1Cademy - دفتر اول - بخش ۱۱ - حکایت بقال و طوطی و روغن ریختن طوطی در دکان / Book One - Section 11 - The Tale of the Grocer and the Parrot and the Parrot Spilling Oil in the Shop

Learn Before

مثنوی معنوی: دفتر اول / Masnavi: Book One

Poem

دفتر اول - بخش ۱۱ - حکایت بقال و طوطی و روغن ریختن طوطی در دکان / Book One - Section 11 - The Tale of the Grocer and the Parrot and the Parrot Spilling Oil in the Shop

Original content

بود بقالی و وی را طوطیی
خوش نوایی سبز و گویا طوطیی

بر دکان بودی نگهبان دکان
نکته گفتی با همه سوداگران

در خطاب آدمی ناطق بدی
در نوای طوطیان حاذق بدی

خواجه روزی سوی خانه رفته بود
بر دکان طوطی نگهبانی نمود

گربه ای برجست ناگه بر دکان
بهر موشی طوطیک از بیم جان

جست از سوی دکان سویی گریخت
شیشه های روغن گل را بریخت

از سوی خانه بیامد خواجه اش
بر دکان بنشست فارغ خواجه وش

دید پر روغن دکان و جامه چرب
بر سرش زد، گشت طوطی کل ز ضرب

روزکی چندی سخن کوتاه کرد
مرد بقال از ندامت آه کرد

ریش بر می کند و می گفت ای دریغ
کافتاب نعمتم شد زیر میغ

دست من بشکسته بودی آن زمان
که زدم من بر سر آن خوش زبان

هدیه ها می داد هر درویش را
تا بیابد نطق مرغ خویش را

بعد سه روز و سه شب حیران و زار
بر دکان بنشسته بد نومیدوار

می نمود آن مرغ را هر گون نهفت
تا که باشد اندرآید او بگفت

جولقیی سر برهنه می گذشت
با سر بی مو چو پشت طاس و طشت

آمد اندر گفت طوطی آن زمان
بانگ بر درویش زد چون عاقلان

کز چه ای کل با کلان آمیختی؟
تو مگر از شیشه روغن ریختی؟

از قیاسش خنده آمد خلق را
کو چو خود پنداشت صاحب دلق را

کار پاکان را قیاس از خود مگیر
گرچه ماند در نبشتن شیر و شیر

جمله عالم زین سبب گمراه شد
کم کسی ز ابدال حق آگاه شد

همسری با انبیا برداشتند
اولیا را همچو خود پنداشتند

گفته اینک ما بشر ایشان بشر
ما و ایشان بستهٔ خوابیم و خور

این ندانستند ایشان از عمی
هست فرقی درمیان بی منتهی

هر دو گون زنبور خوردند از محل
لیک شد زان نیش و زین دیگر عسل

هر دو گون آهو گیا خوردند و آب
زین یکی سرگین شد و زان مشک ناب

هر دو نی خوردند از یک آب خور
این یکی خالی و آن پر از شکر

صد هزاران این چنین اشباه بین
فرقشان هفتاد ساله راه بین

این خورد گردد پلیدی زو جدا
آن خورد گردد همه نور خدا

این خورد زاید همه بخل و حسد
وآن خورد زاید همه نور احد

این زمین پاک و آن شوره ست و بد
این فرشتهٔ پاک و آن دیوست و دد

هر دو صورت گر به هم ماند رواست
آب تلخ و آب شیرین را صفاست

جز که صاحب ذوق کی شناسد بیاب
او شناسد آب خوش از شوره آب

سحر را با معجزه کرده قیاس
هر دو را بر مکر پندارد اساس

ساحران موسی از استیزه را
برگرفته چون عصای او عصا

زین عصا تا آن عصا فرقی ست ژرف
زین عمل تا آن عمل راهی شگرف

لعنة الله این عمل را در قفا
رحمة الله آن عمل را در وفا

کافران اندر مری بوزینه طبع
آفتی آمد درون سینه طبع

هرچه مردم می کند بوزینه هم
آن کند کز مرد بیند دم بدم

او گمان برده که من کردم، چو او
فرق را کی داند آن استیزه رو

این کند از امر و او بهر ستیز
بر سر استیزه رویان خاک ریز

آن منافق با موافق در نماز
از پی استیزه آید نه نیاز

در نماز و روزه و حج و زکات
با منافق مؤمنان در برد و مات

مؤمنان را برد باشد عاقبت
بر منافق مات اندر آخرت

گرچه هر دو بر سر یک بازی اند
هر دو با هم مروزی و رازی اند

هر یکی سوی مقام خود رود
هر یکی بر وفق نام خود رود

مؤمنش خوانند جانش خوش شود
ور منافق تیز و پر آتش شود

نام او محبوب از ذات وی است
نام این مبغوض از آفات وی است

میم و واو و میم و نون تشریف نیست
لفظ مؤمن جز پی تعریف نیست

گر منافق خوانیش این نام دون
همچو کژدم می خلد در اندرون

گرنه این نام اشتقاق دوزخست
پس چرا در وی مذاق دوزخست

زشتی آن نام بد از حرف نیست
تلخی آن آب بحر از ظرف نیست

حرف ظرف آمد درو معنی چو آب
بحر معنی عنده ام الکتاب

بحر تلخ و بحر شیرین در جهان
در میانشان برزخ لا یبغیان

وانگه این هر دو ز یک اصلی روان
بر گذر زین هر دو رو تا اصل آن

زر قلب و زر نیکو در عیار
بی محک هرگز ندانی ز اعتبار

هر که را در جان خدا بنهد محک
هر یقین را باز داند او ز شک

در دهان زنده خاشاکی جهد
آنگه آرامد که بیرونش نهد

در هزاران لقمه یک خاشاک خرد
چون در آمد حس زنده پی ببرد

حس دنیا نردبان این جهان
حس دینی نردبان آسمان

صحت این حس بجویید از طبیب
صحت آن حس بجویید از حبیب

صحت این حس ز معموری تن
صحت آن حس ز تخریب بدن

راه جان مر جسم را ویران کند
بعد از آن ویرانی آبادان کند

کرد ویران خانه بهر گنج زر
وز همان گنجش کند معمورتر

آب را ببرید و جو را پاک کرد
بعد از آن در جو روان کرد آب خورد

پوست را بشکافت و پیکان را کشید
پوست تازه بعد از آنش بر دمید

قلعه ویران کرد و از کافر ستد
بعد از آن بر ساختش صد برج و سد

کار بی چون را که کیفیت نهد
