var MyText = new Array();
MyText['1-3'] = '"There are many ways to get to Mecca<br>I\'ll go by sea, you by land."<br>  Qā\'āni';
MyText['4-8'] = 'A Day in Rostamābād of Shemirān<br><br>Part One<br><br>'+
'Although it was the height of summer when the sun was passing through Leo, I wanted to take advantage of my 18-day-leave from the office and do the entire 84-village loop trek and tour of Shemirān.';
MyText['9-15'] = 'Walking stick in hand and knapsack on back, singly and alone, I hit the road.  Plan was, be it on-trail or off-trail, I would bring up from under my foot one-after-the-other in an orderly fashion the five main valleys of the Shemirān, that is, starting on the left:<br> (1) the valley of Farahzād, (2) the valley of Darakeh, Evin (village) and (3) the valley of Pasqal\'e, Darband (village) and (4) the valley of Emamzāde Qāsem and (5) the valley of Dārābād, and then via Niāvarān (village) and Dezāshib (village) and Chizar and Rostamābād (village) and Darrus (village) , I\'d come back to Qolhak and return to Tehran.';
MyText['16-24'] = 'Generally I didn\'t pause in any village or settlement more than a few hours needed for getting some food and having a couple cups of tea and washing hands and face.  But as for the nights, in whatever village I\'d reach, right there I\'d stop and straight away crash at the house of some villager whom I\'d never seen before and one way or another, in exchange for a little cash and a lot more sweet-talk, I\'d rustle up a relatively clean bed and spend the night and bright and early the sun wouldn\'t have even cast any rays before I\'d again, God willing, hit the road.';
MyText['25-32'] = 'Friends, you should have been there.  It was great.  There was one thing though.  Although I was used to running around like a dog,  little-by-little, I walked and wandered around so much and went up hills and came down valleys, the soles of my feet started to hurt and like it or not, I was forced to slow down my steps and on one hand, reduce the speed of my travel and on the other hand, increase the time of rests and stop-offs.  Despite all this, with utter pride I say that, thanks be to God, as per the plan I\'d made, on the 17th day, I passed through Kāmrāniye and Niāvarān and Chizar and reached Rostamābād.';
MyText['33-39'] = 'That which I saw and heard from good to bad and ugly to beautiful in that short time-span and during the travel and tour of this green and cool bit of territory which for almost 200 years has become something on the order of a storehouse of repose and "énérgie" for the residents of the hell-like capital of Tehran requires a separate volume which is beyond my capacity but for now, my aim here is only the relation of that incident which happened to me in Rostamābād.';
MyText['40-44'] = 'It was around about noon that I entered this village.  I\'d been zapped by quite an abundance of heat and a lot of dust and dirt had settled on my face.  I wandered around in search of a quiet and cool corner where I could stretch out a little and come in from the tiredness and fatigue of the road and if possible, at the same time, relax my nerves and wet my throat.';
MyText['45-59'] = 'By chance, my course fell on the small, little bazaar of the hamlet and on its clean and spotless coffeehouse. It\'s been a while now since this coffeehouse has disappeared and become a casualty of the undertakings of modernization but at that time when our hat and clothes were still our own familiar Iranian, the examples of which up to this day are lasting and permanent on the stone reliefs of Persepolis and Behistun, the coffeehouse of Rostamābād, without a doubt, in terms of freshness and pleasantness was the best coffeehouse in all of the Shemirān and perhaps only the coffeehouse of Emāmzāde Sāleh in Tajrish could compete and rival with it.  It had a relatively spacious courtyard and like all the rustic buildings of Iran was built of mud and earth through the middle of which meandered a large water channel and the courtyard roof from one end to the other was covered with straw matting in such a way that never could the sun penetrate through there and therefore, it had a pleasing and cool shade such that your soul became refreshed and for someone like me, a worn out and tired man, it had the value of a thousand gold ashrafi coins.';
MyText['60-66'] = 'I\'ll never forget one old peasant who was sitting on the edge of that stream and continuously filling his two palms with the clear and cool water and splashing it on his face saying, "Truly, it\'s the soul of the Prophet" and out of sincerity and inner purity was uttering blessings upon Mohammad.  A few cages with goldfinches and canaries along with prayers and good luck charms and amulets to ward off the evil eye and hooks and balls and mirrors had been hung here and there on the trees and the noise of birdsong and twittering was creating such a din that in that space you couldn\'t make your voice heard.';
MyText['67-78'] = 'The coffeehouse owner was a young man, some 22 or 23 years old, cheerful-faced and with a pleasant manner of speaking, polite and hospitable, with good taste and a short blue tunic which reached to the knees and a leather belt and an oval-shaped felt hat.  As soon as his glance fell on me right from the bench which was over on the other side of the coffeehouse and on which he\'d set up his layout for the samovar and stove for the tea kettles and hookas, he called out with a pleasant voice, "Welcome, you\'ve brought in purity," and he ran forward and under the shade of a graceful ash tree in a place that had been sprinkled with water and cleaner mats had been thrown down, he designated a place for me and calling out to his apprentice who was a quick-witted Shemirāni boy said, "Hey, clean the gentleman\'s shoes as fast as possible while I steep some fresh tea and bring it to him." ';
MyText['79-82'] = 'A few villagers had stretched out in the corners and off to the sides and another man who, from his face and demeanor, it was evident he was from the city and must be a droshky driver or scout, bare-headed, had sat down on the edge of the stream and was busy puffing on an opium pipe.';
MyText['83-91'] = 'When the coffeehouse owner brought the tea, thanking him I asked, "What is your name?"  Bowing his head in the polite manner, he said, "I, my gentleman, am your servant Rahmat-Allah." I said, "Is it possible to have brought for me a quarter [of a <i>man</i> of] nān-e tāftān bread and a bowl of yogurt and a little panir cheese and some [cooked] vegetables and also a measure of halva arde?"  He said, "Yes, with pleasure, but if you also would like kebabs, the kebabs of Rostamābād are famous and although it\'s possible it could take some time, I\'ll have him cut up some fillets of fresh kebab meat and prepare a proper kebab that would not be the cause of disgrace for me, your servant and you would dine heartily."';
MyText['92-93'] = 'I said, "As you wish, and may the favors you do for others return to you, however, know this much that my stomach has started growling and I also don\'t have a lot of time."  ';
MyText['94-99'] = 'By the time I\'d drunk another glass of tea, lunch itself was ready.  A brass cup full of water and crystalline ice in which a quarter of Askari grapes which had been soaked in water infused with sheaves of grain glittered like a cluster of diamonds and from which one\'s soul became refreshed from looking at it also came along with the lunch.';
MyText['100-110'] = 'After lunch as well , Rahmat-Allah appeared before me with two or three glasses of freshly-steeped tea.  He said tea should be overflowing, lip-burning, lip-welding and needing a saucer [on the scale of  the overflow ditch around a <i>hawz</i> used to wash one\'s feet in.]  And it\'s true that the best tea I drank was by his hand.  Why should I hide it from you, little-by-little, I became so intoxicated that it didn\'t seem a bad idea for me too to peel off my shoes and lie down right there and at least for a half hour, fill my lungs with that gentle air where truly, you could say the wind was fanned by the wings of angels and with the monotonous lullaby of the water I too might curl up and take a nap.  But I felt that once sleep came to my eyes, waking up again would be a Herculean task and a shovel and crane would be necessary to get me up again.  Therefore, with a thousand regrets, I abandoned the thought of sweet sleep and occupied myself with chatting and conversation with Rahmat-Allah.';
MyText['111-121'] = 'I said, "from your looks and deportment and speech and behavior and especially by your language and accent and the way you don\'t use the verb "shodan" (to become) when you want to say "raftan" (to go) like the Shemirāni\'s, I\'ve therefore surmised it appears you\'re not native to Shemirān."  He said, "May your enemy be from Shemirān.  The only thing Shemirān has to its credit is just that cool water and that\'s it otherwise Shemirān itself is no hard-to-find wonder."  I said, "Then where are you from?"  He said, "From where else would you have me be from?  I\'m from the capital, the seat of the government, Tehran and I\'m a pure-blood born-and-bred child of the neighborhood of Sanglaj."  I said, "Congratulations, then truly we\'re (that makes us) old neighbors seeing as how I too am from the neighborhood of Pā Chenār."  He said, "As a matter of fact, I was sort of thinking I knew this gentleman.  I felt I must have had the honor of doing you some service before in the city."  I said, "It\'s not unlikely but say, let\'s see, what profession did you have in the city?"';
MyText['122-125'] = 'Scratching the back of his ear with his finger tip, accompanied by a smile with a certain kind of charm, he gave the answer, "My God, I don\'t rightly know how I\'d give an answer to this question.  It would have been better if you\'d asked, "What occupation and business is there that you didn\'t have?"';
MyText['126-134'] = 'When he saw I wasn\'t getting his drift, he said, "Don\'t act surprised!  I too, like thousands of young men in this country, helpless and with no capital who have several mouths to feed but also have not learned any proper trade or job and are struggling, I was every day busy with a different job and business according to the season and weather and month and year.  For example, at the early morning call to prayer, I\'d be selling cooked beets and I\'m sure that when your slumber was torn asunder by my shout of "Come and get it!  They\'re hot!  They\'re scalding red-hot!  Beets!  Come and get it!  I\'ve got breakfast!  Beets fit for a king!  Beets!" at the time of the sounding of the bugle announcing the opening of the bathhouse, you must have directed a mule load\'s worth of curses and swearing upon my ancestors and forefathers.';
