do not listen to the enemy’s words against me, bare beggar as I am.
گر به بطلان است دعوی کردنم
من نهادم سر ببر این گردنم
If my claim is (made) with falsehood, I lay my head (before thee): sever this neck of mine.
زاغ کاو حکم قضا را منکر است
گر هزاران عقل دارد کافر است
The crow, who disbelieves in the (absolute) authority of the Divine destiny, is an infidel, though he have thousands of wits.
در تو تا کافی بود از کافران
جای گند و شهوتی چون کاف ران
Whilst there is in you a single k (derived) from the káfirán (infidels), you are the seat of stench and lust, velut rima femoris.
(Whilst there is in you a single k (derived) from the káfirán (infidels), you are the seat of stench and lust, like the slit (vulva) between the thighs (of a woman).)
من ببینم دام را اندر هوا
گر نپوشد چشم عقلم را قضا
I see the snare (when I am) in the air, if the Divine destiny do not muffle the eye of my intelligence.
چون قضا آید شود دانش به خواب
مه سیه گردد بگیرد آفتاب
When the Divine destiny comes, wisdom goes to sleep, the moon becomes black, the sun is stopped (from shining).
از قضا این تعبیه کی نادر است
از قضا دان کاو قضا را منکر است
How is this disposal (of things) by the Divine destiny (to be called) singular? Know that it is by the Divine destiny that he (the infidel) disbelieves in the Divine destiny.
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