Men regarded him as small like the pupil: none attained to (understanding of) the (real) greatness (worth) of the pupil.
مردمش چون مردمک دیدند خرد ** در بزرگی مردمک کس ره نبرد
How the beasts objected to the proposal of the hare.
اعتراض نخجیران بر سخن خرگوش
The company (of beasts) said to him: “O donkey, listen (to us)! Keep thyself within the measure of a hare!1005
قوم گفتندش که ای خر گوش دار ** خویش را اندازهی خرگوش دار
Eh, what brag is this—(an idea) which thy betters never brought into their minds?
هین چه لاف است این که از تو بهتران ** در نیاوردند اندر خاطر آن
Thou art self-conceited, or Destiny is pursuing us; else, how is this speech suitable to one like thee?
معجبی یا خود قضامان در پی است ** ور نه این دم لایق چون تو کی است
How the hare again answered the beasts.
جواب خرگوش نخجیران را
He said: “O friends, God gave me inspiration: to a weakling there came a strong judgement (wise counsel).”
گفت ای یاران حقم الهام داد ** مر ضعیفی را قوی رایی فتاد
That which God taught to the bees is not (belonging) to the lion and the wild ass.
آن چه حق آموخت مر زنبور را ** آن نباشد شیر را و گور را
It (the bee) makes houses of juicy halwá (sweetmeat): God opened to it the door of that knowledge;1010
خانهها سازد پر از حلوای تر ** حق بر او آن علم را بگشاد در
That which God taught to the silkworm—does any elephant know such a device?
آن چه حق آموخت کرم پیله را ** هیچ پیلی داند آن گون حیله را
Adam, created of earth, learned knowledge from God: (his) knowledge shot beams up to the Seventh Heaven.
آدم خاکی ز حق آموخت علم ** تا به هفتم آسمان افروخت علم
He (Adam) broke the name and fame (pride) of the angels, to the confusion of that one who is in doubt concerning God.
نام و ناموس ملک را در شکست ** کوری آن کس که در حق درشک است
He (God) made the ascetic of six hundred thousand years (Iblís) a muzzle for that young calf (Adam),
زاهد چندین هزاران ساله را ** پوز بندی ساخت آن گوساله را
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.1015
تا نتاند شیر علم دین کشید ** تا نگردد گرد آن قصر مشید
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.
علمهای اهل حس شد پوز بند ** تا نگیرد شیر ز آن علم بلند
(But) into the blood-drop (core) of the heart there fell a jewel which He (God) gave not to the seas and skies.
قطرهی دل را یکی گوهر فتاد ** کان به دریاها و گردونها نداد
How long (this regard for) form? After all, O form-worshipper, has thy reality-lacking soul not (yet) escaped from form?
چند صورت آخر ای صورت پرست ** جان بیمعنیت از صورت نرست
If a human being were a man in virtue of form, Ahmad (Mohammed) and Bú Jahl would be just the same.
گر به صورت آدمی انسان بدی ** احمد و بو جهل خود یکسان بدی
The painting on the wall is like Adam: see from the (pictured) form what thing in it is wanting.1020
نقش بر دیوار مثل آدم است ** بنگر از صورت چه چیز او کم است
The spirit is wanting in that resplendent form: go, seek that jewel rarely found!
جان کم است آن صورت با تاب را ** رو بجو آن گوهر کمیاب را
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).
شد سر شیران عالم جمله پست ** چون سگ اصحاب را دادند دست
What loss does it suffer from that abhorred shape, inasmuch as its spirit was plunged in the ocean of light?
چه زیان استش از آن نقش نفور ** چون که جانش غرق شد در بحر نور
’Tis not in pens to describe (the outward) form: (what is written) in letters is (qualities like) “learned” and “just”;
وصف صورت نیست اندر خامهها ** عالم و عادل بود در نامهها
(And qualities like) “learned” and “just” are only the spiritual essence which thou wilt not find in (any) place or in front or behind.1025
عالم و عادل همه معنی است بس ** کش نیابی در مکان و پیش و پس
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.
میزند بر تن ز سوی لامکان ** مینگنجد در فلک خورشید جان
An account of the knowledge of the hare and an explanation of the excellence and advantages of knowledge.
ذکر دانش خرگوش و بیان فضیلت و منافع دانستن
This topic hath no end. Give heed! Attend to the story of the hare.
این سخن پایان ندارد هوش دار ** گوش سوی قصهی خرگوش دار
Sell your asinine (corporeal) ear and buy another ear, for the asinine ear will not apprehend this discourse.
گوش خر بفروش و دیگر گوش خر ** کاین سخن را در نیابد گوش خر