اینک گفتم این ضرورت می دهد

گه چنین بنماید و گه ضد این
جز که حیرانی نباشد کار دین

نه چنان حیران که پشتش سوی اوست
بل چنان حیران و غرق و مست دوست

آن یکی را روی او شد سوی دوست
وان یکی را روی او خود روی اوست

روی هر یک می نگر می دار پاس
بوک گردی تو ز خدمت روشناس

چون بسی ابلیس آدم روی هست
پس به هر دستی نشاید داد دست

زانک صیاد آورد بانگ صفیر
تا فریبد مرغ را آن مرغ گیر

بشنود آن مرغ بانگ جنس خویش
از هوا آید بیابد دام و نیش

حرف درویشان بدزدد مرد دون
تا بخواند بر سلیمی زان فسون

کار مردان روشنی و گرمیست
کار دونان حیله و بی شرمیست

شیر پشمین از برای کد کنند
بومسیلم را لقب احمد کنند

بومسیلم را لقب کذاب ماند
مر محمد را اولو الالباب ماند

آن شراب حق ختامش مشک ناب
باده را ختمش بود گند و عذاب

English translation

There was a grocer, and he had a parrot, A sweet-voiced parrot, green and speaking. It would stay at the shop as guardian of the shop, And would speak witty points with all the traders. In addressing humans it was eloquent, And in the song of parrots it was skilled. One day the master had gone toward home, And the parrot kept watch over the shop. A cat suddenly leaped onto the shop After a mouse; the little parrot, in fear for its life, Jumped from the shop and fled to one side, And spilled the bottles of rose oil. Its master came from the direction of the house; He sat in the shop, at ease, in the manner of a master. He saw the shop full of oil and his garment greasy; He struck it on the head, and the parrot became bald from the blow. For several days it cut short its speech; The grocer sighed from remorse. He tore at his beard and said, Alas, The sun of my good fortune has gone under a cloud. Would that my hand had been broken then, When I struck the head of that sweet-tongued one. He gave gifts to every dervish, So that he might recover the speech of his bird. After three days and three nights, bewildered and wretched, He sat in the shop hopelessly. He showed the bird every kind of hidden inducement, So that perhaps it might enter into speech. A jowlaqi dervish, bare-headed, passed by, With a hairless head like the back of a basin or tray. At that moment the parrot came into speech; Like the rational, it cried out to the dervish: Why, bald one, have you mixed yourself with the bald? Did you perhaps spill oil from a bottle? The people laughed at its analogy, Because it had supposed the patched-cloak wearer to be like itself. Do not measure the work of the pure by yourself, Even though shir and shir are alike in writing. The whole world has gone astray for this reason; Few have become aware of the Abdals of God. They claimed equality with the prophets; They supposed the saints to be like themselves. They said, See, we are human and they are human; We and they are bound by sleep and eating. In their blindness they did not know this: There is a boundless difference between them. Both kinds of bee ate from the same place, Yet from that one came a sting, and from this other honey. Both kinds of gazelle ate grass and water; From this one came dung, and from that pure musk. Both reeds drank from one watering-place; This one is empty, and that one full of sugar. See hundreds of thousands of such likenesses; See that the difference between them is a seventy-year road. This one eats and filth is separated from it; That one eats and becomes wholly the light of God. This one eats and all miserliness and envy are born; That one eats and all the light of the One is born. This is pure earth, and that is salt-marsh and bad; This is a pure angel, and that is a demon and beast. If the two forms resemble each other, that is possible; Bitter water and sweet water both have clarity. Who but the possessor of taste can know? Come, seek him: He recognizes good water from brackish water. They have compared sorcery with miracle, Supposing both to be founded on deception. The sorcerers of Moses, out of contention, Took up staffs like his staff. From this staff to that staff there is a deep difference; From this act to that act, a wondrous road. The curse of God follows behind this act; The mercy of God follows that act in fidelity. Unbelievers in disputation