قوم گفتندش که ای خر گوش دار ** خویش را اندازه‌‌ی خرگوش دار1005
The company (of beasts) said to him: “O donkey, listen (to us)! Keep thyself within the measure of a hare!
هین چه لاف است این که از تو بهتران ** در نیاوردند اندر خاطر آن
Eh, what brag is this—(an idea) which thy betters never brought into their minds?
معجبی یا خود قضامان در پی است ** ور نه این دم لایق چون تو کی است
Thou art self-conceited, or Destiny is pursuing us; else, how is this speech suitable to one like thee?
جواب خرگوش نخجیران را
How the hare again answered the beasts.
گفت ای یاران حقم الهام داد ** مر ضعیفی را قوی رایی فتاد
He said: “O friends, God gave me inspiration: to a weakling there came a strong judgement (wise counsel).”
آن چه حق آموخت مر زنبور را ** آن نباشد شیر را و گور را
That which God taught to the bees is not (belonging) to the lion and the wild ass.
خانه‌‌ها سازد پر از حلوای تر ** حق بر او آن علم را بگشاد در1010
It (the bee) makes houses of juicy halwá (sweetmeat): God opened to it the door of that knowledge;
آن چه حق آموخت کرم پیله را ** هیچ پیلی داند آن گون حیله را
That which God taught to the silkworm—does any elephant know such a device?
آدم خاکی ز حق آموخت علم ** تا به هفتم آسمان افروخت علم
Adam, created of earth, learned knowledge from God: (his) knowledge shot beams up to the Seventh Heaven.
نام و ناموس ملک را در شکست ** کوری آن کس که در حق درشک است
He (Adam) broke the name and fame (pride) of the angels, to the confusion of that one who is in doubt concerning God.
زاهد چندین هزاران ساله را ** پوز بندی ساخت آن گوساله را
He (God) made the ascetic of six hundred thousand years (Iblís) a muzzle for that young calf (Adam),
تا نتاند شیر علم دین کشید ** تا نگردد گرد آن قصر مشید1015
That he (Adam) might not be able to drink the milk of knowledge of religion, and that he might not roam around that lofty castle.
علمهای اهل حس شد پوز بند ** تا نگیرد شیر ز آن علم بلند
The sciences of the followers of (external) sense became a muzzle, so that he (the believer in sense-perception) might not receive milk from that sublime knowledge.
قطره‌‌ی دل را یکی گوهر فتاد ** کان به دریاها و گردونها نداد
(But) into the blood-drop (core) of the heart there fell a jewel which He (God) gave not to the seas and skies.
چند صورت آخر ای صورت پرست ** جان بی‌‌معنیت از صورت نرست
How long (this regard for) form? After all, O form-worshipper, has thy reality-lacking soul not (yet) escaped from form?
گر به صورت آدمی انسان بدی ** احمد و بو جهل خود یکسان بدی
If a human being were a man in virtue of form, Ahmad (Mohammed) and Bú Jahl would be just the same.
نقش بر دیوار مثل آدم است ** بنگر از صورت چه چیز او کم است1020
The painting on the wall is like Adam: see from the (pictured) form what thing in it is wanting.
جان کم است آن صورت با تاب را ** رو بجو آن گوهر کمیاب را
The spirit is wanting in that resplendent form: go, seek that jewel rarely found!
شد سر شیران عالم جمله پست ** چون سگ اصحاب را دادند دست
The heads of all the lions in the world were laid low when They (God) gave a hand to (bestowed favour on) the dog of the Companions (of the Cave).
چه زیان استش از آن نقش نفور ** چون که جانش غرق شد در بحر نور
What loss does it suffer from that abhorred shape, inasmuch as its spirit was plunged in the ocean of light?
وصف صورت نیست اندر خامه‌‌ها ** عالم و عادل بود در نامه‌‌ها
’Tis not in pens to describe (the outward) form: (what is written) in letters is (qualities like) “learned” and “just”;
عالم و عادل همه معنی است بس ** کش نیابی در مکان و پیش و پس1025
(And qualities like) “learned” and “just” are only the spiritual essence which thou wilt not find in (any) place or in front or behind.
می‌‌زند بر تن ز سوی لامکان ** می‌‌نگنجد در فلک خورشید جان
The sun of the spirit strikes (with its beams) on the body from the quarter where (the relation of) place does not exist: it (that sun) is not contained in the sky.
ذکر دانش خرگوش و بیان فضیلت و منافع دانستن
An account of the knowledge of the hare and an explanation of the excellence and advantages of knowledge.
این سخن پایان ندارد هوش دار ** گوش سوی قصه‌‌ی خرگوش دار
This topic hath no end. Give heed! Attend to the story of the hare.
گوش خر بفروش و دیگر گوش خر ** کاین سخن را در نیابد گوش خر
Sell your asinine (corporeal) ear and buy another ear, for the asinine ear will not apprehend this discourse.
رو تو روبه بازی خرگوش بین ** مکر و شیر اندازی خرگوش بین
Go, behold the foxy tricks played by the hare; behold the cunning of the hare and how he overthrew the lion.
