One night, during the season of verdure, about the gay termination of spring, after they had rioted in the cup of plenty, and lay rolling on a green carpet of spinach, the cup of the silly ass began to overflow with the froth of conceit, and he thus expressed his unseasonable intentions: 

“O comrade of the branching antlers, what a mirth-inspiring night is this!  How joyous are the heart-attracting moments of spring!  Fragrance distils from every tree; the garden breathes otto of roses, and the whole atmosphere is pregnant with musk.  In the umbrageous gloom of the waving cypress the turtles are exchanging their vows, and the bird of a thousand songs [i.e., the nightingale] sips nectar from the lips of the rose:  nothing is wanting to complete the joys of spring but one of my melodious songs.  When the warm blood of youth shall cease to give animation to these elegant limbs of mine, what relish shall I have for pleasure?  And when the lamp of my life is extinguished, the spring will return in vain.”

Nakhshabi, music at every season is delightful, and a song sweetly murmured captivates the senses.

The musician who charms our ears will most assuredly find the road of success to our hearts.[51]

   [51] The italicised passages which occur in this tale are
        verses in the original Persian text.

The elk answered:  “Sagacious, long-eared associate, what an unseasonable proposal is this?  Rather let us converse together about pack-saddles and sacks; tell me a story about straw, beans, or hay-lofts, unmerciful drivers, and heavy burdens.”

What business has the Ass to meddle with music?

What occasion has Long-ears to attempt to sing?

“You ought also to recollect,” continued the elk, “that we are thieves, and that we came into this garden to plunder.  Consider what an enormous quantity of beets, lettuces, parsley, and radishes we have eaten, and what a fine bed of spinach we are spoiling!  ’Nothing can be more disgusting than a bird that sings out of season’ is a proverb which is as current among the sons of wisdom as a bill of exchange among merchants, and as valuable as an unpierced pearl.  If you are so infatuated as to permit the enchanting melody of your voice to draw you into this inextricable labyrinth, the gardener will instantly awake, rouse his whole caravan of workmen, hasten to this garden and convert our music into mourning; so that our history will be like that of the house-breakers.”

The Prince of Folly, expressing a wish to know how that was, received the following information: 

The Foolish Thieves.