If I Tell More Jokes, the Coat Will Shrink
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 6, section 55 of 137: How the tailor said to the Turk, “Hey, hold your tongue: if I tell any more funny stories the coat will be (too) tight for you.” (گفتن درزی ترک را هی خاموش کی اگر مضاحک دگر گویم قبات تنگ آید). Below, each of its 3 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
How the tailor said to the Turk, “Hey, hold your tongue: if I tell any more funny stories the coat will be (too) tight for you.” گفتن درزی ترک را هی خاموش کی اگر مضاحک دگر گویم قبات تنگ آید
گفت درزی ای طواشی بر گذر وای بر تو گر کنم لاغی دگر
The tailor said, ‘Begone, unmanly fellow! Woe to you if I make another jest;
پس قبایت تنگ آید باز پس این کند با خویشتن خود هیچ کس
(For) then, after that, the coat will be (too) tight for you: does any one practice this (fraud) on himself?
خنده‌ی چه رمزی ار دانستیی تو به جای خنده خون بگرستیی
What laughter (is this)? If you had an inkling (of the truth), instead of laughing you would weep (tears of) blood.’
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by: Reza about (category: Masnavi, Persian Poetry)
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