- A little ant saw a pen (writing) on a paper, and told this mystery to another ant,
- مورکی بر کاغذی دید او قلم ** گفت با مور دگر این راز هم
- Saying, “That pen made wonderful pictures like sweet basil and beds of lilies and roses.”
- که عجایب نقشها آن کلک کرد ** هم‌چو ریحان و چو سوسن‌زار و ورد
- The other ant said, “That artist is the finger, and this pen is actually (no more than) the derivative (instrument) and the sign.”
- گفت آن مور اصبعست آن پیشه‌ور ** وین قلم در فعل فرعست و اثر
- A third ant said, “It is the work of the arm, by whose strength the slender finger depicted it.”
- گفت آن مور سوم کز بازوست ** که اصبع لاغر ز زورش نقش بست
- In this fashion it (the argument) was carried upward till a chief of the ants, (who) was a little bit sagacious, 3725
- هم‌چنین می‌رفت بالا تا یکی ** مهتر موران فطن بود اندکی
- Said, “Do not regard this accomplishment as proceeding from the (material) form, which becomes unconscious in sleep and death.
- گفت کز صورت مبینید این هنر ** که به خواب و مرگ گردد بی‌خبر
- Form is like a garment or a staff: (bodily) figures do not move except by means of intellect and spirit.”
- صورت آمد چون لباس و چون عصا ** جز به عقل و جان نجنبد نقشها
- He (the wise ant) was unaware that without the controlling influence of God that intellect and heart (mind) would be inert.
- بی‌خبر بود او که آن عقل و فاد ** بی ز تقلیب خدا باشد جماد
- If He withdraw His favour from it for a single moment, the acute intellect will commit (many) follies.
- یک زمان از وی عنایت بر کند ** عقل زیرک ابلهیها می‌کند
- When Dhu ’l-Qarnayn found it (Mount Qáf) speaking, he said, after Mount Qáf had bored the pearls of speech, 3730
- چونش گویا یافت ذوالقرنین گفت ** چونک کوه قاف در نطق سفت