- 
		    هر کسی دانند ای فخر البنین  ** که فزون باشد فن چرخ از زمین 
- Every one knows, O pride of the sons (of Adam), that the artifice of the celestial sphere exceeds (that of) the earth.”
- 
		  حکایت اشتر و گاو و قج که در راه بند گیاه یافتند هر یکی میگفت من خورم 
- Story of the camel and the ox and the ram who found a bunch of grass on the road, and each said, “I will eat it.”
- 
		    اشتر و گاو و قجی در پیش راه  ** یافتند اندر روش بندی گیاه 
- Whilst a camel, ox, and ram were going along, they found a bunch of grass in front of (them on) the road.
- 
		    گفت قج بخش ار کنیم این را یقین  ** هیچ کس از ما نگردد سیر ازین 
- The ram said, “If we divide this, certainly none of us will get his fill of it;
- 
		    لیک عمر هرکه باشد بیشتر  ** این علف اوراست اولی گو بخور 
- But whichever of us has lived longest has the best right to this fodder: let him eat;
- 
		   که اکابر را مقدم داشتن  ** آمدست از مصطفی اندر سنن    2460
- For (the injunction) to give the foremost place to the seniors has come from Mustafá (Mohammed) among the practices observed by him,
- 
		    گرچه پیران را درین دور لام  ** در دو موضع پیش میدارند عام 
- Although, at this time when vile men hold sway, the vulgar put forward the elders on two occasions (only),
- 
		    یا در آن لوتی که آن سوزان بود  ** یا بر آن پل کز خلل ویران بود 
- Either in (tasting) food that is burning hot, or on a bridge that is (damaged) by cracks (and) in a state of ruin.
- 
		    خدمت شیخی بزرگی قایدی  ** عام نارد بیقرینهی فاسدی 
- The vulgar do not pay homage to a venerable Shaykh and leader without some mischievous idea associated (with their homage).
- 
		    خیرشان اینست چه بود شرشان  ** قبحشان را باز دان از فرشان 
- This is their good: what must their evil be? Distinguish their (inward) foulness from their (outward) fairness.”
- 
		  مثل 
- Parable.
- 
		   سوی جامع میشد آن یک شهریار  ** خلق را میزد نقیب و چوبدار    2465
- A king was going to the congregational mosque, and the marshals and mace-bearers were beating the people off.
- 
		    آن یکی را سر شکستی چوبزن  ** و آن دگر را بر دریدی پیرهن 
- The wielder of the stick would break the head of one and tear to bits the shirt of another.
- 
		    در میانه بیدلی ده چوب خورد  ** بیگناهی که برو از راه برد 
- A poor wretch amidst the throng received ten blows with the stick without (having committed) any offence. “Begone,” they cried, “get out of the way!”
- 
		    خون چکان رو کرد با شاه و بگفت  ** ظلم ظاهر بین چه پرسی از نهفت 
- Dripping blood, he turned his face to the king and said, “Behold the manifest iniquity: why ask of that which is hidden?
- 
		    خیر تو این است جامع میروی  ** تا چه باشد شر و وزرت ای غوی 
- This is thy good: (thou doest this whilst) thou art going to the mosque; what must thy evil and burden (of sin) be, O misguided one?”
- 
		   یک سلامی نشنود پیر از خسی  ** تا نپیچد عاقبت از وی بسی    2470
- The Pír (Elder) never hears a salaam from a base fellow without being exceedingly tormented by him in the end.
- 
		    گرگ دریابد ولی را به بود  ** زانک دریابد ولی را نفس بد 
- (If) a wolf catch a saint, it is better than that the saint should be caught by the wicked carnal soul,
- 
		    زانک گرگ ارچه که بس استمگریست  ** لیکش آن فرهنگ و کید و مکر نیست 
- Because, though the wolf does great violence, yet it has not the same knowledge and craft and cunning;
- 
		    ورنه کی اندر فتادی او به دام  ** مکر اندر آدمی باشد تمام 
- Else how should it fall into the trap? Cunning is complete (attains to perfection) in man.
- 
		    گفت قج با گاو و اشتر ای رفاق  ** چون چنین افتاد ما را اتفاق 
- The ram said to the ox and the camel, “O comrades, since such a (lucky) chance has come to us,
- 
		   هر یکی تاریخ عمر ابدا کنید  ** پیرتر اولیست باقی تن زنید    2475
- Let each (of us) declare the date (antiquity) of his life: the oldest has the best right, let the others suffer (disappointment) in silence.
- 
		    گفت قج مرج من اندر آن عهود  ** با قج قربان اسمعیل بود 
- In those times,” said the ram, “my pasturage was (shared) with the ram that was sacrificed for Ismá‘íl (Ishmael).”
- 
		    گاو گفتا بودهام من سالخورد  ** جفت آن گاوی کش آدم جفت کرد 
- The ox said, “I am the (most) advanced in years, (I was) coupled with the ox that Adam yoked.
- 
		    جفت آن گاوم که آدم جد خلق  ** در زراعت بر زمین میکرد فلق 
- I am the yoke-fellow of the ox with which Adam, the forefather of mankind, used to plough the earth in sowing.”
- 
		    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).
- 
		   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,
- 
		    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.
- 
		    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.
- 
		    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.”
- 
		    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.
- 
		   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?”
- 
		  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.
- 
		    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,
- 
		    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);
- 
		    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.
- 
		    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!
- 
		   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.
- 
		    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.
- 
		    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!’”
- 
		    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!”
- 
		    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?
- 
		   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?
- 
		    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?
- 
		    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.”
- 
		    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.
- 
		    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).”
- 
		   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.
- 
		    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.”
- 
		    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?
- 
		    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.
- 
		    بوالحکم آخر چه بر بست از هنر  ** سرنگون رفت او ز کفران در سقر 
- What, after all, did Bu ’l-Hakam (Abú Jahl) get from (intellectual) knowledge? On account of his unbelief he went headlong into Hell.
- 
		   خود هنر آن داد که دید آتش عیان  ** نه کپ دل علی النار الدخان    2505
- Know that (true) knowledge consists in seeing fire plainly, not in prating that smoke is evidence of fire.