کودکان را حرص گوزینه و شکر ** از نصیحتها کند دو گوش کر

Greed for walnut-cake and sugar makes the ears of children deaf to admonitions;

چونک دردت دنبلش آغاز شد ** در نصیحت هر دو گوشش باز شد 2065

(Only) when the pain of his abscess begins do his (the child's) ears become open to good advice.

حجره را با حرص و صدگونه هوس ** باز کردند آن زمان آن چند کس

Then the party (of searchers), with cupidity and a hundred kinds of vain desire, opened the chamber.

اندر افتادند از در ز ازدحام ** هم‌چو اندر دوغ گندیده هوام

They swarmed in through the doorway, jostling each other, like vermin (falling) on fetid buttermilk.

عاشقانه در فتد با کر و فر ** خورد امکان نی و بسته هر دو پر

They (the insects) fall on it triumphantly, like lovers, (but) there is no possibility of drinking, and both wings are stuck.

بنگریدند از یسار و از یمین ** چارقی بدریده بود و پوستین

They (the officers) looked to the left and to the right: there was (only) a torn pair of shoon and a sheepskin jacket.

باز گفتند این مکان بی‌نوش نیست ** چارق اینجا جز پی روپوش نیست 2070

After (having looked), they said (to one another), “This place is not without balm: the shoon are only (displayed) here as a blind.

هین بیاور سیخهای تیز را ** امتحان کن حفره و کاریز را

Hey, bring sharp picks: try excavation and tunnelling.”

هر طرف کندند و جستند آن فریق ** حفره‌ها کردند و گوهای عمیق

The (searching) party dug and searched in every direction: they dug holes and deep cavities.

حفره‌هاشان بانگ می‌داد آن زمان ** کنده‌های خالییم ای کندگان

Thereupon the holes were (virtually) crying out to them, “We are empty holes, O ye stinkers!”