- 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).
- دیدهها بسته ببیند دوست را ** چون مشبک کرده باشد پوست را
- And if she saw her neither from without nor from within, take the (essential) meaning of the story, O imbecile! 3615
- ور ندیدش نه از برون نز اندرون ** از حکایت گیر معنی ای زبون
- Not like him who had heard (some) fables, and like sh stuck to the (literal) shape of them,
- نه چنان کافسانهها بشنیده بود ** همچو شین بر نقش آن چسبیده بود
- So that he would say, “How should Kalíla, having no language, hear words from Dimna who had no power of expression?
- تا همیگفت آن کلیله بیزبان ** چون سخن نوشد ز دمنه بیبیان
- And (even) if they knew each other's accents, how should man understand it (their talk), (since it was) without any articulation?
- ور بدانستند لحن همدگر ** فهم آن چون کرد بینطقی بشر
- How did Dimna become a messenger between the lion and the ox, and cajole them both with his palaver?
- در میان شیر و گاو آن دمنه چون ** شد رسول و خواند بر هر دو فسون
- How did the noble ox become the vizier of the lion? How was the elephant terrified by the reflection of the moon? 3620
- چون وزیر شیر شد گاو نبیل ** چون ز عکس ماه ترسان گشت پیل
- This Kalíla and Dimna is entirely fiction, or else how has the stork a quarrel with the crow?”
- این کلیله و دمنه جمله افتری است ** ور نه کی با زاغ لکلک را مری است
- O brother, the story is like a measure: the real meaning in it resembles grain (in the measure).
- ای برادر قصه چون پیمانهای است ** معنی اندر وی مثال دانهای است
- 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).
- دانهی معنی بگیرد مرد عقل ** ننگرد پیمانه را گر گشت نقل