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گفت مریم من درون خویش هم ** سجدهای دیدم از این طفل شکم
- Mary said, “I also felt within me a bowing performed by this babe in the womb.”
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اشکال آوردن بر این قصه
- On raising a difficulty as to this story.
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ابلهان گویند کاین افسانه را ** خط بکش زیرا دروغ است و خطا
- The foolish say, “Cancel this tale, because it is false and erroneous.
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ز انکه مریم وقت وضع حمل خویش ** بود از بیگانه دور و هم ز خویش
- Because Mary at the time of her delivery was far away both from strangers and kinfolk.
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از برون شهر آن شیرین فسون ** تا نشد فارغ نیامد خود درون
- Until that woman of sweet address was delivered outside of the town, she indeed came not into it.
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چون بزادش آن گهانش بر کنار ** بر گرفت و برد تا پیش تبار 3610
- When she had given birth to him, she then took him up in her lap and carried him to her kinsfolk.
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مادر یحیی کجا دیدش که تا ** گوید او را این سخن در ماجرا
- Where did the mother of Yahyá see her to speak these words to her about what had happened?”
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جواب اشکال
- The answer to the difficulty.
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این بداند کان که اهل خاطر است ** غایب آفاق او را حاضر است
- Let him (the objector) know that to one who receives ideas (from God) all that is absent in the world is present.
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پیش مریم حاضر آید در نظر ** مادر یحیی که دور است از بصر
- To Mary, the mother of Yahyá would appear present, though she was far from her (bodily) sight.
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دیدهها بسته ببیند دوست را ** چون مشبک کرده باشد پوست را
- One may see a friend (even) with eyes shut, when one has made the skin (the bodily envelope) a lattice (to let in spiritual ideas).
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ور ندیدش نه از برون نز اندرون ** از حکایت گیر معنی ای زبون 3615
- And if she saw her neither from without nor from within, take the (essential) meaning of the story, O imbecile!
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نه چنان کافسانهها بشنیده بود ** همچو شین بر نقش آن چسبیده بود
- Not like him who had heard (some) fables, and like sh stuck to the (literal) shape of them,
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تا همیگفت آن کلیله بیزبان ** چون سخن نوشد ز دمنه بیبیان
- So that he would say, “How should Kalíla, having no language, hear words from Dimna who had no power of expression?
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ور بدانستند لحن همدگر ** فهم آن چون کرد بینطقی بشر
- And (even) if they knew each other's accents, how should man understand it (their talk), (since it was) without any articulation?
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در میان شیر و گاو آن دمنه چون ** شد رسول و خواند بر هر دو فسون
- How did Dimna become a messenger between the lion and the ox, and cajole them both with his palaver?
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چون وزیر شیر شد گاو نبیل ** چون ز عکس ماه ترسان گشت پیل 3620
- How did the noble ox become the vizier of the lion? How was the elephant terrified by the reflection of the moon?
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این کلیله و دمنه جمله افتری است ** ور نه کی با زاغ لکلک را مری است
- This Kalíla and Dimna is entirely fiction, or else how has the stork a quarrel with the crow?”
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ای برادر قصه چون پیمانهای است ** معنی اندر وی مثال دانهای است
- O brother, the story is like a measure: the real meaning in it resembles grain (in the measure).
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دانهی معنی بگیرد مرد عقل ** ننگرد پیمانه را گر گشت نقل
- The man of intelligence will take the grain of meaning: he will not pay any regard to the measure, (even) if it is removed (altogether).
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ماجرای بلبل و گل گوش دار ** گر چه گفتی نیست آن جا آشکار
- Listen to what passes between the rose and the nightingale, though in that case there is no overt speech.
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سخن گفتن به زبان حال و فهم کردن آن
- On mute eloquence and the understanding of it.
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ماجرای شمع با پروانه نیز ** بشنو و معنی گزین کن ای عزیز 3625
- Listen to what passes between the moth and the candle, and pick out the meaning from the tale.
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گر چه گفتی نیست سر گفت هست ** هین ببالا پر مپر چون جغد پست
- Albeit there is no speech, there is the inmost soul of speech. Come, fly aloft, do not fly low, like the owl.
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گفت در شطرنج کاین خانهی رخ است ** گفت خانه از کجاش آمد بدست
- He (the player) at chess said, “This is the house of the rook.” “By what way,” said he (the literalist), “did the house come into its hands?
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خانه را بخرید یا میراث یافت ** فرخ آن کس کاو سوی معنی شتافت
- Did it buy the house, or inherit it?”—Happy is he that sped towards the (real) meaning!
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گفت نحوی زید عمرا قد ضرب ** گفت چونش کرد بیجرمی ادب
- A grammarian said, “Zayd has struck ‘Amr.” Said (the fool), “How did he chastise him without any offence (on his part)?
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عمرو را جرمش چه بد کان زید خام ** بیگنه او را بزد همچون غلام 3630
- What was ‘Amr's offence, that that rude Zayd struck him, innocent (though he was), as (if he were) a slave?”