MyText['135-147'] = 'As soon as the sun rose, I\'d lay my tray of beets aside and my cry of "We\'ll manure around your <i>hawz</i>!" would rise.  On days when it snowed, I fell in tune with the times and I\'d throw my cap in the air for joy and snow-shovel on shoulder, I\d  make the rounds saying, "We\'ll shovel snow!"  Spring would barely have arrived that I\'d kiss my beets and manure and snow shovel and put them up on the ledge under the ceiling and from some place or another, I\'d rent on a monthly basis a fast-moving mule and, loading it up with green almonds and spearmint and pennyroyal from the outlying villages, I\'d bring it to town.  And besides the fact that I myself would make rounds hawking and my voice would grow loud with "Come and get it!  Green almonds!  Come and get it! Little-bitty almonds!  Come and get it! The aroma of spearmint! The perfume of penyyroyal!"  I hired some kids from the neighborhood who, like me, were empty-handed and on whose shoulders the load of mothers and sisters had fallen and I\'d give them the goods so that they could sell according to their own account and  one third of their revenues would accrue to me.';
MyText['148-150'] = 'By and by, the first crop of cucumbers would come to the market and summer was coming and then again, I\'d get so busy and had work and encumbrances, the extent of which no big-time trader has ever had.';
MyText['151-154'] = 'At dawn I\'d sell re-hydrated plums and peach slices at the bathhouse dressing room.  When freed from there, I\'d hit the back streets and get busy selling lentils.  After lentils, I\'d fall in line behind my mule and depending on the day and hour, I\'d sell 20 different sorts and kinds of goods.';
MyText['155-156'] = 'With a song of "Come and get it!  Watermelons like pomegranate flowers!"  I sold watermelons red as the blood of pigeons and my melons which were gold as golden flasks went from hand to hand.';
MyText['157-159'] = 'From dried whey and salt and onions and leaf lettuce and chicory and sour grapes and eggplant and fava beans, whatever merchandise came up, I wouldn\'t turn my back on it.  You might say the Lord hadn\'t put the word "no" in my mouth.';
MyText['160-169'] = 'As soon as midday was near and the heat became overwhelming, I led the mule home and tied it up with straw and hay to the manger I\'d rigged up in a corner of the courtyard and with the memory of the thirsty lip of the Martyr of the plain of Karbala, I slew a bowl of barberry juice and a jug of lung-invigorating Arab <i>dugh</i> on my shoulder and got myself to the row of shops at the bazaar and then for 2 or 3 hours, for the sake of selling <i>dugh</i> and barberry juice, from Pā Qāpuk and the straw-sellers\' field to the market behind the moat, no place remained that I didn\'t wander around in.  Towards late afternoon, I\'d get out the dilapidated ice cream machine which I\'d inherited from my father and I\'d sell ice cream and milk-cream for cash or on credit to the children who were returning from the schoolhouses.';
MyText['170-179'] = 'When the air got a little cooler, I\'d take out the mule and my song of "Come and get it!  Ice cubes!" and "Come and get it!  Kerosene lamp oil!" got loud.  Sometimes even, at the crossroads, I\'d sit down on a stool behind my charcoal stove and I\'d roast corn on the cob and my song of "Come and get it!  Salted corn!  Corn! Fluffy white corn!  The cane of the old is corn!  Dessert of the road is corn!  Sustenance of the young is corn! Come and get it!  Corn!  Come and get it!  Corn!" filled the neighborhood.  As soon as the lamps were lit and I saw that folks had bought their ice and oil and the time of eating corn also was past, I put my pan of <i>sirab</i> and <i>shirdan</i> on my head and with a chant of "Come and get it!  Sirab!  Come and get it!  Shirdan!"  I prepared a regal culinary delight for the <i>araq</i> drinkers and vagrants and vagabonds of the neighborhood.';
MyText['180-188'] = 'Meanwhile, my assistants and apprentices also would sell walnuts at 100 Dinars per measure and walnut halva and popcorn and wonder-concoctions and whatchamacallit and wild plums on my capital on the outskirts of the city and at midnight when, tired and worn out, I\'d return home, each one (of my apprentices) would come for settling accounts and collecting his share of the revenue and then again, Sir, you should have been there, again a morsel of bread and cheese would go down my throat and my sister also would heat up the tin [i.e. cheap]  samovar and everyone from small to big would gather around and we would talk and laugh so much until sleep became overwhelming and each one would fall in a corner and go to sleep.';
MyText['189-197'] = 'I said, "My dear fellow, all this isn\'t the answer to my question.  I asked why you\'ve quit such a lovely Tehran and have become a villager?"  He said, "Please forgive me, I got very long-winded but my intention here was that no matter how much I had to put myself out, I was bringing home a mouthful of bread for my old mother and my elder sister whose husband, may you live long, 5 years ago, while doing manual labor fell off the ladder and right there on the spot gave up his soul and went and left the wife and 3 kids without a cent, and for my younger sister who, praise be to God, just 4 months ago got married and became independent of us.';
MyText['198-203'] = 'But the thing was, last winter as I\'m sure you\'ll recall what a snowfall came down.  At the time of shoveling snow, why should I keep it from you, I didn\'t have a heavy garment and I caught a bad chill and came right home and came down with pneumonia such that for 34 whole days I was with one foot in the grave and if it hadn\'t been for the prayers of my little mother, for sure my dead body would have caused 7 shrouds to rot by now but there was an act of God and these helpless oppressed ones did not have to remain without a protector.';
MyText['204-210'] = 'When I came out of my sick bed, because I was coughing a lot, Head Physician Mirza said, "I fear the flu has been cast in your lungs and little by little, you\'re going to have a grave situation on your hands.  It\'s better while the weather hasn\'t become hot, that you get a change of air and go somewhere where the climate is milder and suitable for your constitution.  In short, this event nearly turned our lives upside down and a group of helpless, resourceless women and a herd of dependents become without a  means to eat or drink.';
MyText['211-217'] = 'But the Lord himself came to my assistance and a guy from this very village from whom, for several years back-to-back, I\'d bought green almonds and cucumbers and we would greet each other and ask how the other was doing and a friendship had developed and he was aware of my condition and situation, sent a message that Rostamābād was a place with a nice climate and just by chance, the coffeehouse owner there has acquired a piece of land and has a mind to give up the coffeehouse and get busy with farming.  If you\'re inclined, it\'s possible I might make a deal for you concerning this coffeehouse. ';
MyText['218-230'] = 'I thought what could be better.  My mother too whose thinking had become very uneasy on this account and feared I might have caught consumption gave no more opportunity (for discussion) and said it not only augers well, it will be fun and really, two birds will be killed with one stone and we\'ll get both some fresh air and we\'ll be freed of this hellish heat of Tehran and we\'ll go to a place where you\'ll have a fixed job and no more will you be obliged 12 months of the year, to wander and roam around the streets and bazaar like the sieve-repairing gypsies.  In short, thanks to your charity, the matter took off very well and praise be to God, my health is better and I cough less and along with that, in the words of my mother, I\'ve settled down and my work is less and also a morsel of bread is found that satisfies our stomach and since I treat people well, my coffeehouse also is running well. ';
MyText['231-237'] = 'Rahmat-Allah\'s babbling got to this point when suddenly without any preamble, I remembered that 2 friends from among my mates from school days who were the sons of a very reputable money changer, previously had an orchard and estate in Rostamābād and generally, they\'d spend the hot season there with their family and kin. And although years had gone by since we\'d seen eachother up close, it didn\'t seem a bad idea to me to call on them if they were in Rostamābād and pay them a fresh visit. ';
MyText['238-247'] = 'I said, "Rahmat-Allah, I hope day-by-day, your work and profits become better and your health becomes sounder and next time that I come to drop in on you, you have a home and life and greater pomp and prestige but say, let\'s see, do you know  Akbar-Aqa and `Abbas-Aqa, sons of what\'s-his-name Tehrani money changer who used to have an orchard and mansion here and do you know whether they\'ve come up this year or not?"  He said, "How would you have me not know them?  They even especially have much kindness and consideration for me, your devoted servant.  It\'s been a while since they\'ve come up and sometimes they make me proud (by coming) here and their orchard also isn\'t so far from here, anyone you ask will show you."';
MyText['248-249'] = 'I passed through a few winding lanes full of twists and turns and asking along the way, I found their orchard and knocked on the door.';
MyText['250-254'] = 'It took a while before a peasant woman, on the far side of mid-age and black-complexioned with long, curly hair which had fallen out of a dirty granny-scarf, with penetrating and glaring eyes and a scarf tied at the waist opened the door and said, "Master is in the garden entertaining guests. Please come in."';
MyText['255-259'] = 'I said to myself, "Let it not be that you become a nuisance to folks," and I was just about to turn back [turn my donkey around] but in the end I gave the message that it\'s so-and-so and he\'s asking if you want uninvited guests, "Should I go back or come in, what is your command?"  ';
MyText['260-263'] = 'The woman went and I was thinking that probably she hadn\'t understood what I\'d said when suddenly the clamoring of Akbar-Aqa arose, "Where is he? Why doesn\'t he come in? What is he waiting for?" And he himself, with bare feet and bare head rushed to welcome me.';
MyText['264-268'] = 'It was the same old Akbar-Aqa and the same long-time friend with the exception that he\'d become a little older and aged, his facial complexion a little darker, and of the hair on his head, some had fallen out and some had gone white and all-in-all, he himself had become fatter and had put out a regular little pot-belly.';
MyText['269-273'] = 'We fell into eachother\'s embrace and kissed one another\'s head and cheek time after time.  He took my hand and pulling me along brought me into the interior of the garden.  He was getting all worked up with zeal and was saying, "Truly, you\'ve  done a wonderfully good thing. It\'s as if the world has been given to me.  Bravo! What a good job, what a felicitous idea...';
MyText['274-277'] = 'In the shade of a group of four old elm trees which had grown up together, [put their heads together] rugs and carpets had been thrown down and tea service and a spread of desserts was in every respect furnished and all that was needed for living it up and feasting was completely set up and ready to go.';
MyText['278-281'] = 'Akbar-Aqa reclined on a large cushion with the thickness of these very elm trees and it became evident that before my arrival, he and his guest who was an olive-skinned, handsome young man had been busy playing backgammon.';
MyText['282-283'] = 'His companion, with the excuse that he had urgent and necessary business excused himself and went and Akbar-Aqa and I were left alone.';