are ape-natured; A blight came into the breast of nature. Whatever a human does, the ape too Does what it sees the human do from moment to moment. It imagines: I did as he did. How should that contentious-faced one know the difference? This one acts by command, and that one for contention; Throw dust on the heads of the contentious. That hypocrite comes with the sincere believer in prayer For contention, not need. In prayer and fasting and pilgrimage and alms, Believers and hypocrites are in winning and losing. The believers will have the win in the end; For the hypocrite there is checkmate in the hereafter. Although both are over one game, Both are together like men of Merv and Rayy. Each one goes toward his own station; Each one goes according to his own name. Call him believer and his soul becomes happy; But if you call him hypocrite, he becomes sharp and full of fire. His name is beloved because of his essence; This one's name is hated because of his defects. The letters mim, waw, mim, and nun are no honor; The grace of believer is only for designation. If you call the hypocrite by this low name, It stings within him like a scorpion. If this name is not derived from hell, Then why is there a taste of hell in him? The ugliness of that bad name is not from the letters; The bitterness of sea water is not from the vessel. The letter is the vessel; meaning in it is like water; The sea of meaning is with Him, the Mother of the Book. There is a bitter sea and a sweet sea in the world; Between them is a barrier: they do not overstep. Yet these two both flow from one origin; Pass beyond both and go to that origin. Counterfeit gold and good gold in assay: Without a touchstone you never know them by estimation. Whoever has had God place a touchstone in his soul Distinguishes every certainty from doubt. When a bit of straw jumps into the mouth of a living person, He rests only when he removes it. Among a thousand morsels, one tiny straw: When it enters, the living sense detects it. The worldly sense is the ladder of this world; The religious sense is the ladder of heaven. Seek the health of this sense from the physician; Seek the health of that sense from the Beloved. The health of this sense comes from the body's flourishing; The health of that sense comes from the body's devastation. The path of the soul ruins the body, And after that ruin makes it prosper. It destroyed the house for the sake of a treasure of gold, And from that same treasure made it more prosperous. It cut off the water and cleaned the channel; After that it sent drinkable water running in the channel. It split the skin and drew out the arrowhead; After that it grew fresh skin over it. It destroyed the fortress and took it from the unbeliever; After that it built on it a hundred towers and walls. Who can put quality upon the work beyond how? This much that I have said is compelled by necessity. Sometimes it appears so, and sometimes the opposite of this; The work of religion is nothing but bewilderment. Not that bewilderment whose back is toward Him, But that which is bewildered, drowned, and drunk in the Friend. For one, his face has turned toward the Friend; For the other, his own face is his face. Look at the face of each, and keep watch; Perhaps through service you will become one who knows faces. Since there are many Iblises with Adam's face, One should not give one's hand to every hand. For the hunter brings the sound of a whistle, So that the bird-catcher may deceive the bird. The bird hears the call of its own kind, Comes down from the air, and comes to snare and sting. A base man steals the words of the dervishes, So that he may recite that spell over a simpleton. The work of true men is light and warmth; The work of the base is trickery and shamelessness. They make a woolen lion for begging; They give Musaylima the title Ahmad. For Musaylima the title Liar remained; For Muhammad, those possessed of understanding remained. That wine of God: its seal is pure musk; Wine's seal is stench and torment.

Updated 2026-06-28

Contributors are:

Who are from:

References