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بحثشان بسیار شد اندر خطاب ** مانده گشتند از سال و از جواب
- Their dispute was prolonged in mutual altercation (till) they became incapable of (further) questioning and answering.
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بعد از آن گفتش بدان در مملکه ** نهی لا تلقوا بایدی تهلکه
- Afterwards he (the fox) said to him, “Mark in the (Divine) kingdom the prohibition, ‘Do not cast yourselves into destruction.’
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صبر در صحرای خشک و سنگ‌لاخ ** احمقی باشد جهان حق فراخ
- In a barren desert covered with stones self-denial is folly: God's world is wide.
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نقل کن زینجا به سوی مرغزار ** می‌چر آنجا سبزه گرد جویبار 2430
- Move from this place towards the meadow, and browse there on the verdure round about the river—
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مرغزاری سبز مانند جنان ** سبزه رسته اندر آنجا تا میان
- A meadow verdant like Paradise, where the verdure grows up to (as high as) the waist.
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خرم آن حیوان که او آنجا شود ** اشتر اندر سبزه ناپیدا شود
- Happy the animal that goes thither: amidst the verdure a camel would become invisible.
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هر طرف در وی یکی چشمه‌ی روان ** اندرو حیوان مرفه در امان
- There, on every side, is a running fountain; there the animals are in comfort and security.”
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از خری او را نمی‌گفت ای لعین ** تو از آن‌جایی چرا زاری چنین
- From asininity he (the ass) did not say to him, “O accursed one, thou art (come) from there: how art thou so wretched?
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کو نشاط و فربهی و فر تو ** چیست این لاغر تن مضطر تو 2435
- Where is thy gaiety and fatness and comeliness? What is (the meaning of) this lean starved body of thine?
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شرح روضه گر دروغ و زور نیست ** پس چرا چشمت ازو مخمور نیست
- If thy description of the meadow is not (mere) falsehood and fiction, then why is thine eye not intoxicated (enraptured) by it?