MyText['284-287'] = 'Immediately, he ordered the samovar to be re-fired up and fruits and sekanjabin and lemonade to be brought from the house and he asked for a clothes brush and with his own hand, got busy cleaning my hat and clothes all full of dirt and dust.';
MyText['288-300'] = 'After the customary inquiring about one\'s health, talk of the days of childhood and the time of lessons and school came up. With the tongs of craving, we raked the ashes of the past back and forth on the brazier and one by one, the priceless memories of youth, like burning and fiery roses pushed up their heads from under the ashes of oblivian.  For close to a full hour we conversed about our devilish acts and the pranks we played on the teachers and the woes we brought on the heads of the principal and vice-principal and about the beatings we\'d  suffered and about the  plotting and machinations,  both inside [jobs] and outside [jobs], and from out of the grave we brought out friendships & enmities and bullying & making up again and we brought the age of youth back to life and really, we derived much pleasure and limitless and unfathomable enjoyment.';
MyText['301-314'] = 'I asked, "How\'s your work and how do you spend your time? He said, "Thanks to the sufferings which my late father, for the whole of forty-eight years underwent in amassing weath and as you yourself know he went and passed away without enjoying that wealth, thank God it\'s not too bad and in this respect I don\'t have any grievances or complaints and daily bread comes without headache and also, as much as possible I make [daily bread] come to those who have nothing. But as for that which you asked, how do I spend my time, that which I am, just as you see, after a lifetime, finally I\'ve figured out that if God has created all these various blessings it must be for this, that his servants take enjoyment from them and, why should I hide it from you, it\'s been a while that I act according to this line [of thinking] and put into action the admonition of Hafez of Shiraz who said:';
MyText['315-316'] = '"Don\'t be without wine and minstrel for under the vault of the sky<br> With this melody can you remove sorrow from the heart"';
MyText['317-322'] = 'And I\'ve made my resolution firm and as much as I\'m able and I can, I derive profit and believe me that till this point I\'ve not suffered any harm from this method and I\'m not regretting it.  I\'ve realized that a clever person should extract the essence and juice of everything that God created and bring to hand a reasonable extent of pleasure. ';
MyText['323-334'] = 'It\'s been a few years that I\'ve appropriated a large section of this very garden for flower cultivation and every year, with my own hands, I plant a large amount of pretty flowers and I personally raise them and with my own hand, I pick the prettiest of them, and, in beautiful, silver flower vases which, off of my own sketch and to my own taste I\'ve had the best master-craftsmen of Esfahan fabricate, I place them and I arrange them around my bed and to the sound of the breeze and murmuring of this very brook that you see--and its water is so cold that the entire period of summer, never do we need ice-- I put my hands under my head and without a thought and relaxed, I stretch out and, closing my eyes, for long hours I derive pleasure from smelling the perfume and fragrance of those flowers.';
MyText['335-340'] = 'Species of pleasant-voiced birds have nests around my garden and as soon as my head gets free [from business of the day,] I drink [hit] two or three glasses of the excellent sour-cherry <i>araq</i> which I have personally ordered be made for me and far from glances, in a corner of this very hidden garden, I fall on the lawn and I turn over all my senses to the song and chirping of these divine singers.';
MyText['341-348'] = 'From the eating of lamb kebabs and Askari grapes and ambergris-scented rice, I derive as much pleasure as from the watching of the stars of the sky and the sight of the rosy-cheeked faces of the proud and coquettish girls of Tehran and the simple and uncontaminated maids of Shemiran.  The few dozen friends and companions that I had, I gradually threw them in the sieve of the acid test and trial and from amongst them, I\'ve chosen two or three and sent the rest off to their god, and now, it\'s been a few years that with these two or three true friends I\'m happy.';
MyText['349-358'] = 'Since they are making a decent living, [their hand is reaching their mouth] they don\'t have a [covetous] eye on my wealth, nor do I [have] hope in financial assistance or helping them out and in this respect, at least, neither side has any stress. Often, when they, from their employment and service, and I, from business dealings get a break, whether in the city or here, we gather together and talk and laugh and eat and drink and tease one another and in this way we pass our lives but at the same time, we follow [the course] that we not fall short in terms of helping and giving a hand as far as whatever has been made by the honorable but driven-to-desperation, poor man, burdened by a wife and family.';
MyText['359-362'] = 'Slowly, with the turning of time, I have figured out that that which they call happiness, beyond ordinary pleasures, is a cloak which only with the needle of goodness and service and with the thread of compassion and care for God\'s creation can be sewn.';
MyText['363-367'] = 'I said, "Bravo, old fellow, you\'ve bedded down your camel in not a bad place and you\'ve staked out not a bad position for this world and the next for yourself but besides these things, say, have you also rustled  up  a wife and child or have you still remained a bachelor and as before, are still strutting around [with your head and ear moving?"] ';
MyText['368-374'] = 'He said, "Oh man, nowadays, well, I\'m so out of shape mice are taking the millet right out of my pocket.  Not only have I taken a wife but now I have three heads of children and my eldest son Homayun has just turned twelve and has turned out a real wolf who could tie up the hands behind the back of one hundred of the likes of you and me and now it\'s been years that my main occupation is spending time with these very children and my sole pleasure is the arrangement of matters for their education and upbringing."';
MyText['375-377'] = 'I said, "Friend, thank God that truly, as the saying goes, you\'ve got a grasp on the skirt of the beloved of your goal and today you are a happy man."';
MyText['378-382'] = 'He said, "Brother dear, happiness is not a weed that grows by itself and, as a matter of fact is not something that someone can give to us but rather, happiness too, is like knowledge and literacy and wealth and one has to bring to hand the tips of its locks of hair [as with the beloved] through struggle and striving and I doubt that in order to reach it, this very road that I\'m travelling on would be completely a bad road." ';
MyText['383-389'] = 'I said, "Go and thank God that you don\'t have the sorrow and grief of procuring bread or otherwise you would have understood that until one has bread on the table, talk of happiness is like measuring out water with a sieve.  But let us pass on from this topic and again talk about the past.  I remember,  previously when we were in school, you had some talent and sometimes even composed poetry and by the way, it was not without merit.  Have you composed anything recently?"';
MyText['390-395'] = 'He said, "I read so many books and blackened so many pages and hurt my head with poetry and prose that my hair has become white and since, after all, I couldn\'t get anywhere with it [find my way], I got tired and thus, from literary work I got so fed up that if I tell you now, it\'s been years since I\'ve any more opened the folds of a book and since my hand has touched a pen, maybe you won\'t believe me."';
MyText['396-399'] = 'I said, "This too is a [valid] [life]style but you haven\'t said anything about what your brother Abbas-Aqa is doing.  I hope he too, like you has found the narrow road of happiness and he\'s fat and happy and his heart is without sorrow." ';
MyText['400-402'] = 'He said, "I\'ll follow [your wish].  However, before moving on from this stage and onto Abbas-Aqa, allow me to make a request of you." ';
MyText['403-407'] = 'I said, "I give my word that whatever wish it be, I would accept."  He said, "Come, man and like a man cleanly and openly [with skin peeled off] say and let me see:  Are you truly in agreement with this way that I\'ve adopted in life or are you saying these things in order to flatter me?" ';
MyText['408-414'] = 'I said, "You yourself know that when it comes to [the high rank I accord] you two brothers, I\'ve never counted lying and being two-faced permissible and damnation upon that loathesome person who would not be truthful with friends.  God is [my] witness that I consider you to be among the eminent servants and chosen ones of the Provider and not only me but also every legitimately born person raised on pure milk will certify that the true path is this very path that you are taking and the way to salvation and deliverance is [no other] but this."';
MyText['415-422'] = 'He said, "From your expressing [these things] I\'m happy and now, keeping faithful to my promise, I\'ll tell you a few words concerning the matter of Abbas-Aqa.  [To be] short and practical, you must know this much, that he, as opposed to me, has so turned his back on the world and has so much become a hostage of books and notebooks and a lover who has lost his heart to pen and ink-pot that in the words of the old-wives, you could say he was born with [the midwife cleared his palate with] pen and ink-pot and  without any exageration, one can say his eye sees no other thing besides books and paper and pen."  ';
MyText['423-427'] = '"Even two or three years ago, we found a girl for him who was really a sugar-cube and in every way was a matter for [the relishing] of the teeth but however much we insisted saying, "Reasonable man, come down off the devil\'s donkey so we can set up your marriage" but he wouldn\'t agree at all and remained single as he still is."   ';
MyText['428-439'] = 'At this point, Akbar-Aqa with his finger, pointed out a room in the northern direction of the garden which had a large terrace and, for the sake of keeping back the sun, screens were fastened from outside in front of its door(s) and window(s) and he said, "In this black-hole, night and day, he\'s so immersed in the midst of books and paper that it happens so often, when they bring his dinner, he\'s not even touched his lunch. No matter how much I say, "After all, brother dear, there is also a limit to reading of books," he takes no account of it and things have gotten to the point that even I who am his  only brother and truly, I am more fond of him than my sons, sometimes it happens that week after week,  I don\'t see his face and don\'t hear his voice."';
MyText['440-448'] = 'I said, "I\'m extremely desirous of seeing him, is it possible you could give word that so-and-so is here?"  The servant went to deliver the message and five minutes had not yet passed that  the familiar voice of Abbas-Aqa reached my ear from afar saying, "Bravo, bravo, from which direction has the sun come up today?  <i>That which I see, is it in a wakeful state or, oh God, in a dream?</i>  One must burn some wild rue seeds and must slaughter a sheep and make a sacrifice.  How is it, that after a lifetime you\'ve remembered the poor, long-lost ones ?"';
