For the sake of that foolish man the decree of God gave life to the form which those bones had possessed.
حکم یزدان از پی آن خام مرد ** صورت آن استخوان را زنده کرد
A black lion sprang forth, smote once with its paw, and destroyed his (bodily) image.
از میان بر جست یک شیر سیاه ** پنجهای زد کرد نقشش را تباه
It tore up his skull: his brain was scattered on the spot-the brain (kernel) of a nut, for in him was no brain.460
کلهاش بر کند مغزش ریخت زود ** مغز جوزی کاندر او مغزی نبود
If he had had a brain, his being broken to pieces would have been no injury at all except to his body.
گر و را مغزی بدی اشکستنش ** خود نبودی نقص الا بر تنش
Jesus said (to the lion), “How did you maul him so quickly?” The lion said, “Because thou wert troubled by him.”
گفت عیسی چون شتابش کوفتی ** گفت ز آن رو که تو زو آشوفتی
Jesus asked, “How did not you drink the man’s blood?” “In the (Divine) dispensation ‘twas not granted to me to drink (it),” replied the lion.
گفت عیسی چون نخوردی خون مرد ** گفت در قسمت نبودم رزق خورد
Oh, many a one that like that raging lion has departed from the world without having eaten his prey!
ای بسا کس همچو آن شیر ژیان ** صید خود ناخورده رفته از جهان
His (ordained portion is not (even) a straw, while his greed is as (great as) a mountain; he hat no means (of satisfying his desires), though he has gotten the (material) means.465
قسمتش کاهی نه و حرصش چو کوه ** وجه نه و کرده تحصیل وجوه
O Thou who hast made it easy for us to do unrewarded and fruitless labour in the world, deliver us!
ای میسر کرده بر ما در جهان ** سخره و بیگار ما را وارهان
To us it seems a (tempting) bait and ‘tis (really) a hook: show it to us even as it is.
طعمه بنموده به ما و آن بوده شست ** آن چنان بنما به ما آن را که هست