Page:The Mesnevī (Volume 2).pdf/125

100 How the merchant cast the parrot out of the cage and how the dead parrot flew away.

After that, he cast her out of the cage. The little parrot flew to a lofty bough.

The dead parrot made such a (swift) flight as when the orient sun rushed onward.

The merchant was amazed at the action of the bird: without understanding he suddenly beheld the mysteries of the bird.

He lifted up his face and said, "O nightingale, give us profit (instruction) by explaining thy case.

What did she (the parrot) do there (in India), that thou didst learn, devise a trick, and burn us (with grief)"?

The parrot said, "She by her act counselled me 'Abandon thy charm of voice and thy affection (for thy master),

Because thy voice has brought thee into bondage': she feigned herself dead for the sake of (giving me) this counsel,

Meaning (to say), 'O thou who hast become a singer to high and low, become dead like me, that thou mayst gain release."

If you are a grain, the little birds will peck you up; if you are a bud, the children will pluck you off.

Hide the grain (bait), become wholly a snare; hide the bud, become the grass on the roof.

Any one who offers his beauty to auction, a hundred evil fates set out towards him (and overtake him).

Plots and angers and envies pour upon his head, like water from waterskins.

Foes tear him to pieces from jealousy; even friends take his lifetime away.

He that was heedless of the sowing and the springtide, how should he know the value of this lifetime?

You must flee to the shelter of God's grace, who shed thousandfold grace upon (our) spirits,

That you may find a shelter. Then how (will you lack) shelter?

Water and fire will become your army.

Did not the sea become a friend to Noah and Moses? Did it not become overbearing in vengeance against their enemies?

Was not the fire a fortress for Abraham, so that it raised smoke (sighs of despair) from the heart of Nimrod?

Did not the mountain call Yahyá (John the Baptist) to itself and drive off his pursuers with blows of stone?

"O Yahyá," it said, "come, take refuge in me, that I may thy shelter from the sharp sword."