MyText['449-454'] = 'When I looked, Abbas-Aqa was coming towards me at a run with eyes, out of an excess of joy, raining sparks,  and with bare head and feet, and he was shaking his arms with zeal. It was my same old Abbas-Aqa and my same old  dear classmate, finally, he\'d become a little thinner and aged.  And the hair on his head had become long and on both sides of the temples, it had become salt-and-pepper.';
MyText['455-461'] = 'I too jumped up and rushed to him and, falling into one another\'s embrace, we kissed like never before and taking my hand and perking up, he took me to his room.  A strange room appeared before me.  You could say a cyclone of study and research in a wilderness of knowledge and wisdom had hit. The floor of the room had become hidden under the pages and books and notebooks in such a way so that there was no place for one to put a foot down.';
MyText['462-469'] = 'I said, "Brother dear, I fear I may sink in this sea and lose my way in this desert.  Would you consider it a good plan  that I, instead of upsetting your peace, I turn my donkey around and go back?"  He laughed and keeping my hand in his hand, on tiptoe, he brought me through paths full of twists and turns towards a bench that was deep inside his room and sat me down and he himself opened up a space in the middle of the waves of paper and books and sat down in front of me on the ground.';
MyText['470-474'] = 'Again with this brother also, we talked a while about ourselves and about old friends and comrades and about the times of school.  A minute didn\'t go by  without one of us interrupting the talking of the other, shaking out from the long snake-catcher sack of remembrance, a fresh memory like a snake, full of lines and spots, into the middle of the gala.';
MyText['475-477'] = 'Sometimes the hee-heeing of laughing became loud and sometimes at the memory of one out of the old friends who didn\'t make it both of us would become mournful and silent.';
MyText['478-490'] = 'Abbas Aqa, without stopping lit up and smoked one cigarette after the other, and fixing his delighted eyes on me talked on and on.  I myself also had become so happy from seeing him that every moment my thoughts and talk kept falling off the pivot of orderliness and off track, and  force and struggle alone were  necessary in order that I be able to keep the line of speech in hand.  Finally, as soon as the inner flame of both parties got a little lessened, I said, "Your brother was saying that you\'ve become crazy for books but I didn\'t believe that things might have gone this far.  Brother dear, although you may not have gone crazy yet, there\'s no telling, any day now in the heap  of these bits and pieces of papers and the turbulance of the waves of these rotten pages, you\'ll become a madman [to be] chained up."';
MyText['491-495'] = 'Laughing, he shook his head and said, "What can one do?  In this world, everyone is taken by a mania. I also, with this very stuff and junk that you see and whose name is books and notebooks, I have made my heart happy and so far even I\'ve not suffered any harm [from it.]';
MyText['496-497'] = '"If Reason knew how happy Heart was ensnared in her locks<br>The wise ones would go crazy searching for our chains"';
MyText['498-510'] = 'I said, "Brother dear, after all, there is a limit to everything.  Look at your brother, how happy he is and fit as a fiddle and nice and plump, he eats and drinks and is busy living it up with good-hearted friends and all the time, his occupation is with  rosy, attractive faces and unhypocritical wine while you have imprisoned yourself like prisoners and monks who\'ve renounced the world in this cell of yours and with this pale complexion and this wretched and gaunt-limbed condition, you\'ve become living in the grave.  God is witness, I fear that one of these here days, within the folds of the loose pages of one of these here wretched [without spiritual guide] books, like a bed bug, you\'ll get trapped and, no matter how much you struggle, you won\'t get a hand-hold and like-it-or-not, right there you\'ll be answering God\'s invitation [to die] and replying with "Here I am at your service"".';
MyText['511-516'] = 'The smoke which he\'d amassed in his chest, he expelled by way of the hole of his mouth and said, "What all are these words?  Firstly, do you really imagine that if two days sooner or later I take it a little easier the heavens and earth will start shaking or some harm will come to creation? And secondly, now, as long as you\'re here, I should frankly submit one piece of truth before you.  ".';
MyText['517-522'] = '"Akbar-Aqa, however much he is my only brother and one caring friend and dear companion and only  being from head-to-foot beloved to me that has remained  in this world and God himself is witness that any hour  if need be,  I\'m ready to give up my life as a means for his happiness but in no way at all am I in agreement with his way of life. ".';
MyText['523-527'] = '"I\'m neither religious nor atheist and when it comes to philosophy or mysticism also I\'m completely inept and a stranger [to it] but still, I can\'t accept that man was created only for eating and sleeping and only for fulfilling the duties connected with the stomach and genitals and that\'s it,...  "';
MyText['528-535'] = '"...I myself know very well that if you should ask, "Then for what was he created?" I would not be able to give you an answer that would be  reasonable and decisive, however despite all this, I  feel very strongly  that there is a voice in the ear of my being that in an obscure manner is saying, "Rest assured,   the goal is something else," and sometimes even when, whether meaning to or not I fall on the same path as my brother, immediately,  the elephant goad of thought and awakening comes down on my brain saying, "Watch out, don\'t forget that:  ".';
MyText['536-537'] = '"Besides eating and sleeping  another world exists for man<br> Live with vital souls for therein lies the way to everlasting life."';
MyText['538-540'] = '" And if otherwise, without paying attention I am about to not heed these words and not pay attention, always, that same elephant goad goes up and comes down and in my ear it says:".';
MyText['541-542'] = '"Sleeping and eating have distanced you from the plane of love<br>You can attain love at that time when you become without sleep and without food.".';
MyText['543-545'] = '"And now things have gotten to the point that the ear of all the atoms of my being  have become tongues and day and night, having become one-voiced with Hafez of Shiraz, they say to my soul:".';
MyText['546-547'] = '"You who never go out from the confines of human nature\'s needs<br>How will you ever be able to pass into the lane of divine truth".';
MyText['548-554'] = 'Starting to mock him I said, "You\'ve turned out to be a regular poet and mysic.  Brother, after a lifetime I\'ve come to see you and instead of taking me by the hand to your brother and the three of us sitting and at the memories of the past splitting the ceiling of the heavens and talking and laughing so much that we pass out, you\'ve become a preacher  and continuously you are firing poems and verses at me."';
MyText['555-557'] = 'He said, "For God\'s sake, [I beg] you, don\'t stomp your foot on the face of truth and if I\'m not telling the truth, tell me I\'m not telling the truth. Do you yourself not acknowledge it\'s true that: "';
MyText['558-559'] = '"The person who has no soul with Meaning<br>Is in reality a tree with no fruit"';
MyText['560-564'] = '"For someone like me, it\'s as clear as day that no fruits will ripen from eating and sleeping and one should be thinking  of that bread which has significance and divine truth, otherwise with these figurative melons and thoughts which are like stream water, one can\'t satiate the stomach."';
MyText['565-576'] = '"I saw that the rebellious horse of study and deep research had bolted up and falling down the slope and slide of mysticism-weaving, it was possible he take a slip and break his neck.  Therefore I got set to kid him a little and cutting off his words, I said, "Brother dear, get rid of these nonsensical words and dismount a while so that we can walk a little together and tell me, have you seduced any girls and stuff lately or not?" He said, "Really, you\'re way off mark.  If you find out how many worlds away I am [how much from these worlds I\'ve fallen] you\'ll be surprised.  It\'s now been a while that day and night, all my thoughts and imagination are directed at putting into practice the order of the Tongue of the Mysterious of Shiraz:"';
MyText['577-578'] = '"Take your hand from the copper of [just] existing that you may become like the people of the Way<br>So you may find the alchemy of love and become gold."';
MyText['579-586'] = '"And from you personally who are my old caring friend and whom the hand of destiny has at this time put here in front of me, [facing me] my only wish that I have is that you put jesting and stale jokes totally aside and taking the God of the world and man as witness and overseer, frankly and without ceremony, with complete truthfullness and sincerity, tell me,  in your opinion, whether this course I\'ve adopted is the road to prosperity and salvation or not."';
MyText['587-594'] = '" He said this and tears formed a ring around his eyes. Somehow, I also became overcome.  In response to him I said, "If you\'ll recall, I myself also right from childhood often was bound by these very sorts of ideas and thoughts and even once with you yourself we\'d decided we take ourselves to Gonabad in our dervish dress and there devote ourselves and I don\'t know what event made it so that we were turned away from this idea."';
MyText['595-599'] = '"Now that you have requested my opinion as a friend, know that I too think you\'re right and I don\'t have  even a needle-head\'s [worth of ] doubt or hesitation that the way to deliverance is this very road which you yourself have found and truly in this regard, I offer felicitations and congratulations and I\'m certain that the blessings of divine guidance will accompany you on your way."';
MyText['600-608'] = 'He was very happy with these statements of mine and sent word that Akbar Aqa also come and again for a long time, in the corner of that same room the three of us held conversation about every topic and said many things and finally, when I saw that the sun had set and the air was little-by-little getting dark, somehow or other, I freed my neck from the clasp of these two dear brothers and alone, I set out in the direction of Rostamabad.  My goal was to say goodbye to Rahmat-Allah and at the same time, also find the means to get myself as fast as possible back to the city."';
MyText['609-619'] = 'In that slight twi-light of the early evening, I strode with haste on the heaven-like road full of dust and dirt of the bounds and territory of Shemiran and I said to myself, "How strange that these two dear brothers  have taken up in life two paths which completely are opposed and opposite to eachother and even stranger is that, if you look with the eye of justice, it will appear that each, according to his own authority thinks he\'s right and both are travelling on the straight path and more than anything, the cause for surprise and wonder is that both of these brothers, in order to prove the legitimacy of his course and dogma relies on one verse of Hafez, one says: "';
