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چون ز حس بیرون نیامد آدمی ** باشد از تصویر غیبی اعجمی
- When a man has not escaped from sense-perception, he will be a stranger to the ideas of the unseen world.
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این سخن پایان ندارد مارگیر ** میکشید آن مار را با صد زحیر
- This discourse hath no end. The snake-catcher, with a hundred pains, was bringing the snake along,
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تا به بغداد آمد آن هنگامهجو ** تا نهد هنگامهای بر چارسو 1030
- Till (at last) the would-be showman arrived at Baghdád, that he might set up a public show at the cross-roads.
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بر لب شط مرد هنگامه نهاد ** غلغله در شهر بغداد اوفتاد
- The man set up a show on the bank of the Tigris, and a hubbub arose in the city of Baghdád—
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مارگیری اژدها آورده است ** بوالعجب نادر شکاری کرده است
- “A snake-catcher has brought a dragon: he has captured a marvellous rare beast.”
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جمع آمد صد هزاران خامریش ** صید او گشته چو او از ابلهیش
- Myriads of simpletons assembled, who had become a prey to him as he (to it) in his folly.
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منتظر ایشان و هم او منتظر ** تا که جمع آیند خلق منتشر
- They were waiting (to see the dragon), and he too was waiting for the scattered people to assemble.
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مردم هنگامه افزونتر شود ** کدیه و توزیع نیکوتر رود 1035
- The greater the crowd, the better goes the begging and contributing (of money).
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جمع آمد صد هزاران ژاژخا ** حلقه کرده پشت پا بر پشت پا
- Myriads of idle babblers assembled, forming a ring, sole against sole.
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مرد را از زن خبر نه ز ازدحام ** رفته درهم چون قیامت خاص و عام
- Man took no heed of woman: on account of the throng they were mingled together like nobles and common folk at the Resurrection.
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چون همی حراقه جنبانید او ** میکشیدند اهل هنگامه گلو
- When he (the snake-catcher) began to move the cloth (which covered the dragon), the people in the crowd strained their throats (necks),
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و اژدها کز زمهریر افسرده بود ** زیر صد گونه پلاس و پرده بود
- And (saw that) the dragon, which had been frozen by intense cold, was underneath a hundred kinds of coarse woollen cloths and coverlets.
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بسته بودش با رسنهای غلیظ ** احتیاطی کرده بودش آن حفیظ 1040
- He had bound it with thick ropes: that careful keeper had taken great precaution for it.
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در درنگ انتظار و اتفاق ** تافت بر آن مار خورشید عراق
- During the delay (interval) of expectation and coming together, the sun of ‘Iráq shone upon the snake.
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آفتاب گرمسیرش گرم کرد ** رفت از اعضای او اخلاط سرد
- The sun of the hot country warmed it; the cold humours went out of its limbs.
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مرده بود و زنده گشت او از شگفت ** اژدها بر خویش جنبیدن گرفت
- It had been dead, and it revived: from astonishment (at feeling the sun's heat) the dragon began to uncoil itself.
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خلق را از جنبش آن مرده مار ** گشتشان آن یک تحیر صد هزار
- By the stirring of that dead serpent the people's amazement was multiplied a hundred thousand fold.
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با تحیر نعرهها انگیختند ** جملگان از جنبشش بگریختند 1045
- With amazement they started shrieking and fled en masse from its motion.
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میسکست او بند و زان بانگ بلند ** هر طرف میرفت چاقاچاق بند
- It set about bursting the bonds, and at that loud outcry (of the people) the bonds on every side went crack, crack.
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بندها بسکست و بیرون شد ز زیر ** اژدهایی زشت غران همچو شیر
- It burst the bonds and glided out from beneath—a hideous dragon roaring like a lion.
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در هزیمت بس خلایق کشته شد ** از فتاده و کشتگان صد پشته شد
- Many people were killed in the rout: a hundred heaps were made of the fallen slain.
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مارگیر از ترس بر جا خشک گشت ** که چه آوردم من از کهسار و دشت
- The snake-catcher became paralysed with fear on the spot, crying, “What have I brought from the mountains and the desert?”
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گرگ را بیدار کرد آن کور میش ** رفت نادان سوی عزرائیل خویش 1050
- The blind sheep awakened the wolf: unwittingly it went towards its ‘Azrá’íl (Angel of death).
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اژدها یک لقمه کرد آن گیج را ** سهل باشد خونخوری حجاج را
- The dragon made one mouthful of that dolt: blood-drinking (bloodshed) is easy for Hajjáj.
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خویش را بر استنی پیچید و بست ** استخوان خورده را در هم شکست
- It wound and fastened itself on a pillar and crunched the bones of the devoured man.