جمله پستی گنج گیرد تا ثری ** جمله بالا خلد گیرد اخضری
All below, down to the moist clay (beneath the earth's crust), would gain (abundant) treasure, and all above would gain a verdant Paradise.
او یکی جان دارد از نور منیر ** او یکی تن دارد از خاک حقیر 3405
He hath a spirit of resplendent light, he hath a body of despicable earth.
ای عجب اینست او یا آن بگو ** که بماندم اندرین مشکل عمو
Oh, I wonder whether he is this or that. Tell (me), uncle, for I am left (helpless) in this difficulty.
گر وی اینست ای برادر چیست آن ** پر شده از نور او هفت آسمان
O brother, if he is this, (then) what is that?—for the Seven Heavens are filled with its light—
ور وی آنست این بدن ای دوست چیست ** ای عجب زین دو کدامین است و کیست
And if he is that (spirit), (then) what is this body, my friend? Oh, I wonder which of these twain he is and who?
حکایت آن زن کی گفت شوهر را کی گوشت را گربه خورد شوهر گربه را به ترازو بر کشید گربه نیم من برآمد گفت ای زن گوشت نیم من بود و افزون اگر این گوشتست گربه کو و اگر این گربه است گوشت کو
Story of the woman who told her husband that the cat had eaten the meat, (whereupon) the husband put the cat in the balance (in order to weigh her). (Finding that) her weight amounted to half a “mann”, he said, “O wife, the meat weighed half a ‘mann’ and more. If this is the meat, where is the cat? Or if this is the cat, where is the meat?”
بود مردی کدخدا او را زنی ** سخت طناز و پلید و ره‌زنی
There was a man, a householder, who had a very sneering, dirty, and rapacious wife.
هرچه آوردی تلف کردیش زن ** مرد مضطر بود اندر تن زدن 3410
Whatever (food) he brought (home), his wife would consume it, and the man was forced to keep silence.
بهر مهمان گوشت آورد آن معیل ** سوی خانه با دو صد جهد طویل
(One day) that family man brought home, for a guest, (some) meat (which he had procured) with infinite pains.
زن بخوردش با کباب و با شراب ** مرد آمد گفت دفع ناصواب
His wife ate it up with kabáb and wine: (when) the man came in, she put him off with useless words.
مرد گفتش گوشت کو مهمان رسید ** پیش مهمان لوت می‌باید کشید
The man said to her, “Where is the meat? The guest has arrived: one must set nice food before a guest.”