35 Beshnavid ey doostaan in dastaan,
Khod haghighat naghdeh haaleh mast aan,
36 Bud shaahi dar zamaani pish az in,
Molkeh donyaa boodash o ham molkeh din,
37 Etefaaghan shaah roozi shod savaar,
Baa khavaaseh kheesh az bahreh shekaar,
38Yek kanizak did shah bar shaahraah,
Shod gholaameh aan kanizak jaaneh shaah,
39 Morgheh jaanash dar ghafas chon mitapid,
Daad maal o aan kanizak ra kharid,
40 0 Chon kharid oo ra o barkhordaar shod,
Aan kanizak az ghazaa bimaar shod,
41Aan yeki khar daasht o paalaanash
nabood,Yaaft paalaan, gorg khar ra dar
robood!
42 Koozeh boodash, aab mi naamad be dast,
Aab ra chon yaaft, koozeh khod shekast,
43 Shah tabibaan jam kard az chap o raast,
Goft jaaneh har do dar dasteh shomaast,
44 Jaaneh man sahl ast, jaaneh jaanam oost,
Dardmand o khasteham darmaanam oost,
45 Har keh darmaan kard mar jaaneh mara,
Bord ganj o dorr o marjaaneh mara,
46 Jomleh goftandash keh jaanbaazi konim,
Fahm gerd ayeeim o anbaazi konim,
47 Har yeki az ma masiheh aalamist,
Har alam ra dar kafeh ma marhamist,
48 Gar khoda khaahad nagoftand az batar,
Pas khoda benmoodeshaan ajzeh basher,
49Tarkeh estesna moraadam ghesvatist,
Ni hamin goftan keh aarez haalatist,
50 Ey basi naavardeh estesnaa begoft,
Jaaneh oo ba jaaneh estesnaast joft,
51 Harsh kardand az alaaj o az davaa,
Gasht ranj afzoon o haajat naaravaa,
52 Aan kanizak az maraz chon mooy shod,
Chashmeh shah az ashkeh khoob
53 Az ghazaa sar kangabin safra nemood,
Roghaneh baadaam khoshki mifozood,
54 Az halileh ghabz shod etlaagh raft,
Aab aatash ra madad shod hamcho naft!
786
From the Masnavi of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
In original Persian from an early manuscript, transliteration into
Latin script, and translation of meaning.



Book 1:  lines 35 - 54 (The King and the Handmaiden I )
The story of the king's falling in love with a handmaiden and buying her.
35 O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very
marrow of our inward state.
36 In olden times there was a king to whom belonged the
power temporal and the power spiritual.
37 It chanced one day that he rode with his courtiers to the
chase.
38 On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden:
the soul of the king was enthralled by her.
39 For as much as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its
cage, he gave money and bought the handmaiden.
40  After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine
destiny she sickened
41 A certain man had an ass but no pack-saddle:
as (soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried away his
ass.
42 He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when
he found water the pitcher broke.
43 The king gathered the physicians together from left and
right and said to them, "The life of us both is in your
hands.
44 My life is of no account, (but) she is the life of my life. I
am in pain and wounded: she is my remedy.
45  Whoever heals her that is my life will bear away with him
my treasure and pearls, large and small."
46 They all answered him saying, "We will hazard our lives
and summon our intelligence and put it into the common
stock.
47 Each one of us is the Messiah of a world (of people): in
our hands is a medicine for every pain."
48 In their arrogance they did not say, "If God will";
therefore God showed unto them the weakness of Man.
49 I mean (a case in which) omission of the saving clause is
(due to) a hardness of heart; not the mere saying of these
words, for that is a superficial circumstance.
50 How many a one has not pronounced the saving clause,
and yet his soul is in harmony with the soul of it!
51The more cures and remedies they applied, the more did
the illness increase and the need was not fulfilled.
52The sick girl became (thin) as a hair, (while) the eyes of
the king flowed with tears of blood, like a river.
53 By Divine destiny, oxymel produced bile, and oil of
almonds was increasing the dryness.
54 From (giving) myroblan constipation resulted, relaxation
ceased; and water fed the flames like naptha.