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
The lion said, “O Messiah, (my killing) this prey was merely for the purpose that warning might be taken (by others).
گفت آن شیر ای مسیحا این شکار ** بود خالص از برای اعتبار
Had there (still) been for me in the world an allotted portion (of food), what business indeed should I have had with the dead?”
گر مرا روزی بدی اندر جهان ** خود چه کاراستی مرا با مردگان
This is the punishment deserved by him that finds pure water, and like an ass stales impertinently in the stream.470
این سزای آن که یابد آب صاف ** همچو خر در جو بمیزد از گزاف