New NaqqaliZal and Rudabeh · A8.19
Zal Answers the Mobadan
Zal answers through time and moral knowledge. His final test is not a display of obscure terminology but an account of how mortals should live with inevitable loss.
The chapter in five texts
| Text | Chapter treatment and distinctive choices |
|---|---|
| F&R English | Thirty-four couplets preserve all six answers and the source’s decision to answer the reaper last. |
| Moscow | Pp 220–223 retain the interpretive answers with local apparatus alternatives around their expression. |
| Mohl | Pp 166–168 carry the calendar, solar and moral answers in the same larger order. |
| Ganjoor | Sh21.1–33 provides the answers, one fewer couplet than the English because of local expansion. |
| Khaleghi | The answers are consulted within pp 250–253. |
Parallel text
English left · Persian right. Ganjoor is the reference except where a row names a printed source. Select a number to open the relevant note. G identifiers distinguish digital sections across chapter boundaries.
1–5+
Zal paused a while, absorbed in inward thought,
And weighed each hidden question they had brought.
He raised his mane and spread his shoulders wide,
Then every hidden answer he supplied:
“The cypresses, those twelve tall trees you named,
Are months by which the passing year is framed.
Each bears full thirty branches in its span,
The days that mark the measure dealt to man.
When thirty days are passed, their course is done;
Thus turns the wheel beneath the circling sun.
زمانی پر اندیشه شد زال زر
برآورد یال و بگسترد بر
وزان پس به پاسخ زبان برگشاد
همه پرسش موبدان کرد یاد
نخست از ده و دو درخت بلند
که هر یک همی شاخ سی برکشند
به سالی ده و دو بود ماه نو
چو شاه نو آیین ابر گاه نو
به سی روز مه را سرآید شمار
برین سان بود گردش روزگار
Ganjoor · m21:1-5
6–9+
You spoke of chargers, one in white, one black,
That chase each other, never tired nor slack.
These are the two that sweep across the sky:
The night and day that ever onward fly.
They strain in chase, yet neither gains the lead,
While heaven counts each human breath with heed.
They never meet, though endless is their flight;
Like quarry before hound they race from sight.
کنون آنکه گفتی ز کار دو اسپ
فروزان به کردار آذرگشسپ
سپید و سیاهست هر دو زمان
پس یکدگر تیز هر دو دوان
شب و روز باشد که می‌بگذرد
دم چرخ بر ما همی بشمرد
Ganjoor · m21:6-8
10–11+
Again, the thirty riders that appear
Are nights that mark the turning lunar sphere.
At times one night is missing from the line;
The count falls back from thirty to twenty-nine.
سدیگر که گفتی که آن سی سوار
کجا برگذشتند بر شهریار
ازان سی سواران یکی کم شود
به گاه شمردن همان سی بود
نگفتی سخن جز ز نقصان ماه
که یک شب کم آید همی گاه گاه
Ganjoor · m21:9-11
12–17+
Now for the twin tall cypresses you named,
Above a restless sea with winds inflamed:
These are the two great arms of heaven’s sphere,
Whose changing courses govern darkness here.
From Aries onward till Libra draws near,
The dark stays hidden and the light runs clear.
Beyond that turn, as heaven wheels its frame,
The darkness lengthens and the light grows tame.
The bird that moves between them on its run
Is none but our bright ever-burning sun;
From it come hope and fear to all below,
As heaven turns and makes our fortunes flow.
کنون از نیام این سخن برکشیم
دو بن سرو کان مرغ دارد نشیم
ز برج بره تا ترازو جهان
همی تیرگی دارد اندر نهان
چنین تا ز گردش به ماهی شود
پر از تیرگی و سیاهی شود
دو سرو ای دو بازوی چرخ بلند
کزو نیمه شادب و نیمی نژند
برو مرغ پران چو خورشید دان
جهان را ازو بیم و امید دان
Ganjoor · m21:12-16
18–25+
The mountain-city high beyond our sight
Is lasting home where deeds are brought to light.
The thorn-land town wherein men choose to stay
Is this brief lodging where we pass our day.
