When the peerless (King) looked at his quiver he perceived that one arrow was missing from his quiver.
چون به ترکش بنگرید آن بی‌نظیر ** دید کم از ترکشش یک چوبه تیر
He said (to himself), “Where is that arrow?” and requested God (to inform him). He (God) replied, “In his (the prince's) throat, for ’tis by thy arrow (that he has been slain).”
گفت کو آن تیر و از حق باز جست ** گفت که اندر حلق او کز تیر تست
The King, whose heart was like an ocean, pardoned him; but, alas, the arrow had struck a vital spot.
عفو کرد آن شاه دریادل ولی ** آمده بد تیر اه بر مقتلی
He was slain, and the King wept in mourning for him, (for) he (the King) is all: he is both the slayer and the next of kin;4870
کشته شد در نوحه‌ی او می‌گریست ** اوست جمله هم کشنده و هم ولیست
For if he be not both, then he is not all; (but) he is both the slayer of people and a mourner (for them).
ور نباشد هر دو او پس کل نیست ** هم کشنده‌ی خلق و هم ماتم‌کنیست
(Meanwhile) the pale-cheeked martyr was thanking (God) that it (the arrow) had smitten his body and had not smitten that which is real.
شکر می‌کرد آن شهید زردخد ** کان بزد بر جسم و بر معنی نزد
The visible body is doomed to go at last, (but) that which is real (the pure spirit) shall live rejoicing for ever.
جسم ظاهر عاقبت خود رفتنیست ** تا ابد معنی بخواهد شاد زیست
If that punishment was inflicted, yet it fell only on the skin: the lover went unscathed to the Beloved.
آن عتاب ار رفت هم بر پوست رفت ** دوست بی‌آزار سوی دوست رفت
Although he laid hold of the Emperor's saddle-strap, (yet) in the end he was (only) admitted (to union with his Beloved) by the eye whose glances kill.4875
گرچه او فتراک شاهنشه گرفت ** آخر از عین الکمال او ره گرفت
And the third (brother) was the laziest of the three: he won (the prize) completely—the form (appearance) as well as the reality.
و آن سوم کاهل‌ترین هر سه بود ** صورت و معنی به کلی او ربود
The injunctions given by a certain person that after he died his property should be inherited by whichever of his three sons was the laziest.
وصیت کردن آن شخص کی بعد از من او برد مال مرا از سه فرزند من کی کاهل‌ترست