As (in the arithmetical method of) “the two errors,” the excellent (successful) calculation (only) becomes clear to him after two mistakes.
چون خطایین آن حساب با صفا ** گرددش روشن ز بعد دو خطا
After that, he says (to himself), “If I had known (the real nature of) this being with God, how should I have searched for Him?
بعد از آن گوید اگر دانستمی ** این معیت را کی او را جستمی
(But) the knowledge thereof depended on journeying: that knowledge is not to be gained by keenness of thought.”
دانش آن بود موقوف سفر ** ناید آن دانش به تیزی فکر
’Tis just as the payment of the Shaykh's debts was contingent and dependent on the weeping of that (young) creature.4185
آنچنان که وجه وام شیخ بود ** بسته و موقوف گریه‌ی آن وجود
(When) the confectioner's boy wept bitterly, the debts of the venerable Shaykh were discharged.
کودک حلواییی بگریست زار ** توخته شد وام آن شیخ کبار
That spiritual tale has already been related in the course of the Mathnawí.
گفته شد آن داستان معنوی ** پیش ازین اندر خلال مثنوی
He (God) puts in thy heart the fear of (losing) a certain position, in order that no other (position) may be an object of hope to thee.
در دلت خوف افکند از موضعی ** تا نباشد غیر آنت مطمعی
To thy hope (of gaining thy wish from that quarter) He attaches another advantage (beneficial result); but He grants thee thy wish from (the hands of) some one else.
در طمع فایده‌ی دیگر نهد ** وآن مرادت از کسی دیگر دهد
O thou who hast fixed thy hopes firmly on one quarter, saying, “The fruit will come to me from that lofty tree,”4190
ای طمع در بسته در یک جای سخت ** که آیدم میوه از آن عالی‌درخت
Thy hope will not be fulfilled from there; nay, the bounty will come from another place.
آن طمع زان جا نخواهد شد وفا ** بل ز جای دیگر آید آن عطا