- (If) a wolf catch a saint, it is better than that the saint should be caught by the wicked carnal soul,
- گرگ دریابد ولی را به بود ** زانک دریابد ولی را نفس بد
- Because, though the wolf does great violence, yet it has not the same knowledge and craft and cunning;
- زانک گرگ ارچه که بس استمگریست ** لیکش آن فرهنگ و کید و مکر نیست
- Else how should it fall into the trap? Cunning is complete (attains to perfection) in man.
- ورنه کی اندر فتادی او به دام ** مکر اندر آدمی باشد تمام
- The ram said to the ox and the camel, “O comrades, since such a (lucky) chance has come to us,
- گفت قج با گاو و اشتر ای رفاق ** چون چنین افتاد ما را اتفاق
- Let each (of us) declare the date (antiquity) of his life: the oldest has the best right, let the others suffer (disappointment) in silence. 2475
- هر یکی تاریخ عمر ابدا کنید ** پیرتر اولیست باقی تن زنید
- In those times,” said the ram, “my pasturage was (shared) with the ram that was sacrificed for Ismá‘íl (Ishmael).”
- گفت قج مرج من اندر آن عهود ** با قج قربان اسمعیل بود
- The ox said, “I am the (most) advanced in years, (I was) coupled with the ox that Adam yoked.
- گاو گفتا بودهام من سالخورد ** جفت آن گاوی کش آدم جفت کرد
- I am the yoke-fellow of the ox with which Adam, the forefather of mankind, used to plough the earth in sowing.”
- جفت آن گاوم که آدم جد خلق ** در زراعت بر زمین میکرد فلق
- When the camel heard the ox and the ram (make these assertions) he was amazed: he lowered his head and picked up that (bunch of grass).
- چون شنید از گاو و قج اشتر شگفت ** سر فرود آورد و آن را برگرفت
- Promptly, without any palaver, the Bactrian camel raised the bunch of fresh barley in the air, 2480
- در هوا بر داشت آن بند قصیل ** اشتر بختی سبک بیقال و قیل
- Saying, “I, in sooth, need no (support from) chronology, since I have such a (stout) body and high neck.
- که مرا خود حاجت تاریخ نیست ** کین چنین جسمی و عالی گردنیست
- Indeed every one knows, O father's darling, that I am not smaller than you.
- خود همه کس داند ای جان پدر ** که نباشم از شما من خردتر
- Whoever is one of those possessed of intelligence knows this, that my nature is superior to yours.”
- داند این را هرکه ز اصحاب نهاست ** که نهاد من فزونتر از شماست
- (The Christian said), “All know that this lofty heaven is a hundred times as great as this low earth.
- جملگان دانند کین چرخ بلند ** هست صد چندان که این خاک نژند
- How can the wide expanse of the celestial domains be compared with the (limited) character of the terrestrial regions?” 2485
- کو گشاد رقعههای آسمان ** کو نهاد بقعههای خاکدان
- How the Moslem in reply told his companions, the Jew and the Christian, what he had seen (in his dream), and how they were disappointed.
- جواب گفتن مسلمان آنچ دید به یارانش جهود و ترسا و حسرت خوردن ایشان
- Then the Moslem said, “O my friends, to me came Mustafá (Mohammed), my sovereign,
- پس مسلمان گفت ای یاران من ** پیشم آمد مصطفی سلطان من
- And said to me, ‘That one (the Jew) has sped to Sinai with him (Moses) to whom God spake, and has played the game of love (with God);
- پس مرا گفت آن یکی بر طور تاخت ** با کلیم حق و نرد عشق باخت
- And the other (the Christian) has been carried by Jesus, the Lord of happy star, to the zenith of the Fourth Heaven.
- وان دگر را عیسی صاحبقران ** برد بر اوج چهارم آسمان
- Arise, O thou who hast been left behind and hast suffered injury, at least eat up the sweetmeat and comfit!
- خیز ای پس ماندهی دیده ضرر ** باری آن حلوا و یخنی را بخور
- Those (two) talented and accomplished men have pushed forward and have read the book of fortune and honour. 2490
- آن هنرمندان پر فن راندند ** نامهی اقبال و منصب خواندند
- Those two eminent men have attained to their (proper) eminence and because of their talents have mingled with the angels.
- آن دو فاضل فضل خود در یافتند ** با ملایک از هنر در بافتند
- Hark, O foolish simpleton who hast been left behind, jump up and seat thyself beside the bowl of halwá!’”
- ای سلیم گول واپس مانده هین ** بر جه و بر کاسهی حلوا نشین
- Thereupon they said to him, “Then, you greedy fellow, have you made a meal of the halwá and khabís? Oh, (what) an astonishing thing!”
- پس بگفتندش که آنگه تو حریص ** ای عجیب خوردی ز حلوا و خبیص
- He replied, “When that sovereign who is obeyed (by all) gave the order, who was I that I should resist it?
- گفت چون فرمود آن شاه مطاع ** من کی بودم تا کنم زان امتناع
- Will you, Jew, rebel against the command of Moses if he summon you (either) in a fair cause or a foul? 2495
- تو جهود از امر موسی سر کشی ** گر بخواند در خوشی یا ناخوشی