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چون شنید از گاو و قج اشتر شگفت ** سر فرود آورد و آن را برگرفت
- 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).
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در هوا بر داشت آن بند قصیل ** اشتر بختی سبک بی‌قال و قیل 2480
- Promptly, without any palaver, the Bactrian camel raised the bunch of fresh barley in the air,
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که مرا خود حاجت تاریخ نیست ** کین چنین جسمی و عالی گردنیست
- Saying, “I, in sooth, need no (support from) chronology, since I have such a (stout) body and high neck.
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خود همه کس داند ای جان پدر ** که نباشم از شما من خردتر
- Indeed every one knows, O father's darling, that I am not smaller than you.
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داند این را هرکه ز اصحاب نهاست ** که نهاد من فزون‌تر از شماست
- Whoever is one of those possessed of intelligence knows this, that my nature is superior to yours.”
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جملگان دانند کین چرخ بلند ** هست صد چندان که این خاک نژند
- (The Christian said), “All know that this lofty heaven is a hundred times as great as this low earth.
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کو گشاد رقعه‌های آسمان ** کو نهاد بقعه‌های خاکدان 2485
- How can the wide expanse of the celestial domains be compared with the (limited) character of the terrestrial regions?”
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جواب گفتن مسلمان آنچ دید به یارانش جهود و ترسا و حسرت خوردن ایشان
- 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.
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پس مسلمان گفت ای یاران من ** پیشم آمد مصطفی سلطان من
- Then the Moslem said, “O my friends, to me came Mustafá (Mohammed), my sovereign,
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پس مرا گفت آن یکی بر طور تاخت ** با کلیم حق و نرد عشق باخت
- 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);
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وان دگر را عیسی صاحب‌قران ** برد بر اوج چهارم آسمان
- And the other (the Christian) has been carried by Jesus, the Lord of happy star, to the zenith of the Fourth Heaven.
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خیز ای پس مانده‌ی دیده ضرر ** باری آن حلوا و یخنی را بخور
- Arise, O thou who hast been left behind and hast suffered injury, at least eat up the sweetmeat and comfit!
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آن هنرمندان پر فن راندند ** نامه‌ی اقبال و منصب خواندند 2490
- Those (two) talented and accomplished men have pushed forward and have read the book of fortune and honour.
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آن دو فاضل فضل خود در یافتند ** با ملایک از هنر در بافتند
- Those two eminent men have attained to their (proper) eminence and because of their talents have mingled with the angels.
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ای سلیم گول واپس مانده هین ** بر جه و بر کاسه‌ی حلوا نشین
- Hark, O foolish simpleton who hast been left behind, jump up and seat thyself beside the bowl of halwá!’”
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پس بگفتندش که آنگه تو حریص ** ای عجیب خوردی ز حلوا و خبیص
- Thereupon they said to him, “Then, you greedy fellow, have you made a meal of the halwá and khabís? Oh, (what) an astonishing thing!”
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گفت چون فرمود آن شاه مطاع ** من کی بودم تا کنم زان امتناع
- He replied, “When that sovereign who is obeyed (by all) gave the order, who was I that I should resist it?
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تو جهود از امر موسی سر کشی ** گر بخواند در خوشی یا ناخوشی 2495
- Will you, Jew, rebel against the command of Moses if he summon you (either) in a fair cause or a foul?
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تو مسیحی هیچ از امر مسیح ** سر توانی تافت در خیر و قبیح
- Can you, Christian, ever spurn the command of Christ (whether) for good or evil?
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من ز فخر انبیا سر چون کشم ** خورده‌ام حلوا و این دم سرخوشم
- How, (then), should I rebel against the Glory of the prophets? I have eaten the halwá and now I am happy.”
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پس بگفتندش که والله خواب راست ** تو بدیدی وین به از صد خواب ماست
- Then they said to him, “By God, you have dreamed a true dream, and ’tis better than a hundred dreams of ours.
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خواب تو بیداریست ای بو بطر ** که به بیداری عیانستش اثر
- Your dreaming is waking, O gleeful one, for its effect (reality) is made evident by (your) waking (and eating the sweetmeat).”
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در گذر از فضل و از جهدی و فن ** کار خدمت دارد و خلق حسن 2500
- Abandon eminence and (worldly) energy and skill: what matters is service (rendered to God) and a goodly disposition.
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بهر این آوردمان یزدان برون ** ما خلقت الانس الا یعبدون
- For this (object) God brought us forth (from non-existence): “I did not create mankind except to serve Me.”
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سامری را آن هنر چه سود کرد ** کان فن از باب اللهش مردود کرد
- How did that knowledge (of his) profit Sámirí, whom the skill (shown in making the golden Calf) banished from God's door?
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چه کشید از کیمیا قارون ببین ** که فرو بردش به قعر خود زمین
- What did Qárún gain by his alchemy? See how the earth bore him down to its abyss.