MyText['620-621'] = 'Don\'t be without wine and minstrel for under the vault of the sky<br> With this melody can you remove sorrow from the heart "';
MyText['622-624'] = 'And the other says,<br>"You who never go out from the confines of human nature\'s needs<br>How will you ever be able to pass into the lane of divine truth".';
MyText['625-644'] = 'Unaware that both verses are from one <i>ghazal</i> of Hafez and it\'s not clear how Hafez himself even accomodated these two conflicting and opposing truths together and brought them both into one <i>ghazal</i>. Do we not say that this differing and opposition is superficial and the perspicacious eye and keen intellect wants to trace these two views and these two significations to a unity and understand that these two ideas and beliefs both originate together at that place where black and white and bitter and sweet still have not differentiated from one another and have not become distinct?"  But despite all this, when I recalled my conversation with these two brothers, I was suprised that with all this overt opposition and contradiction that existed between their opinions and thoughts, how I, face black with shame, without a moment\'s hesitation considered it allowable to give the inconceivable assurance to each one that he was  the true one and said to each one he was right. But I said to myself, "If the workings of the world are so complicated and confused, what fault is there of me, helpless thing, and if  every item in the world we would subject to research and study  comes out  with two faces and two shapes and two hues, what sin can be written on [the head of] me, clueless about  [the ways of] the world."';
MyText['645-647'] = 'These sorts of twisting and turning thoughts and imagining became the means [ladder] to get me along my way and when I came to, I had reached Rostamabad.';
MyText['648-652'] = 'It was  half an hour after nightfall  that I entered the coffeehouse of my friend, Rahmat Allah.  The coffeehouse was full of groups of people and still, continuously villagers from old to young with washed faces and appearances were arriving from the surrounding areas and were seating themselves shoulder to shoulder on the benches and counters of the coffeehouse.';
MyText['653-659'] = 'It was evident something newsworthy was up.  They had swept and cleaned the courtyard of the coffeehouse and decorated it and besides the regular straw mats, they\'d thrown down a few new mats and even a few carpets and rugs and lots of lamps of every kind, from tulip-shaped candle-holders and lanterns and wall-lamps and kerosene table lamps made the space light like broad daylight. The pleasant voices of the one-night extra coffeehouse apprentices rose from every direction and between Rahmat Allah and his apprentices the noise of conversations of this type were continuously being exchanged: ';
MyText['660-667'] = '"Mashhadi Rahmat Allah"<br>"Yes, dear"<br>"Bring one tea with sugar  on the side, second bench under the willow tree."<br> " With pleasure"<br>"Mashhadi Rahmat Allah"<br>"Yes, dear"<br>"Bring one top-knotch hookah, third bench under the plane tree on the water channel."<br>"Certainly" ';
MyText['668-675'] = 'As soon as the glance of Rahmat Allah fell on me, from right over there  at a distance he called out, "Welcome, at your service," and joyfully, he ran towards me.  I said, "Tonight, you have a regular crowd, there isn\'t something going on, is there?"  He said, "With your permission, we wanted tonight to pull off an elocution contest [(contest of) eloquency] and we\'ve gotten Darvish Marhab, who is famous amongst elocutionists and Shater Najaf Ali who also in matters of eloquence has talent, to promise that, since tonight is Friday-eve and the Night of Baraat, to come and have an elocution contest". ';
MyText['676-683'] = 'Although it was late and the stipulated period of eighteen days of my leave also was at an end and I wished to get myself back to the city as fast as possible, still, since Rahmat Allah insisted that after the end of the elocution contest I would set off, I slowly relented, especially because I myself also, for ages, had been wishing that I attend one of these elocution contests and see how these contests which are  the object of so much liking and desire of the common people and the masses, how they  take place and of what style and manner they  consist.';
MyText['684-688'] = 'I said, "Rahmat Allah, when it comes to old neighbors, of course, I don\'t want to offend you by turning down your offer and go down on record as ungrateful  and inconsiderate but the truth is that tomorrow morning early  I have to show up at the damned office once again and I fear that after the end of the session I won\'t be able to get myself back to the city."';
MyText['689-698'] = 'He said, "Let your mind be at ease for I myself will provide your  means of transportation" and from amongst the crowd, he pointed out an old man who, from his features and appearance, it was evident he was a trader and who had a respectful [clean and pure] salt-and pepper beard, and said, "This person whom you see has a straw mat shop in the city right next to the Nawruzkhan drinking water charity-house and just today, he\'s brought for me two mule-loads of mats that I\'d ordered and he too, after the contest ends is returning to Tehran and seeing as how one of his mules he\'ll himself ride, the other mule is free, if you\'ll just be kind, [a dervish] it\'s evident that with total pride he\'ll be ready to get you to the city."';
MyText['699-700'] = 'In short, I accepted and right there on a newly-woven mat that Rahmat Allah with his own hands threw down for me on the edge of the water channel, I took my seat.';
MyText['701-706'] = 'It didn\'t take long before the coffeehouse was filled with people and the elocutionists also entered.  Darvish Marhab was seasoned-looking and dressed up and a number of villagers recognized him and gathered around him and began to get reacquainted but Shater Najaf Ali who was his rival and competitor was no more than thirty-five or six years old and it was evident he\'d recently gotten into [the line of] elocution contests.';
MyText['707-711'] = 'He had solemn and serious features drawn on his face and  especially responsive and kind and attractive black eyes.  His hair had fallen out from under his oval-shaped felt hat and the fine cloak and shawl with fringe from Yazd which was wrapped around his hat conveyed that, like all Shater-bakers, he was a man of excellence and had experience with books and notebooks.';
MyText['712-717'] = 'The greetings and prayers ended and the elocution contest began.  As you know, one would say a verse and the other would answer, and everyone would remain in suspense that from the sashes and hats to tunics and shirts they had to put as a wager in the middle of the ring, they would be waiting [to see] whether the opponent at his turn would get stumped and unable to answer so they could again take back their wager.';
MyText['718-720'] = 'The villages formed a circle around Darvish Marhab and Shater Najaf Ali who sat down facing eachother in the middle of the courtyard of the coffeehouse and the elocution contest began.';
MyText['721-728'] = 'Darvish Marhab turned his face towards Shater and said, "Janab-e Shater, please let the beginning be with you."  Shater Najaf Ali, turning him down said, "Janab-e Morshid, it is up to you, you want your servant to be shamed in the middle of this gathering.  You, Janab-e Ali, are the senior of all of us." And making  his neck bowed in the custom of veneration, said, "I have the wish that no more after this, you give me embarrassment and you please begin  because  for the sake of my pride and raised head it is enough that you have given permission that I kneel before you sir on the ground."';
MyText['729-733'] = 'Again, a little mutual praising was exchanged between them and finally Darvish Marhab gathered himself together and, picking up his steel, gold-inlaid battle-axe from the ground  threw it on his shoulder, and after, as is customary,  he requested three [rounds of] loud benedictions from the audience, [and] with a loud and thundering voice, he began the assembly with these verses:   ';
MyText['734-739'] = '"In the name of God the merciful and compassionate<br>There is a key to the door of  God\'s  treasure"<br>"The beginning of your thinking and the ending of matters<br>Is the name of God, on him make conclusion"<br>"The beginning of him is a beginning without beginning<br>The end of him is an end without ending"  ';
MyText['740-743'] = 'Then he returned to his place and sat down on the ground and it was Shater\'s turn.  Shater Najaf Ali sat up and cleared his chest and raised his head and continued his response  to Darvish with a warm and pleasant voise with these verses:  ';
MyText['744-747'] = '"The beginning of the book in the name of God the wise<br>The Creator and Nourisher and the ever mighty"<br>"The greatest and most supreme God of the world and man<br>Beautifully created form and beautiful character" ';
MyText['748-750'] = 'As soon as Shater fell silent, Darvish started speaking.  After praise and glorification of God, he proceeded with praise and eulogy of the most generous Prophet and said: ';
MyText['751-754'] = '"The moon remains low from the beauty of Mohammad<br>The cypress does not grow because of the straight stature of Mohammad"<br>"The value of the sky has not  full  esteem<br> In view of the perfect  worthiness of Mohammad"';
MyText['755-757'] = 'Upon hearing the name of Mohammad, the audience made loud the noise of benedictions to the Prophet and as soon as silence settled, Shater got up from his place and opened his lips to speak and recited these verses:';
MyText['758-765'] = '"[On] the first tablet when [God] inscribed <i>alef</i> <br>It sat on the bar of the  door of Ahmad"<br>"<i>alef</i> made room for the  circle of the <i>he</i> <br>The necklace from the <i>dal</i> and belt from <i>mim</i> he gave"<br>"Then he found from that <i>mim</i> and <i>dal</i><br>The circle of wealth and line of perfection"<br>"The moon which has become  the jewel box of emeralds<br>Its seal [seal-ring gem] has become the stamp of Mohammad."';
MyText['766-769'] = 'Again, upon hearing the name of Mohammad the noise of benedictions of the villagers to Mohammad grew loud but  Dervish Marhab, not giving [any more] opportunity, proceeded with praise of Ali and putting his battle-axe in motion with great bombast recited these verses in a loud voice:  ';
MyText['770-775'] = '"The cup bearer of the foutain of Paradise, the guiding Imam<br> The son of the uncle of Mostafa, the Lion of God"<br>"He went into the Kabah that possessor of acceptance <br>Idol-smasher, on the support of the shoulders of the Prophet"<br>"If the white hand [of Moses] had not been manifest to him<br>How would the spine-splitting sword have taken its position  there"  ';
