1Cademy - دفتر چهارم - بخش ۶۵ - بقیهٔ نوشتن آن غلام رقعه به طلب اجری / Book Four - Section 65 - The Rest of That Slave Writing a Petition Demanding His Allowance

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر چهارم / Masnavi: Book Four
دفتر چهارم - بخش ۵۹ - نوشتن آن غلام قصهٔ شکایت نقصان اجری سوی پادشاه / Book Four - Section 59 - That Slave Writing the Tale of Complaint to the King Regarding the Reduction of His Allowance

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دفتر چهارم - بخش ۶۵ - بقیهٔ نوشتن آن غلام رقعه به طلب اجری / Book Four - Section 65 - The Rest of That Slave Writing a Petition Demanding His Allowance

Original content

رفت پیش از نامه پیش مطبخی
کای بخیل از مطبخ شاه سخی

دور ازو وز همت او کین قدر
از جری‌ام آیدش اندر نظر

گفت بهر مصلحت فرموده است
نه برای بخل و نه تنگی دست

گفت دهلیزیست والله این سخن
پیش شه خاکست هم زر کهن

مطبخی ده گونه حجت بر فراشت
او همه رد کرد از حرصی که داشت

چون جری کم آمدش در وقت چاشت
زد بسی تشنیع او سودی نداشت

گفت قاصد می‌کنید اینها شما
گفت نه که بنده فرمانیم ما

این مگیر از فرع این از اصل گیر
بر کمان کم زن که از بازوست تیر

ما رمیت اذ رمیت ابتلاست
بر نبی کم نه گنه کان از خداست

آب از سر تیره است ای خیره‌خشم
پیشتر بنگر یکی بگشای چشم

شد ز خشم و غم درون بقعه‌ای
سوی شه بنوشت خشمین رقعه‌ای

اندر آن رقعه ثنای شاه گفت
گوهر جود و سخای شاه سفت

کای ز بحر و ابر افزون کف تو
در قضای حاجت حاجات‌جو

زانک ابر آنچ دهد گریان دهد
کف تو خندان پیاپی خوان نهد

ظاهر رقعه اگر چه مدح بود
بوی خشم از مدح اثرها می‌نمود

زان همه کار تو بی‌نورست و زشت
که تو دوری دور از نور سرشت

رونق کار خسان کاسد شود
هم‌چو میوهٔ تازه زو فاسد شود

رونق دنیا برآرد زو کساد
زانک هست از عالم کون و فساد

خوش نگردد از مدیحی سینه‌ها
چونک در مداح باشد کینه‌ها

ای دل از کین و کراهت پاک شو
وانگهان الحمد خوان چالاک شو

بر زبان الحمد و اکراه درون
از زبان تلبیس باشد یا فسون

وانگهان گفته خدا که ننگرم
من به ظاهر من به باطن ناظرم

English translation

He went, before the letter, to the kitchen steward: "O miser, from the kitchen of the generous king! Far be it from him and from his aspiration that so much Of my wages should come into his notice." He said: "It was commanded for reasons of wise policy — Not for miserliness, nor for tightness of hand." He said: "By God, this talk is a mere vestibule; Before the king, even old gold is as dust." The kitchen steward raised ten kinds of argument; He rejected them all because of the greed within him. When his wages fell short at the time of the morning meal, He hurled much reproach, but it availed nothing. He said: "You are doing this deliberately." He said: "No, for we are servants of the command. Take this not from the branch; take it from the root. Do not strike the bow — the arrow comes from the arm. 'You did not throw when you threw' is a trial; Lay not the sin on the Prophet, for it is from God. The water is muddied at its source, O blindly-wrathful one; Look further ahead; open your eyes once." He went, in anger and grief, into a certain place, And wrote an angry petition to the king. In that petition he spoke the king's praise, He strung the pearls of the king's generosity and liberality: "O you whose open hand exceeds the sea and cloud In fulfilling the need of the one who seeks — For the cloud gives what it gives weeping, While your hand, smiling, sets the table again and again." Though the surface of the petition was praise, The scent of anger showed through the traces of that praise. Because of that, all your work is lightless and ugly, For you are far, far from the light of your nature. The splendor of the work of the vile grows withered, Like fresh fruit, it rots thereby. The splendor of the world too produces stagnation from it, For it belongs to the world of generation and corruption. Hearts are not gladdened by a panegyric When enmities lie within the panegyrist. O heart, purify yourself from enmity and aversion, Then recite al-Hamd and be swift. Al-Hamd on the tongue but aversion within — That comes from a tongue of talbīs or enchantment. And God has said: "I look not at the outward; I am the Beholder of the inward."

Updated 2026-05-16

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