خاتم ملک سلیمان است علم ** جمله عالم صورت و جان است علم1030
Knowledge is the seal of the kingdom of Solomon: the whole world is form, and knowledge is the spirit.
آدمی را زین هنر بی‌‌چاره گشت ** خلق دریاها و خلق کوه و دشت
Because of this virtue, the creatures of the seas and those of mountain and plain are helpless before man.
زو پلنگ و شیر ترسان همچو موش ** زو نهنگ و بحر در صفرا و جوش
Of him the pard and lion are afraid, like the mouse; from him the leviathan and the sea are in pallor and agitation.
زو پری و دیو ساحلها گرفت ** هر یکی در جای پنهان جا گرفت
From him peri and demon took to the shores (sought refuge): each took abode in some hiding-place.
آدمی را دشمن پنهان بسی است ** آدمی با حذر عاقل کسی است
Man hath many a secret enemy: the cautious man is a wise one.
خلق پنهان زشتشان و خوبشان ** می‌‌زند در دل بهر دم کوبشان1035
(There are) hidden creatures, evil and good: at every instant their blows are striking on the heart.
بهر غسل ار در روی در جویبار ** بر تو آسیبی زند در آب خار
If you go into the river to wash yourself, a thorn in the water inflicts a hurt upon you.
گر چه پنهان خار در آب است پست ** چون که در تو می‌‌خلد دانی که هست
Although the thorn is hidden low in the water, you know it is there, since it is pricking you.
خار خار وحیها و وسوسه ** از هزاران کس بود نی یک کسه
The pricks of (angelic) inspirations and (satanic) temptations are from thousands of beings, not (only) from one.
باش تا حسهای تو مبدل شود ** تا ببینیشان و مشکل حل شود
Wait (patiently) for your (bodily) senses to be transmuted, so that you may see them (the hidden beings), and the difficulty may be solved,
تا سخنهای کیان رد کرده‌‌ای ** تا کیان را سرور خود کرده‌‌ای1040
So that (you may see) whose words you have rejected and whom you have made your captain.
باز طلبیدن نخجیران از خرگوش سر اندیشه‌‌ی او را
How the beasts requested the hare to tell the secret of his thought.
بعد از آن گفتند کای خرگوش چست ** در میان آر آن چه در ادراک تست
Afterwards they said, “O nimble hare, communicate what is in thy apprehension.
ای که با شیری تو در پیچیده‌‌ای ** باز گو رایی که اندیشیده‌‌ای
O thou who hast grappled with a lion, declare the plan which thou hast thought of.
مشورت ادراک و هشیاری دهد ** عقلها مر عقل را یاری دهد
Counsel gives perception and understanding: the mind is helped by (other) minds.
گفت پیغمبر بکن ای رایزن ** مشورت کالمستشار موتمن
The Prophet said, ‘O adviser, take counsel (with the trustworthy), for he whose counsel is sought is trusted.’”
منع کردن خرگوش راز را از ایشان
How the hare withheld the secret from them.
گفت هر رازی نشاید باز گفت ** جفت طاق آید گهی گه طاق جفت1045
He said, “One ought not to say forth every secret: sometimes the even number turns out to be odd, and sometimes the odd number to be even.”
از صفا گر دم زنی با آینه ** تیره گردد زود با ما آینه
If from guilelessness you breathe words to a mirror, the mirror at once becomes dim to us.
در بیان این سه کم جنبان لبت ** از ذهاب و از ذهب وز مذهبت
Do not move your lip in explanation of these three things, (namely) concerning your departure and your gold and your religion;
کین سه را خصم است بسیار و عدو ** در کمینت ایستد چون داند او
For to these three there is many an adversary and foe standing in wait for you when he knows (about any of them).
ور بگویی با یکی دو الوداع ** کل سر جاوز الاثنین شاع
And if you tell (only) one or two (a few people), farewell (to your secret): every secret that goes beyond the twain (who share it) is published abroad.
گر دو سه پرنده را بندی به هم ** بر زمین مانند محبوس از الم1050
If you tie two or three birds together, they will remain on the ground, imprisoned by grief;
مشورت دارند سرپوشیده خوب ** در کنایت با غلط افکن مشوب
(But in truth) they hold a consultation well-disguised and mingled, in its (apparent) significance, with that which casts error (into the mind of any one who observes them).
مشورت کردی پیمبر بسته سر ** گفته ایشانش جواب و بی‌‌خبر
(Similarly) the Prophet used to take counsel, (speaking) cryptically, and they (his companions) would answer him and (would be) without knowledge (of his real meaning).
در مثالی بسته گفتی رای را ** تا نداند خصم از سر پای را
He would speak his opinion in a covert parable, in order that the adversary might not know foot from head.
او جواب خویش بگرفتی از او ** وز سؤالش می‌‌نبردی غیر بو
He (the Prophet) would receive his answer from him (the adversary), while the other would not catch the smell (drift) of his question.