MyText['776-778'] = 'Shater also gave his reply with some juicy verses and Darvish Marhab, after praise and eulogy of the immaculate ones and great protectors and the noble spiritual leaders,  came to the creation of the world and recited these verses: "  ';
MyText['779-786'] = ' "What is that everlasting upside-down globe<br>Always restlessly settled on one thing"<br>"What is the wheel besides a lost wanderer<br>What does it know as far as what\'s inside the veil"<br>" On the path to him you\'ve lost your head and foot<br>Veil upon veil upon veil"<br>"The works of the world are wonder inside of wonder<br>Wonder inside wonder inside wonder they are"';
MyText['787-795'] = ' Shater gave his reply on the subject of the creation of Earth with these verses:<br>He made the mountains the pins of the Earth first<br>Then he washed the Earth\'s face in the sea"<br>"Since the Earth is standing on the back of a cow<br>The cow on a fish and the fish on air/whimsical desires"<br>"Then on what is the air, it\'s on nothing and that\'s it<br>It\'s (emphatically) nothing,   all this is nothing and that\'s it"<br>"Since everything from the first must be on nothing<br>All this then must be nothing, no doubt"';
MyText['796-801'] = ' Then it came to the turn of the creation of man and after man [Adam], they recited juicy verses in the description of speech and speakers and little by little, they passed from this world and the next and justice and fairness and punishment and reward and got to the characteristics of humans and men  and chivalry and in this respect, Darvish Marhab again got up from his place and threw his battle-axe on his shoulder and with a loud voice recited these verses:  ';
MyText['802-807'] = '"[If] you want goodness for yourself, be a goodness-seeker to others<br>Because never will a good-thinking man be bad" <br>"Humaneness is bringing mercy upon the helpless<br>As for a human, his body should start trembling as soon as he sees a wound"<br>"That which you want for your carnal self is forbidden to you, oh Sa\'di<br>If you don\'t want it then the other and the self are the same"   ';
MyText['808-817'] = 'Then Shater got to his feet and came to the middle of the assembly and, cupping his hand to his ear, with a loud voice he proceeded to recite these verses:<br>"Seek   the comfort of  men, what is injuring<br>Besides shame what is the product of this act"<br>"Taking the dominion of the weak in your palm, suppose [hold it]<br>Having suffered  that of the oppressed orphans, suppose"<br>"On the Day of Judgement when there will be a judgement<br>Don\'t bring any excuse for what excuse will you bring"  ';
MyText['818-822'] = 'Then when it was Darvish\'s turn, he said, "Shater-e Janab, if it is allowed, I would like to ask you a question to see how capable you are of answering." Shater Najaf Ali  bowed his head and said, "Janab-e Morshed, as you wish, certainly if my lucky star will help me I\'ll answer."  ';
MyText['823-826'] = 'Darvish said, "Nezami-e Ganjavi said,<br>"There are three things and they in three resting places"<br>"Will all three be short-lived and will become destroyed"<br>Say and let\'s see, what are these three things." ';
MyText['827-829'] = 'Shater gave the answer without delay:<br>"In India the horse and in Fars the elephant"<br>In China the cat in this manner reason is shown" ';
MyText['830-832'] = 'The sound of "good for you" and "bravo" rose from the sides and the turn for asking came to Shater.  He said, "Janab-e Morshed, I\'m being presumptuous but Anvari said:" ';
MyText['833-835'] = '"[If] you want that the best work in the world be your work"<br>"From these two, do one thing in all that you do, that\'s it"<br>Please say and I\'ll see what was meant by these two kinds of work" ';
MyText['836-838'] = 'Darvish smiled and said:<br>"Either give benefit to others [of] that which you know"<br>"Or take benefit from other people [of]  that which you do not know" ';
MyText['839-842'] = 'Again the sound of "well done" and "bravo" became loud from every direction and again the turn of asking came to Darvish.  He said, "Janab-e Shater, I see that tonight I\'ve been caught by a dangerous opponent.  I seek the help of God, say and let\'s see:" ';
MyText['843-847'] = '"Do you know at all that the water of the eye of the old <br>Why it does not drop from the two eyes of the young"<br>Shater immediately answered:<br>"It is the snow on the roof of me, stricken by age<br>Water will not fall on your house" ';
MyText['848-851'] = 'Again the sound of "good for you" and "bravo" arose and now again the turn was with Shater. He said, "Janab-e Morshid,  acting as if I exist in front of a master like you, is an excess but since you yourself have given permission, it is deemed allowable." ';
MyText['852-856'] = '"Have you heard that a man put a question to Ash`as<br>Saying, hey, by your being greedy, your name has become proverbial"<br>Have you seen more greedy than yourself in the world, he  said yes...<br>Please say so I can see what answer Ash`as gave and the other hemistich of this verse consists of what." ';
MyText['857-863'] = 'Darvish Marhab again lightly laughed and said, strange, you\'re asking weird and strange questions. Ash`as said:<br>"I had a sheep, he went up on the roof at supper time"<br>"He saw the figure of the rainbow as a green plant.<br>He jumped  head-long from the roof in order to snatch it"<br>"His horns broke within eachother and his back and side broke<br>Just like a fowl that in the desire for grain gets caught in the trap" ';
MyText['864-869'] = 'Darvish\'s answer became the cause of surprise and astonishment of all those present and all were in expectation of what question he would put to his opponent.  Reflecting a moment, he raised his head and said, "Janab-e Shater, thank God I managed to make it over this bridge [hurdle] but I fear, in the end my tail will remain in the trap, tonight I\'m dealing with a tough opponent.  The poet said:"';
MyText['870-875'] = '"Two days for avoiding death won\'t do<br>The day which as been decreed and the day which is not decreed"<br>"Is it possible you can state the moral wisdom of this for me?"<br>Shater on the spot said:"[Against] the day which be decreed, struggle won\'t gain you anything<br>For the day which not be appointed, on that day death is not allowed"';
MyText['876-878'] = 'And then getting up in preparation to ask a question, he said, "Janab-e Morshed, although I know that my efforts will be in vain [my arrow will hit stone] but Sanai, the Wise said:"';
MyText['879-884'] = '"Two woes have made man a slave<br>He considers these two woes good fortune"<br>Please say and I\'ll see what are these two woes:<br>Darvish Marhab without break gave the answer:<br>"Either he makes full his stomach with bread<br>Or he makes empty his backside of sperm"';
MyText['885-889'] = 'Since it was again his turn, he said, "Shater Aqa, you\'re clever by knowing lots of quotes and little have I seen an opponent with the excellence and perfection of you and it\'s fitting that I say "bravo" and kiss your shoulder and throw you up on my head but now that the matter  of Sanai the Wise has come up, it wouldn\'t be a bad idea to again recite something from him.  He said:';
MyText['890-893'] = '"The wise man doesn\'t get drunk, the intelligent one does not drink wine<br>The man of wisdom does not put down his foot in the direction of lowness"<br>"Janab-e Shater, please say and I\'ll see, what reason the Sage has said about the meaning of this."';
MyText['894-898'] = 'Shater, without reflection or delay gave the answer:<br>"What do you consume, something which from consuming that thing, for you<br>A reed looks like the cypress and the cypress like a reed"<br>If you bestow a favor, they\'ll say the wine did it, not he<br>And if you act rowdy, they\'ll say he did it, not the wine"';
MyText['899-903'] = 'Darvish Marhab shook his head a few times in the way of wonder and admiration and said, "Shater Aqa, really, you\'re an able elocutionist and it seems you\'ve read much poetry and seen many books and it\'s true you\'ve got an extraordinary memory.  I fear finally, you\'ll wrestle open my fist before this crowd."';
MyText['904-909'] = '"Since it\'s your turn, I hope you don\'t ask a question that will become the cause of my shame"<br>Shater Aqa thought a little and said, "Janab-e Morshed, Qān\'āni has said:"<br>"Eat little, Oh fool and on this[the following] point seek little objection<br>Because in this dictum is the word of the wise, for me it is philosophy/science "<br>"Please say so that I see, what has been the dictum of this sage."';
MyText['910-912'] = 'Darvish again smiled and said, <br>"That which [in] feeding the stomach became the product of the dear years of a lifetime<br>Its value will be less than that which passes out from the bowels [stomach]"';
MyText['913-919'] = 'Again the sound of "good for you" of the spectators grew loud.  Darvish said, "Janab-e Shater, I fear that with verses, I won\'t be able to wrestle a Shater with dervish tendencies like you to the ground. If it\'s allowed, I\'ll ask something from the Koran."  Shater Najaf Ali said, "As you yourself know, although the Koran is the Heavenly Word, the business of elocutionists generally is with the matters of the dwellers of the Earth and terrestrial beings, however, of course, if  your inclinations are set on asking something from the Word of God, you are free to do so." ';
MyText['920-923'] = 'Darvish said, "Janab-e Shater, have you read the chapter "Va-n-nāzi`āt"?" He said, "Of course I\'ve read it and several times I\'ve read it."  Darvish said, "In that case, why don\'t you say and I\'ll see which is correct: "Va-n-āzi`āt naz`an" (ending of naz`an spelled /an/ with fatah + nun) or with "naz`an" spelled "naz`un" with zamme + nun"  ';
MyText['924-925'] = 'Shater Najaf Ali suffered a jolt and got startled from this unexpected question and said, "I imagine "naz`an" is correct with /an/, fatah + nun."  ';
MyText['926-933'] = 'Darvish Marhab immediately produced the small Koran which he had on his side and found the chapter  "Va-n-nāzi`āt" which was the topic under discussion and then, looking at the crowd asked, "Is it possible to find amongst you someone who might be able to  read the Koran?"  All faces turned towards a middle-aged man who, as opposed to the other villagers, had a cloak on his shoulders and was sitting in front of the crowd on his two knees in the first row of the assembly, and the voices grew loud that, "Karbalai Safar is our literate one." ';
MyText['934-936'] = 'Darvish got up and went to Karbalai Safar and, kissing the Koran, handed it over to him and said, "Read the chapter "Va-n-nāzi`āt" aloud." ';
MyText['937-940'] = 'Karbalai Safar also kissed the Koran and brought it to his forehead and then shaking and trembling which conveyed that he\'d had no more than a little book-learning began to read saying, "Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim va-n-nāzi`āt gharqan..."';
MyText['941-949'] = 'The sound of laughing grew loud from all around and it became evident that Shater Aqa was caught in the trap.  Some began to murmur , "This is not fair" and "An elocution contest has nothing to do with the Koran" but Shater, without paying attention to these sincere supporters, got up from his place and with both hands, took off his hat and said, "All this is just talk.  I myself accepted that the question come from the Koran and if I\'m not capable of answering, then the fault is with myself and I myself should pay up," and straight away he came to the middle of the assembly and put his hat in the middle of the arena as a pledge and returned to his place and sat down.';
