In Farid al-Din Attar's 'Conference of the Birds', the tale of the dervish who falls in love with the king's daughter represents the spiritual awakening and ego-annihilation (fana) of the seeker. The princess's brief smile acts as a manifestation of divine beauty, which instantly shatters the dervish's material attachments—symbolized by him dropping his loaf of bread—and drives him to a state of spiritual ecstasy. Attar uses this narrative to demonstrate that a single glance from the Divine Beloved is sufficient to dissolve the seeker's selfhood and redirect all their desires toward the transcendent.

Google

## Original content
<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right; line-height: 2; margin-top: 0.5rem;">

شهریاری دختری چون ماه داشت 
عالمی پر عاشق و گمراه داشت
فتنه را بیداریی پیوست بود 
زآنک چشم نیم خوابش مست بود
عارض از کافور و زلف از مشک داشت 
لعل سیراب از لبش، لب خشک داشت
گر جمالش ذره ای پیدا شدی 
عقل از لایعقلی رسوا شدی
گر شکر طعم لبش بشناختی 
از خجل بفسردی و بگداختی
از قضا می رفت درویشی اسیر 
چشم افتادش بر آن ماه منیر
گرده ای در دست داشت آن بی نوا 
نان آون مانده بد بر نانوا
چشم او چون بر رخ آن مه فتاد 
گرده از دستش شد و در ره فتاد
دختر از پیشش چو آتش برگذشت 
خوش درو خندید خوش خوش برگذشت
آن گدا پس خندهٔ او چون بدید 
خویش را بر خاک غرق خون بدید
نیم نان داشت آن گدا و نیم جان 
زان دو نیمه پاک شد در یک زمان
نه قرارش بود شب نه روز هم 
دم نزد از گریه و از سوز هم
یاد کردی خندهٔ آن شهریار 
گریه افتادی برو چون ابر زار
هفت سال القصه بس آشفته بود 
با سگان کوی دختر خفته بود
خادمان دختر و خدمت گران 
جمله گشتند ای عجب واقف بر آن
عزم کردند آن جفاکاران به جمع 
تا ببرند آن گدا را سر چو شمع
در نهان دختر گدا را خواند و گفت 
چون تویی را چون منی کی بود جفت؟
قصد تو دارند، بگریز و برو 
بر درم منشین، برخیز و برو
آن گدا گفتا که من آن روز دست 
شسته ام از جان که گشتم از تو مست
صد هزاران جان چون من بی قرار 
باد بر روی تو هر ساعت نثار
چون مرا خواهند کشتن ناصواب 
یک سؤالم را به لطفی ده جواب
چون مرا سر می بریدی رایگان 
از چه خندیدی تو در من آن زمان
گفت: چون می دیدمت، ای بی هنر! 
بر تو می خندیدم آن، ای بی خبر!
بر سر و روی تو خندیدن رواست 
لیک در روی تو خندیدن خطاست
این بگفت و رفت از پیشش چو دود 
هر چه بود اصلا همه آن هیچ بود

</div>

## English translation
A king had a daughter like the moon,
Who had a world full of lovers and the astray.
Turmoil was continuously awake,
Because her half-asleep eyes were intoxicated.
Her cheeks were of camphor and her locks of musk,
The quenched ruby had dry lips from her lips.
If a speck of her beauty were revealed,
Intellect would be disgraced by madness.
If sugar knew the taste of her lips,
It would freeze and melt from shame.
By chance, a captive dervish was passing by,
His eyes fell upon that radiant moon.
That destitute one had a loaf of bread in his hand,
The hanging bread was left with the baker.
When his eyes fell on the face of that moon,
The loaf left his hand and fell on the path.
The daughter passed by him like fire,
She laughed sweetly at him, sweetly passed by.
When that beggar saw her laughter,
He saw himself on the dust, drowned in blood.
That beggar had half a loaf and half a soul,
Of those two halves he was stripped clean at once.
He had no rest at night, nor during the day,
He did not take a breath from weeping and burning.
He remembered the laughter of that princess,
He fell to weeping for her like a crying cloud.
In short, for seven years he was utterly distraught,
He slept with the dogs of the daughter's alley.
The daughter's servants and attendants,
All, O wonder, became aware of this.
Those cruel ones resolved together,
To cut off that beggar's head like a candle.
In secret, the daughter called the beggar and said,
"How could one like you be a match for one like me?
They intend to harm you, flee and go,
Do not sit at my door, arise and go."
That beggar said, "On that day I washed my hands
Of life, when I became intoxicated by you.
May a hundred thousand restless souls like me,
Be sacrificed to your face every hour.
Since they want to kill me unjustly,
By your grace, answer one question of mine.
Since you would cut off my head for nothing,
Why did you laugh at me at that time?"
She said: "When I saw you, O artless one!
I was laughing at you then, O ignorant one!
It is fitting to laugh at your head and face,
But it is a mistake to laugh in your face."
She said this and went from him like smoke,
Whatever exist

حکایت درویشی که عاشق دختر پادشاه شد / The Tale of a Dervish Who Fell in Love with a King's Daughter

Root URL: https://ganjoor.net/
Source URL: https://ganjoor.net/

This Reference node represents the source used by the Literature-to-1Cademy migration agent.

Learn Before

Related