Lesson 6: How that saint demanded of the king to be alone for the purpose of discovering her malady.

Meaning: The divine physician said: 'O King, clear the house; send away both kin and stranger alike.'

Meaning: 'Let no one listen in the entrance-halls, that I may ask certain things of this handmaiden.'

Meaning: The house was left empty, with no one there; none was left but the divine physician and that same patient.

Meaning: Gently, he asked, 'Where is your town? For the cure for the people of each town differs.'

Meaning: 'And in that town, who among your relatives do you have? With whom do you have kinship and affinity?'

Meaning: The divine physician laid his hand upon her pulse and, one by one, asked her of the injustices of fate.

Meaning: For instance, when a thorn pierces someone's foot, he places his foot upon his knee to pull it out.

Meaning: And with the point of a needle, he keeps searching for its head, and if he fails to find it, he keeps moistening and softening the spot with his lip.

Meaning: If a thorn in the foot is this hard to find, then how much harder must a thorn in the heart be? Answer that!

Meaning: If every ordinary person could see the thorn in the heart, how could sorrows ever lay their hand on anyone to overtake them?

Meaning: For instance, if someone sticks a thorn under a donkey's tail, the donkey does not know how to remove it and suddenly leaps up.

Meaning: The donkey jumps up and down, and this only drives the thorn in more firmly and deeper; a wise one is needed to pull the thorn out.

Meaning: To get rid of the thorn, the donkey, in burning pain, kept kicking wildly and wounded itself in a hundred places.

Meaning: That thorn-removing physician was a master; he kept touching here and there, testing and examining.

Meaning: Under the guise of narrative and storytelling, he kept asking about her friends.

Meaning: She spoke openly to the physician of her homeland, her former masters, and her fellow townsfolk.

Meaning: He listened to her story while remaining fully attentive to her pulse and its beating.

Meaning: To see at the mention of whose name her pulse would leap quicken; so that he might know that one was the true object of her soul's desire in this world.

Meaning: He listed the friends from her town, then he went on to mention another town by name.

Meaning: He said, 'When you left your own town, in which town did you mostly stay?'

Meaning: She mentioned the name of a town and passed on from it too, yet neither the colour of her face nor her pulse changed.

Meaning: She spoke of masters and towns, one by one, telling of their dwelling place and of bread and salt (their hospitality).

Meaning: She told stories of town after town, house after house, yet neither did her pulse quicken nor her face turn pale.

Meaning: Her pulse remained calm and undisturbed until he asked about the city of Samarkand, sweet as sugar.

Meaning: Her pulse leaped, and her face turned red and pale, for she had been parted from a goldsmith of Samarkand.

Meaning: When the divine physician learned this secret from the patient, he discerned the true source of the pain and affliction.

Meaning: He asked, 'In which quarter of the city does he live?' She replied, 'The bridgehead, in the Ghatafar quarter.'

Meaning: He said, 'I have realized what your illness is, and I will at once display wondrous magic to set you free.'

Meaning: 'Be joyful, at ease, and secure, for I shall do for you what the rain does for the meadow.'

Meaning: 'I shall bear your grief, so do not grieve; I am more compassionate and caring toward you than a hundred fathers.'

Meaning: 'Beware and take heed not to reveal this secret to anyone, even if the king questions you relentlessly to find it out.'

Meaning: 'When your secrets remain hidden within the heart, you will achieve your desire all the sooner.'

Meaning: The Prophet said: 'Whoever keeps their secret hidden will soon be united with their desire.'

Meaning: When the seed is hidden in the earth, its inner secret becomes the garden's greenness and flourishing.

Meaning: If gold and silver were not hidden, how could they ever grow and ripen deep inside the mine?

Meaning: The honest promises and gentle kindness of that divine physician freed the sick handmaiden from fear.

Meaning: Some promises are true and pleasing to the heart, while others are false and distressful.

Meaning: The promise of the generous is a flowing treasure, while the promise of the unworthy becomes the torment of the soul.