M3:3268 — چون زبان‌های بنی‌آدم همه / در پی آبست و نان و دمدمه

This couplet is the core of the young man's flawed justification for wanting to learn the language of animals. He presents a cynical, though not entirely inaccurate, view of human discourse: it is, he claims, tethered to the most basic material needs (آبست و نان, water and bread) and the egotistical noise of worldly ambition (دمدمه). He hopes that the sounds of animals, free from these human obsessions, might offer a purer channel for spiritual insight (عبرت).

The man's desire seems pious, but Moses immediately identifies it as a dangerous whim (هوس). The story uses this moment to critique a common spiritual pitfall: seeking wisdom through exotic or external means rather than through the difficult, internal work prescribed by a guide. The man believes human language is debased, yet he uses that very language to make a sophisticated, albeit misguided, request of a prophet. Rumi shows that the problem is not the language but the state of the heart that uses it. True insight, as Moses will argue, comes from God, not from a secret knowledge of birdsong.