Here we take pleasure, suffer loss and gain,
Are raised in joy, or cast in grief and pain.
Time counts each breath that passes through our frame,
Now raising us, now casting down the same.
At last come wind and earthquake through the earth,
And sweep away the signs of mortal birth.
We leave our labor in this thorny place,
And journey toward the former city’s grace.
Another reaps the fruit that we have sown,
Yet he in turn shall lose what seemed his own.
Thus has it been, and thus the world shall run;
What one man leaves another takes when done.
دگر شارستان بر سر کوهسار
سرای درنگست و جای قرار
همین خارستان چون سرای سپنج
کزو ناز و گنجست و هم درد و رنج
همی دم زدن بر تو بر بشمرد
هم او برفرازد هم او بشکرد
برآید یکی باد با زلزله
ز گیتی برآید خروش و خله
همه رنج ما ماند زی خارستان
گذر کرد باید سوی شارستان
کسی دیگر از رنج ما برخورد
نپاید برو نیز و هم بگذرد
چنین رفت از آغاز یکسر سخن
همین باشد و نو نگردد کهن
Ganjoor · m21:17-23
26–29+
If to that other home we bear good name,
Our souls shall there receive their honored claim.
But if we live for greed and evil gain,
Its truth appears when lifeless we remain.
Though palace roofs to Saturn’s height may rise,
One shroud alone will cover mortal eyes.
Then dust shall settle over face and head,
While fear and grief keep company with the dead.
اگر توشه‌مان نیکنامی بود
روانها بران سر گرامی بود
و گر آز ورزیم و پیچان شویم
پدید آید آنگه که بیجان شویم
گر ایوان ما سر به کیوان برست
ازان بهرهٔ ما یکی چادرست
چو پوشند بر روی ما خون و خاک
همه جای بیمست و تیمار و باک
Ganjoor · m21:24-27
30–34+
As for the meadow and the reaper grim,
Whose scythe spares none who stand or bow to him,
That reaper, Time, cuts all within his sight;
We are the grass beneath his sweeping might.
Grandchild and grandfather are both the same;
He spares no branch for lineage or name.
All ages fall alike beneath his blade;
No child is born but death’s path must be made.
Through one gate we arrive, through one depart,
While Time keeps count of every breath from start.”
بیابان و آن مرد با تیز داس
کجا خشک و تر زو دل اندر هراس
تر و خشک یکسان همی بدرود
وگر لابه سازی سخن نشنود
دروگر زمانست و ما چون گیا
همانش نبیره همانش نیا
به پیر و جوان یک به یک ننگرد
شکاری که پیش آیدش بشکرد
جهان را چنینست ساز و نهاد
که جز مرگ را کس ز مادر نزاد
ازین در درآید بدان بگذرد
زمانه برو دم همی بشمرد
Ganjoor · m21:28-33
Narrative and poetic form
The English’s strength is conceptual clarity without surrendering the images. The notes distinguish schematic calendar, seasonal light and moral afterlife rather than making them compete as one kind of technical claim.
Couplet commentary
Quoted text · evidence · interpretation1–5The branching year
1–5
Zal paused a while, absorbed in inward thought,
And weighed each hidden question they had brought.
He raised his mane and spread his shoulders wide,
Then every hidden answer he supplied:
“The cypresses, those twelve tall trees you named,
Are months by which the passing year is framed.
Each bears full thirty branches in its span,
The days that mark the measure dealt to man.
When thirty days are passed, their course is done;
Thus turns the wheel beneath the circling sun.
زمانی پر اندیشه شد زال زر
برآورد یال و بگسترد بر
وزان پس به پاسخ زبان برگشاد
همه پرسش موبدان کرد یاد
نخست از ده و دو درخت بلند
که هر یک همی شاخ سی برکشند
به سالی ده و دو بود ماه نو
چو شاه نو آیین ابر گاه نو
به سی روز مه را سرآید شمار
برین سان بود گردش روزگار
Ganjoor · m21:1-5
Textual evidence
After thought, Zal identifies twelve trees as months and thirty branches as days.