MyText['950-957'] = 'From all around a murmuring arose and agitation was born and there became the fear that the meeting would break up but at the invitation of one of those present, the sounds of long, drawn-out prayers grew loud and again silence was maintained.  All were waiting to see, since the turn had come to Shater, that in order to take out his pledge, what plan he would put into action.  However Darvish Marhab took his pipe out of his pocket and said, "If it\'s allowed, it would be nice if you\'d give a few minutes rest to us so we can catch our breath and wet our throats."';
MyText['958-964'] = 'Sounds of "Please! Please! Of course" arose from every mouth and immediately the pipes came out of the pockets and Rahmat Allah fell among the crowd with glasses of hot and sweet tea which he\'d arranged in a row between each finger of his left hand with complete mastery and the gurgling of hookahs rose up.  A handful of village women also meanwhile with tightly drawn faces and [wearing] slippers, one-by-one threw themselves inside of the coffeehouse.';
MyText['965-974'] = 'They had wrapped their evening chadors around themselves and huddling in a corner they\'d brought their heads together  and from the folds of their chadors, for one eye, they\'d fashioned a portal [way] and while whispering, with that same natural telescope, they were busy watching the session and the people assembled and from their movements and bubbliness, it was well evident that from this spectacle, they were getting an abundance of enjoyment and under the same circumstances, some of them also, right while gossipping and spectacle-gazing, stuck a breast into the mouth of a diapered child of their own and with regular motions of the knees, were calling them to wholesome sleep and as soon as the coffeehouse apprentices collected the glasses and hookahs, again at the sound of prayers, the session became opened.';
MyText['975-979'] = 'All were sitting with ear to the bell [like school-children] [to see] what question Shater had prepared in order to get [back] out his stake.<br>Shater Najaf Ali took a last hearty puff on his pipe and cleared his chest and, addressing Darvish Marhab said, "Janab-e Morshid, Sheikh Attar brought out the story of the hungry crazy man in this way:';
MyText['980-989'] = '"[The hoopoe]said that naked crazy man<br>As he became hungry on the middle of the way"<br>"There was cold and heavy rain<br>He became wet that lost one in the rain and snow"<br>"No shelter [hiding place] had he and no house<br>In the end he went to an abandoned ruin"<br>"As soon as he put forth a foot from the road into the ruin<br>Upon his head came just like that a brick from the roof"<br>"His head cracked and blood became running like a stream<br>The main raised his head towards the sky"<br>';
MyText['990-995'] = '"Now please say and let me see, this crazy naked one in that situation said what to God"<br>Darvish Marhab sunk into thought and for a while, scratched the back of [his] ear and finally raised his head and said, "Well done, finally you\'ve stumped me.  I beg you yourself to give the answer and further in the presence of this crowd not shame me."';
MyText['996-999'] = 'Shater said, "I\'m certain you\'re letting me win [doing self-defeat] and your intention is that your servant [I] not remain bare-headed anymore. The condition  and custom of a preceptor  is this  and nothing but this but now that you\'ve made the command, I will follow.  The crazy man spoke this way to God:"';
MyText['1000-1004'] = '"He said till when  sultan\'s drum beating<br>Better than this can you not construct [lay bricks]?"<br>At this point, Darvish Marhab got up and picked up Shater\'s hat off the ground and with his own hand cleaned it off and taking it, put it on his [Shater\'s] head and returned to his place.';
MyText['1005-1013'] = 'In short, why should I give you a headache, the elocution contest drew on in just this manner for nearly two hours and truly from attending that session, I derived extreme pleasure and it\'s a wonder that the village folk also who perhaps in general were incapable of understanding most of the meanings of those poems, didn\'t derive less enjoyment than me.  In the course of the contest, sometimes, the hat and sash and even the cloak and tunic of Shater and sometimes the begging bowl and battle-axe of Darvish went as wagers and according to what they say, sometimes in these sorts of contests it happens that  it has gotten as far as   drawers and undershirts.';
MyText['1014-1023'] = 'At the end of the session, as soon as Darvish\'s turn came, he said, "Gentlemen, it\'s late and you also have worked in the plains  all day under the sun  and probably you\'re tired and right now dizzy with sleep and by-and-by you\'re dreaming of bed, therefore I suspect it would be better that we end the assembly right here but as [only] God knows, whether, in this un-faithful, transitory world we\'ll meet eachother again or not, I\'d therefore like permission to narrate for you one story.  Probably you\'ve heard the story of Mr and Mrs Fox already but if you\'ve not heard it then I\'ll tell so you may hear." At this place, Darvish got to his feet and again threw his battle-axe on his shoulder and with a loud voice got busy reciting these verses:';
MyText['1024-1029'] = '"Those two foxes when they had become together in embrace<br>Then in pleasure they became joined one-to-the-other"<br>A king happened into the plain with hunting panther and falcon<br>He ripped those two foxes apart"<br>"The female asked of the male, hey you seeker of penetration<br>When will we meet again then, tell"<br>';
MyText['1030-1036'] = 'When Darvish Marhab got to this point, he asked Shater, "Janab-e Shater, do you know what reply the male fox gave his loyal mate?"<br>Shater also, in respect to his elder, rose to his feet and coming two steps more forward said:<br>"He said, if there\'s any lot left for  us from this lifetime (if we\'re lucky)<br>In the furriers\' shop in the city"';
MyText['1037-1042'] = 'Darvish said, "Oh dear brothers, perhaps  the next visit of you and me also will be in the tannery and furrier\'s shop of the next world.<br>Voices arose that "No, no, what is all this talk? Thank God you\'re fat and healthy and we hope yet for long years we\'ll serve under your esteemed shadow  right here that we may pass happy evenings and be praying for your welfare. ';
MyText['1043-1051'] = 'Darvish said, "May God protect all of you but old age has  not left for me any strengh or constitution and I want to spend the two days that are left of my lifetime, to sit in a corner in  repentance and worship and I promise that in whatever place I may be, I\'ll be praying for your welfare but praise be to God, our Shater is fresh and young and I\'m sure that he won\'t forget you and he\'ll be my worthy replacement and the only request that I have is that whenever you get together again in this serene ambiance, that you also don\'t forget me and that you act according to the precept of the nightingale of Shiraz [i.e. Hafez] who said:"';
MyText['1052-1053'] = '"When you\'re sitting with your friend and pouring out wine<br>Recall to memory the wine-pouring lovers"';
MyText['1054-1064'] = 'From the hearing of these words, an effect of great melancholy and sadness appeared on the faces of the villagers and even a few hands were brought to the eyes for wiping tears.  Darvish Marhab, although he himself was affected, with the goal of cheering up the crowd, without preamble, he started to laugh going "hey! hey!" and said, "The elders have said, "Joking in speech is like salt in food", that is, an assembly in which the sound of laughing and joking and pleasantness is not rising up is like stew without pepper and salt and therefore I ask permission that for the sake of lightening up the minds of the friends, again I ask a a last question from the category of pleasantries to my dear Shater and my caring companion and I\ll beg that God conspire to [give] him complete success." Voices grew loud that "Go right ahead, please, please!"';
MyText['1065-1069'] = 'He said, "Shater Aqa, our poets it seems had not fondness for <i>qazi\'s</i> and religious judges and they\'ve said much from bitter to sweet on the subject of them, from amongst them, Mahsati Ganjavi who was a famous woman poet who did not hold back her tongue, composed this verse concerning <i>qazi\'s</i> which truly is not void of wit and charm:';
MyText['1070-1073'] = '"A <i>qazi</i>, as soon as his wife became pregnant cried miserably<br>He said from anger, what is this happenstance?"<br>"Now Janab-e Shater, I am desirous that you say the second verse." ';
MyText['1074-1077'] = 'Shater Aqa paused and said, "Since you command me to, I\'ll obey.  The <i>qazi</i>, lamenting, spoke thus:"<br>"I\'m old and my stick doesn\'t go upright<br>This whore is not the Virgin Mary so then the child is from whom" ';
MyText['1078-1081'] = 'The sound of laughter rose and even the women too whose voices hadn\'t been heard much started to laugh going "hee hee" and things were taken to the point where  men spoke up saying "it\'d be nice if you\'d have some shame and modesty" [finally shame and modesty are really also things], shut up."';
MyText['1082-1084'] = 'As soon as the mouths and voices settled down a little, Darvish Marhab said to Shater, "It would be nice if you also knew something about the group of <i>qazi\'s</i>[that] you can relate to us.';
MyText['1085-1090'] = 'Shater thought a bit and said, probably you\'ve heard the story of the <i>qazi</i> of Golpaygan, if you\'ve not heard it, I\'ll tell it so that you hear it.<br>"From Golpaygan went a person to the army camp<br>That he be made <i>qazi</i>, [but] the commander was not willing"<br>"It just so happened, he gave a donkey and took the <i>qazi</i>-ship<br>If it hadn\'t been for the donkey, he wouldn\'t have become a <i>qazi</i>"';
MyText['1091-1100'] = 'Again the sound of a volley of laughter arose and as soon as the laughter died down, Darvish, facing the crowd said, "Now then, the time has come that just [for]  benediction and blessing I\'ll also make two words of prayer.  All the assembled put up their hands in prayer and Darvish himself also, turned his eyes in the direction of the sky and brought his two hands opposite his two shoulders and a while prayed for the sick and exiled and in debt and destitute and prisoners, and they said "amen" and then, little-by-little the people in the assembly with a thousand longings and regrets said goodbye to Darvish and Shater and saying goodnight, everyone headed in the direction of sleep and repose and the contest came to a close.   ';

MyText['1101-1110'] = 'Now it was exactly three hours after nightfall and I, mounted on one pack-mule and my companion Ostad Asghar the mat-weaver mounted on the other mule, we set out on the on the road from Darrus in the direction of Tehran.  It was one of the moonlit nights, the example of which are seen in few places on earth.  The world-illuminating moon lighted up the area so much that without exaggeration, one could count one-by-one the leaves of the trees and the pebbles on the bottom of the streams.  In the surrounding orchards, nightingales were creating a clamor and even from those remote places  a high-pitched,  broken nocturnal crying was audible and was singing this famous verse.';
