الْمَقَامَةُ الشِّعرية

"I have not broken the staff of your command, nor have I ceased to recite my gratitude to you."

"N kò ṣẹ́ ọ̀pá àṣẹ rẹ, bẹ́ẹ̀ ni n kò dẹ́kun kíkà ọpẹ́ mi fún ọ."

The elder said to him:

Àgbàlagbà náà sọ fún un pé:

Woe to you! What doubt is more shameful than your doubt, and is there any fault more obscene than your fault?

Ègbé ni fún ọ! Iyèméjì wo ló ní ẹ̀sín jù iyèméjì rẹ lọ, ṣé àṣìṣe kankan wà tó burú jù àṣìṣe rẹ lọ?

You have claimed my magic as your own and appropriated it, and you have plagiarized my poetry and stolen it?

O ti pe àṣẹ ìdárayá mi ní tìrẹ o sì ti gbà á, o gbe ewì mi o sì ti jí i?

The theft of poetry, in the eyes of poets, is more atrocious than the theft of silver and gold.

Jíjí ewì, ní ojú àwọn oníṣẹ́-ọnà ọ̀rọ̀, burú jù jíjí fàdákà àti wúrà lọ.

Their jealousy over the daughters of thoughts is like their jealousy over virgin daughters.

Owú wọn lórí àwọn ọmọbìnrin èrò dàbí owú wọn lórí àwọn ọmọbìnrin wúńdíá.

The governor said to the elder: "And when he stole, did he flay, or distort, or copy?"

Gómìnà sọ fún àgbàlagbà náà pé: "Nígbà tó jí i, ṣé ó yí gbólóhùn nìkàn ni, tàbí ó yí i papọ̀ mọ́ ìtumọ, tàbí ó kọ ọ́ láì kò yípadà?"

He said: "By He who made poetry the record of the Arabs and the interpreter of literature."

Ó sọ pé: "Ní orúkọ Ẹni tó sọ ewì di ìwé ìtàn àwọn Lárúbáwá àti olùtúmọ̀ lítíréṣọ̀."

He did nothing but cut off the entirety of its explanation and raided two-thirds of its exposition.

Kò ṣe ohun kan àfi pé ó gé gbogbo àlàyé rẹ̀ kúrò ó sì kó ìdá méjì nínú mẹ́ta àlàyé rẹ̀.

He said to him: "Recite your verses in full so that what he has appropriated from them becomes clear."

Ó sọ fún un pé: "Kà àwọn ẹsẹ ewì rẹ ní kíkún kí ohun tó ti kó nínú wọn lè hàn gbangba."