G m21 1 ↗ G m21 2 ↗ G m21 3 ↗ G m21 4 ↗ G m21 5 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The English keeps the answer’s simple structure. Twelve times thirty is the riddle’s idealized scheme; the passage should not be made to claim a complete 360-day historical calendar without other evidence or silently faulted for failing to teach a modern one.
6–9Day and night measure a human life
6–9
You spoke of chargers, one in white, one black,
That chase each other, never tired nor slack.
These are the two that sweep across the sky:
The night and day that ever onward fly.
They strain in chase, yet neither gains the lead,
While heaven counts each human breath with heed.
They never meet, though endless is their flight;
Like quarry before hound they race from sight.
کنون آنکه گفتی ز کار دو اسپ
فروزان به کردار آذرگشسپ
سپید و سیاهست هر دو زمان
پس یکدگر تیز هر دو دوان
شب و روز باشد که می‌بگذرد
دم چرخ بر ما همی بشمرد
Ganjoor · m21:6-8
Textual evidence
The two steeds are white and black time, day and night, while the sky counts breaths. English adds the quarry-and-hound comparison.
G m21 6 ↗ G m21 7 ↗ G m21 8 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The added pursuit image is a coherent poetic extension of the racing horses. It changes no calendrical answer, but its status as an English simile should remain distinct from the Persian’s actual words.
10–11The lunar count varies
10–11
Again, the thirty riders that appear
Are nights that mark the turning lunar sphere.
At times one night is missing from the line;
The count falls back from thirty to twenty-nine.
سدیگر که گفتی که آن سی سوار
کجا برگذشتند بر شهریار
ازان سی سواران یکی کم شود
به گاه شمردن همان سی بود
نگفتی سخن جز ز نقصان ماه
که یک شب کم آید همی گاه گاه
Ganjoor · m21:9-11
Textual evidence
The thirty riders represent the moon’s count, which can be one night short.
G m21 10 ↗ G m21 11 ↗ G m21 9 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The English supplies twenty-nine explicitly. That is an explanatory precision entailed by one less than thirty, not an unsupported change to the riddle’s arithmetic.
12–17The solar bird and the two halves of the year
12–17
Now for the twin tall cypresses you named,
Above a restless sea with winds inflamed:
These are the two great arms of heaven’s sphere,
Whose changing courses govern darkness here.
From Aries onward till Libra draws near,
The dark stays hidden and the light runs clear.
Beyond that turn, as heaven wheels its frame,
The darkness lengthens and the light grows tame.
The bird that moves between them on its run
Is none but our bright ever-burning sun;
From it come hope and fear to all below,
As heaven turns and makes our fortunes flow.
کنون از نیام این سخن برکشیم
دو بن سرو کان مرغ دارد نشیم
ز برج بره تا ترازو جهان
همی تیرگی دارد اندر نهان
چنین تا ز گردش به ماهی شود
پر از تیرگی و سیاهی شود
دو سرو ای دو بازوی چرخ بلند
کزو نیمه شادب و نیمی نژند
برو مرغ پران چو خورشید دان
جهان را ازو بیم و امید دان
Ganjoor · m21:12-16
Textual evidence
The answer names Aries and Libra, two arms of the sky and the sun-bird. The following Persian line extends the darkening turn toward Pisces.
G m21 12 ↗ G m21 13 ↗ G m21 14 ↗ G m21 15 ↗ G m21 16 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The English gives the light/dark contrast a smooth half-year progression and retains both principal boundary signs. “Dark stays hidden” expresses relative seasonal dominance in the image, not the absence of every nighttime hour throughout six months.
18–25The lasting city and the temporary lodging
18–25
The mountain-city high beyond our sight
Is lasting home where deeds are brought to light.
The thorn-land town wherein men choose to stay
Is this brief lodging where we pass our day.
Here we take pleasure, suffer loss and gain,
Are raised in joy, or cast in grief and pain.
Time counts each breath that passes through our frame,
Now raising us, now casting down the same.
At last come wind and earthquake through the earth,
And sweep away the signs of mortal birth.
We leave our labor in this thorny place,
And journey toward the former city’s grace.
Another reaps the fruit that we have sown,
Yet he in turn shall lose what seemed his own.