MyText['1111-1112'] = '"Why aren\'t  eyes of the Seven Sisters raining tears like mine<br>This is not the way and custom of folks who spend the night awake"';
MyText['1113-1121'] = 'The mules threw down their heads in the mode of willingness and submission and, making their feet paired and in unison, with their own thoughts, monotonously were going forward.  Ostad Asghar filled [his] pipe and, face to the moon sitting side-saddle on the mule and, since all Iranians, you might say, have a special acquaintance with the glowing moon and running water and burning fire and the source [head] and eternal secret, he too had some lovers\' secret games with the moon and I heard that under his breath [lip], addressing the moon, he was reciting a verse that, unfortunately, only the first half of it has remained in my memory and consisted of this:';
MyText['1122-1128'] = '"Oh moon [on] high, the sky is your house"<br>For a while, my heart was not willing to disturb his states of intoxication and euphoric mood but when I saw that his pipe had gone out, I felt that the boredom and fatigue of the longness of the road had gotten a hold on him.  Steering my mule close to him, I said, "Brother dear, I hope tonight on no account have I brought about the cause of trouble and headache for you, Sir."';
MyText['1129-1133'] = 'Just as he was, sitting on top of the mule, he crossed his hand over his chest as a way to show respect and said,"Whatever you wish, I am your servant and born of your house and my duty is serving, further, for me, [the one devoting his life to you] it\'s a whole lot [world] of pride that I be [as an attendant] at [the side] of your stirrup, Sir. "';
MyText['1134-1139'] = 'Thanking him, I said, "the pride is with me, the servant, and truly tonight, both from the elocution contest and from this nocturnal journey and this moonlight and this chirping of nightingales and these songs which, like in a dream or fantasy is heard from those yonder places and this quiet and calmness of nature have I derived much pleasure and I\'ll never forget [it].';
MyText['1140-1145'] = 'He said, "Esteemed Sir, really, God preserve you from the Evil Eye (mashallah), you\'re one of the virtuous and accomplished ones and so that\'s no surprise (it has it\'s place) but  your old servant [I] also, despite not having more than a little book-learning, truly, I had a good time this evening and right now also I\'m feeling totally eager to serve you Sir, and although it\'s not polite, it seems like I\'ve had a good-sized drink of pure wine and smoked a dram  of opium.';
MyText['1146-1148'] = 'I said, "I wish to know, of these two elocutionists who really, both were masters, which one did you like the most?"';
MyText['1149-1150'] = 'He said, "The truth of it is that I liked both a lot and I can\'t give preference to one over the other."';
MyText['1151-1152'] = 'I said, "Ostad Asghar, that can\'t be right, of course you must admit it\'s true you prefer one of these two over the other."';
MyText['1153-1157'] = 'He said, "No, I don\'t mean to be presumptuous [may I be your sacrifice]. How often it occurs that one has come to a fork in the road and doesn\'t know via which road to go and afterwards, it becomes evident that both roads in the end reach one place.  Have you not heard the story of the <i>qazi</i> of Taleqan who was pronouncing  both the accuser and the accused right."';
MyText['1158-1165'] = 'I said, "Tonight, in a strange way, we\'ve become entwined [with] <i>qazi</i>\'s, we go to the right, <i>qazi</i>, we go the left, <i>qazi</i>.  Everything we do at all has fallen on  the crowd of <i>qazi</i>\'s.  The snake doesn\'t like pennyroyal, [but] it sprouts right at the door of  his house.  I, someone who shied away from the name <i>qazi</i> and my wish is that year after year this ominous name not reach my ear, tonight, it seems like I\'ve fallen into a pool of <i>qazi</i>\'s. It\'s like tiny <i>qazi</i> worms are going up on my head and face."';
MyText['1166-1170'] = '[He continued:]  "However, once water has passed above [one\'s] head, [what does it matter] whether it be one length [bamboo joint] or one hundred lengths [...], I\'m ready to hear the story of this <i>qazi</i> too. Shater recounted for us the story of the <i>qazi</i> of Golpayegan but the story of the <i>qazi</i> of Taleqan I have not heard and since I\'m sure it\'s very much worth hearing, if you recount it for me, I\'ll be much obliged."';
MyText['1171-1177'] = 'Ostad  Asghar emptied the dried tobacco [from] his pipe and said, "In Taleqan, a person wanted to go on a trip for a few days and brought his mule to his neighbor and said, "I would like that for the amount of time I\'m on my trip you keep this animal with you and for fodder and your trouble also, per day, I will give a certain amount to you." The neighbor also agreed and that person set off with a reassured heart."';
MyText['1178-1185'] = '"When he returned and came to take back his mule, the neighbor said, "Your mule was sick and has died."  The conversation rose and in the end, in order to decide the case, they went to the <i>qazi</i> of the town.  First the owner of the mule said, "Qazi-e janab, I entrusted my mule to this person and he himself accepted to take care of it and now that I have returned, he is saying my mule has died and won\'t accept to pay compensation.  Do I not have the right to demand the price of my mule from him."';
MyText['1186-1188'] = 'The <i>qazi</i>, shaking his head signalling confirmation of the truth said, "Of course you\'re right." Here, the neighbor spoke up saying, "Janab-e Qazi, listen then to the slave\'s [my] petition also and then make your pronouncemnt.';
MyText['1189-1193'] = 'This person hadn\'t said to me that his mule was sick and [had] a thousand legal defects and  deficiencies and God knows, if it had remained with himself, it  would not have remained alive one hour more.  In this case, do you not think I\'m in my rights that, since there is no responsibility upon me, I should not have to agree to pay compensation."';
MyText['1194-1204'] = 'The <i>qazi</i> played with his beard a little and said, "between me and God, you\'re right and I don\'t consider you guilty or responsible in any way."  At this point, the wife of the <i>qazi</i> who was sitting in back of a screen and who\'d heard  the conversation between her husband and those two individuals, spoke up and said, "They then call you a <i>qazi</i> that you make a judgement between the petitioner and the petitioned and you  determine which one is right, [but] you\'re saying both are right and these poor things just as they\'ve came confused to you, they\'ll again go away confused." The <i>qazi</i>, as soon as he heard the words of his wife, again, his hand went to his beard and after a bit of reflection said, "Oh God, you\'re also right."';
MyText['1205-1210'] = 'I liked this story a lot and I laughed a little and said, "Janab-e Ostad Asghar, probably you want to say that sometimes,  it happens, a person  up against a problem that from the outside seems contradicting and opposite but nevertheless, at the behest of intelligence and justice, he must confess that both are correct and both accomodate the truth. ';
MyText['1211-1214'] = 'He said, "You\'ve exactly figured it out. My intent was exactly this.  I wanted to humbly say that in my opinion, Darvish and Shater, both were good and if someone vainly wants to give preference to one over the other, he\'s committing a crime and in the words of the mullahs..."';
MyText['1215-1219'] = 'Since Ostad Asghar couldn\'t find the expression of the mullahs that was his aim, I said, "your intention was undoubtedly, "<i>preference without justification</i>." He said, "Yes, that\'s exactly it.  May God destroy the house of illiteracy for every hour it makes a person ashamed and head down [with shame]."';
MyText['1220-1228'] = 'Little-by-little we\'d reached Qolhak.  Somehow or other, getting out of the shame of [obligation] of my  kind and dear travelling companion, I said, "Janab-e Ostad Asghar, believe [me] that I\'ve derived more pleasure than you\'d imagine from making your acquaintance and conversing with you, Sir and I hope that our next meeting, like the meeting of those two foxes whose story Darvish Marhab recounted for us, won\'t be in the furriers\' shop in town. I promise that at the first opportunity and chance, I\'ll come in the direction of the Nawruz Khan drinking water facility to see you and, sitting down in leisure, we\'ll talk and do a little socializing [mixing]. ';
MyText['1229-1235'] = 'Saying thanks, he placed two hands on his chest and said, "It seems you want to make black [with shame] the face of your old servant" and finally, sometime around the middle of the night, we parted.  <br>I got lucky and quickly also found a droshky and the noise of the whip of the droshky driver sounded and the tired horses whose ribs were sticking out from under their hides like the wires of a worn out lantern, set off.';
MyText['1236-1245'] = 'The moon was slowly setting but still, the earth was lit up and pure and I leaned back in the deep recess of the droshky and to the sound of the clickety-clack of their hooves and the turning of the wheels of the droshky, I sunk into far away thoughts.  To myself I said, "What a wonder that I should hear the answer to the enigma of the workings of the world from the mouth of an old straw-mat seller.  A few hours earlier than this, on the way from the garden of Abbas Aqa and Akbar Aqa in Rostamabad I was repeating these two verses of the poem of Hafez which these two brothers had recited for me and I couldn\'t figure out how a mystic and a great one like Hafez, in the span of one <i>ghazal</i> in one place said:';
MyText['1246-1250'] = '"Don\'t be without wine and minstrel for under the vault of the sky<br> With this melody can you remove sorrow from the heart" <br>And in another place said:<br>"You who never go out from the confines of human nature\'s needs<br>How will you ever be able to pass into the lane of divine truth".';
MyText['1251-1256'] = 'And I was surprised that with complete truthfullness and sincerity, I said to each of these two brothers who were travelling on two completely different paths that there was no doubt or suspicion that the correct path is this very path that you\'re going on and just now, this difficult enigma had to be solved by [at the hands of] a common, illiterate mat-seller.';
MyText['1257-1260'] = 'I closed my eyes and as befits my state, I occupied myself humming this verse:<br>"From the monastery and sanctuary of confinement should they head to the goal<br>The abstaining one via one road and the wine-serving priest via one road."';
MyText['1261-1266'] = 'And I didn\'t open my eyes until the droshky driver announced we\'d reached our destination (home). In the same way that my enigma was solved and I reached my goal, may God also solve your problems and deliver you to your goal.<br>AMEN OH GOD OF ALL THE WORLDS<br>Geneva, Farvardin, 1324 Hejri Shamsi. (March-April, 1945)';