1Cademy - دفتر چهارم - بخش ۷۴ - رقعهٔ دیگر نوشتن آن غلام پیش شاه چون جواب آن رقعهٔ اوّل نیافت / Book Four - Section 74 - That Slave Writing Another Letter to the King Because He Did Not Receive a Reply to the First Letter

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر چهارم / Masnavi: Book Four
دفتر چهارم - بخش ۷۱ - آشفتن آن غلام از نارسیدن جواب رقعه از قبل پادشاه / Book Four - Section 71 - The Agitation of That Slave Due to the Non-Arrival of the Reply to the Letter from the King

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دفتر چهارم - بخش ۷۴ - رقعهٔ دیگر نوشتن آن غلام پیش شاه چون جواب آن رقعهٔ اوّل نیافت / Book Four - Section 74 - That Slave Writing Another Letter to the King Because He Did Not Receive a Reply to the First Letter

Original content

نامهٔ دیگر نوشت آن بدگمان
پر ز تشنیع و نفیر و پر فغان

که یکی رقعه نبشتم پیش شه
ای عجب آنجا رسید و یافت ره

آن دگر را خواند هم آن خوب خد
هم نداد او را جواب و تن بزد

خشک می آورد او را شهریار
او مکرر کرد رقعه پنج بار

گفت حاجب آخر او بندهٔ شماست
گر جوابش بر نویسی هم رواست

از شهی تو چه کم گردد اگر
برغلام و بنده اندازی نظر

گفت این سهلست اما احمقست
مرد احمق زشت و مردود حقست

گرچه آمرزم گناه و زلتش
هم کند بر من سرایت علتش

صد کس از گرگین همه گرگین شوند
خاصه این گر خبیث ناپسند

گر کم عقلی مبادا گبر را
شوم او بی آب دارد ابر را

نم نبارد ابر از شومی او
شهر شد ویرانه از بومی او

از گر آن احمقان طوفان نوح
کرد ویران عالمی را در فضوح

گفت پیغامبر که احمق هر که هست
او عدو ماست و غول ره زنست

هر که او عاقل بود از جان ماست
روح او و ریح او ریحان ماست

عقل دشنامم دهد من راضیم
زانک فیضی دارد از فیاضیم

نبود آن دشنام او بی فایده
نبود آن مهمانیش بی مایده

احمق ار حلوا نهد اندر لبم
من از آن حلوای او اندر تبم

این یقین دان گر لطیف و روشنی
نیست بوسهٔ کون خر را چاشنی

سبلتت گنده کند بی فایده
جامه از دیگش سیه بی مایده

مایده عقلست نی نان و شوی
نور عقلست ای پسر جان را غذی

نیست غیر نور آدم را خورش
از جز آن جان نیابد پرورش

زین خورش ها اندک اندک باز بر
کین غذای خر بود نه آن حر

تا غذای اصل را قابل شوی
لقمه های نور را آکل شوی

عکس آن نورست کین نان نان شدست
فیض آن جانست کین جان جان شدست

چون خوری یکبار از ماکول نور
خاک ریزی بر سر نان و تنور

عقل دو عقلست اول مکسبی
که در آموزی چو در مکتب صبی

از کتاب و اوستاد و فکر و ذکر
از معانی وز علوم خوب و بکر

عقل تو افزون شود بر دیگران
لیک تو باشی ز حفظ آن گران

لوح حافظ باشی اندر دور و گشت
لوح محفوظ اوست کو زین در گذشت

عقل دیگر بخشش یزدان بود
چشمهٔ آن در میان جان بود

چون ز سینه آب دانش جوش کرد
نه شود گنده نه دیرینه نه زرد

ور ره نبعش بود بسته چه غم
کو همی جوشد ز خانه دم به دم

عقل تحصیلی مثال جویها
کان رود در خانه ای از کویها

راه آبش بسته شد شد بی نوا
از درون خویشتن جو چشمه را

English translation

That suspicious one wrote another letter, Full of reproach, lamentation, and outcry, Saying, "I wrote a letter to the king, How strange, did it reach there and find its way? That fair-cheeked one read the other [letter] too, Yet gave him no reply and remained silent." The monarch was keeping him in suspense, He repeated the letter five times. The chamberlain said, "After all, he is your slave; If you write a reply to him, it is proper too. What decreases from your kingship if You cast a glance upon a slave and servant?" He said, "This is easy, but he is a fool; The foolish man is ugly and rejected by God. Although I forgive his sin and slip, His malady will infect me as well. A hundred persons from a mangy one will all become mangy, Especially this foul, unpleasing mange. May there not be a lack of intellect even in a fire-worshipper; His ill-omen keeps the cloud without water. The cloud does not rain moisture due to his ill-omen, The city became ruined due to his ill-luck. From the mange of those fools, the flood of Noah Ruined a world in disgrace. The Prophet said, 'Whoever is a fool, He is our enemy and a ghoul that waylays. Whoever is wise is of our soul; His spirit and his breeze are our sweet basil. If intellect curses me, I am content, Because it has an emanation from my abundant bounty. His curse is not without benefit; His feast is not without a table of food. If the fool puts sweetmeat on my lips, I am in a fever from his sweetmeat.' Know this for certain, if you are refined and bright, There is no taste in kissing a donkey's rear. It makes your mustache stink without benefit; The garment is blackened by his pot without food. The table of food is intellect, not bread and roasted meat; The light of intellect, O son, is the nourishment of the soul. There is no food for man other than light; From anything else, the soul finds no nourishment. Withdraw gradually from these foods, For this is the food of an ass, not of a free man. So that you may become capable of the original food, And become an eater of the morsels of light. It is the reflection of that light that this bread has become bread; It is the overflow of that soul that this soul has become soul. When you eat once of the food of light, You will pour dust on the head of bread and oven. Intellect is two intellects: the first is acquired, Which you learn like a child in school, From book and teacher and reflection and recitation, From concepts and from excellent and pristine sciences. Your intellect becomes greater than others, But you are burdened by preserving it. You are a memorizing tablet in wandering and turning; The Preserved Tablet is he who has passed beyond this. The other intellect is the gift of God; Its fountain is in the midst of the soul. When the water of knowledge boils forth from the breast, It becomes neither fetid nor old nor yellow. And if the path of its gushing is blocked, what sorrow? For it boils continuously from within the house. The acquired intellect is like streams, That flow into a house from the streets. If its waterway is blocked, it becomes destitute; Seek the fountain from within yourself."

Updated 2026-06-25

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