1Cademy - دفتر اول - بخش ۱۳۷ - حکایت ماجرای نحوی و کشتیبان / Book One - Section 137 - The Tale of the Grammarian and the Boatman

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر اول / Masnavi: Book One

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دفتر اول - بخش ۱۳۷ - حکایت ماجرای نحوی و کشتیبان / Book One - Section 137 - The Tale of the Grammarian and the Boatman

Original content

آن یکی نحوی به کشتی در نشست
رو به کشتیبان نهاد آن خودپرست

گفت هیچ از نحو خواندی گفت لا
گفت نیم عمر تو شد در فنا

دل شکسته گشت کشتیبان ز تاب
لیک آن دم کرد خامش از جواب

باد کشتی را به گردابی فکند
گفت کشتیبان بدان نحوی بلند

هیچ دانی آشنا کردن بگو
گفت نی ای خوش جواب خوب رو

گفت کل عمرت ای نحوی فناست
زانک کشتی غرق این گردابهاست

محو می باید نه نحو اینجا بدان
گر تو محوی بی خطر در آب ران

آب دریا مرده را بر سر نهد
ور بود زنده ز دریا کی رهد

چون بمردی تو ز اوصاف بشر
بحر اسرارت نهد بر فرق سر

ای که خلقان را تو خر می خوانده ای
این زمان چون خر برین یخ مانده ای

گر تو علامه زمانی در جهان
نک فنای این جهان بین وین زمان

مرد نحوی را از آن در دوختیم
تا شما را نحو محو آموختیم

فقه فقه و نحو نحو و صرف صرف
در کم آمد یابی ای یار شگرف

آن سبوی آب، دانشهای ماست
وان خلیفه دجلهٔ علم خداست

ما سبوها پر به دجله می بریم
گرنه خر دانیم خود را، ما خریم

باری اعرابی بدان معذور بود
کو ز دجله غافل و بس دور بود

گر ز دجله با خبر بودی چو ما
او نبردی آن سبو را جا بجا

بلک از دجله چو واقف آمدی
آن سبو را بر سر سنگی زدی

English translation

A certain grammarian boarded a boat; That self-conceited one turned his face to the ferryman. He said: "Have you read anything of grammar?" He said: "No." He said: "Half your life has gone to ruin." The ferryman was heartbroken from the sting, But in that moment held his tongue from reply. The wind threw the boat into a whirlpool; The ferryman said to that lofty grammarian: "Do you know how to swim? Tell me." He said: "No, O sweet-answering, fair-faced one." He said: "Your whole life, O grammarian, is ruined, For the boat is sinking in these whirlpools. Know that mahw is needed here, not nahw— If you are annihilated, swim through the water without danger. The ocean water holds a dead man aloft; But if he is alive, how shall he escape the sea? When you have died to the attributes of humanity, The sea of mysteries will set you upon its crown. O you who have been calling people asses, Now you are stuck on this ice like an ass. If you are the great scholar of the age in the world, Behold now the annihilation of this world and this time." We stitched the grammarian into this tale So that we might teach you the grammar of annihilation. Fiqh is fiqh, and nahw is nahw, and ṣarf is ṣarf— In diminishment you will find them, O wondrous friend. That water jug is our knowledges, And that Caliph is the Tigris of God's knowledge. We carry jugs brimful to the Tigris— If we do not know ourselves as asses, we are asses. At least the Arab was excused in this, For he was unaware of and far from the Tigris. Had he been aware of the Tigris as we are, He would not have carried that jug from place to place. Rather, had he come to know the Tigris, He would have smashed that jug upon a stone.

Updated 2026-06-30

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