Thus has it been, and thus the world shall run;
What one man leaves another takes when done.
دگر شارستان بر سر کوهسار
سرای درنگست و جای قرار
همین خارستان چون سرای سپنج
کزو ناز و گنجست و هم درد و رنج
همی دم زدن بر تو بر بشمرد
هم او برفرازد هم او بشکرد
برآید یکی باد با زلزله
ز گیتی برآید خروش و خله
همه رنج ما ماند زی خارستان
گذر کرد باید سوی شارستان
کسی دیگر از رنج ما برخورد
نپاید برو نیز و هم بگذرد
چنین رفت از آغاز یکسر سخن
همین باشد و نو نگردد کهن
Ganjoor · m21:17-23
Textual evidence
Zal identifies the mountain city with permanence and the thorn-land with this passing world; upheaval leaves work and possessions for another.
G m21 17 ↗ G m21 18 ↗ G m21 19 ↗ G m21 20 ↗ G m21 21 ↗ G m21 22 ↗ G m21 23 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The English’s “where deeds are brought to light” anticipates the ensuing moral accounting. It is interpretation within the answer, not a new geographical identification of the city with an earthly capital.
26–29A good name outlasts the palace
26–29
If to that other home we bear good name,
Our souls shall there receive their honored claim.
But if we live for greed and evil gain,
Its truth appears when lifeless we remain.
Though palace roofs to Saturn’s height may rise,
One shroud alone will cover mortal eyes.
Then dust shall settle over face and head,
While fear and grief keep company with the dead.
اگر توشه‌مان نیکنامی بود
روانها بران سر گرامی بود
و گر آز ورزیم و پیچان شویم
پدید آید آنگه که بیجان شویم
گر ایوان ما سر به کیوان برست
ازان بهرهٔ ما یکی چادرست
چو پوشند بر روی ما خون و خاک
همه جای بیمست و تیمار و باک
Ganjoor · m21:24-27
Textual evidence
The answer contrasts reputation and greed, then reduces a Saturn-high palace to one burial cloth and the fear of death.
G m21 24 ↗ G m21 25 ↗ G m21 26 ↗ G m21 27 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The English keeps the ethical demand alongside mortality. Good name is not mere celebrity: it is the moral provision carried beyond the life in which wealth and building can seem permanent.
30–34The deferred reaper answer concludes the whole
30–34
As for the meadow and the reaper grim,
Whose scythe spares none who stand or bow to him,
That reaper, Time, cuts all within his sight;
We are the grass beneath his sweeping might.
Grandchild and grandfather are both the same;
He spares no branch for lineage or name.
All ages fall alike beneath his blade;
No child is born but death’s path must be made.
Through one gate we arrive, through one depart,
While Time keeps count of every breath from start.”
بیابان و آن مرد با تیز داس
کجا خشک و تر زو دل اندر هراس
تر و خشک یکسان همی بدرود
وگر لابه سازی سخن نشنود
دروگر زمانست و ما چون گیا
همانش نبیره همانش نیا
به پیر و جوان یک به یک ننگرد
شکاری که پیش آیدش بشکرد
جهان را چنینست ساز و نهاد
که جز مرگ را کس ز مادر نزاد
ازین در درآید بدان بگذرد
زمانه برو دم همی بشمرد
Ganjoor · m21:28-33
Textual evidence
The fourth question is answered last: Time cuts dry and green, ancestor and descendant, young and old.
G m21 28 ↗ G m21 29 ↗ G m21 30 ↗ G m21 31 ↗ G m21 32 ↗ G m21 33 ↗ Moscow p 220 ↗ Moscow p 221 ↗ Moscow p 222 ↗ Moscow p 223 ↗ Mohl p 166 ↗ Mohl p 167 ↗ Mohl p 168 ↗ Khaleghi p 250 ↗ Khaleghi p 251 ↗ Khaleghi p 252 ↗ Khaleghi p 253 ↗
Interpretation
The change of answer order is already in the Persian. The English follows it faithfully, allowing the reaper to gather the previous answers into a single conclusion about every counted breath. No missing riddle needs to be invented to explain the sequence.