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1
2327-2351

  • Thou hast deemed thy understanding superior to mine, (but) how hast thou (truly) seen me, who am deficient in understanding?
  • Don't spring upon me like a reckless wolf! Oh, better be without understanding (mad) than (suffer) the disgrace of (having) thy understanding.
  • Since thy understanding is a shackle for mankind, it is not understanding: it is a snake and scorpion.
  • May God be the enemy of thy iniquity and deceit! May thy (superior) talent and understanding fall short of (fail to injure) us! 2330
  • Thou art both the snake and the charmer—oh, this is wonderful! Thou art (both) the snake-catcher and the snake, O thou disgrace to the Arabs!
  • If the crow knew its ugliness, from grief and sorrow it would melt like snow.
  • The charmer chants (a spell) as an enemy (does); he is (casting) a spell upon the snake and the snake is (casting) a spell upon him.
  • If his trap were not (devised by him as) a spell for the snake (a means of catching it), how would he become a prey to the snake's spell?
  • The charmer, from greed of getting and making (money), is not conscious of the snake's spell at the time. 2335
  • The snake says, ‘O charmer, beware, beware! Thou hast beheld thine own spell (and its effect upon me): now behold mine!
  • Thou beguilest me with the Name of God in order that thou mayst expose me to shame and confusion.
  • The Name of God enthralled me, not thy contrivance: thou madest the Name of God a trap: woe to thee!
  • The Name of God will take vengeance from thee on my behalf: I commit my soul and body to the Name of God.
  • Either it will sever the vein of thy life by my stroke, or it will bring thee into a prison as (it has brought) me.’” 2340
  • Rough speeches of this sort, (whole) volumes, the woman recited to her youthful husband.
  • How the man counselled his wife, saying, “Do not look with contempt on the poor, but regard the work of God as perfect, and do not let thy vain thought and opinion of thine own penury cause thee to sneer at poverty and revile the poor.”
  • “O woman,” said he, “art thou a woman or the father of sorrow? Poverty is (my) pride, and do not thou beat me on the head (lash me with thy reproaches).
  • Wealth and gold are as a cap to the head: ’tis the bald man that makes a shelter of his cap,
  • (But) he that has curly and beautiful locks is happier when his cap is gone.
  • The man of God (the saint) resembles the eye: therefore (his) sight is better bare (unveiled) than covered. 2345
  • When a slave-dealer offers (slaves) for sale, he removes from the (sound) slave the garment that hides defects.
  • But if there be any defect, how should he strip him? Nay, he tricks him (the purchaser) by means of the garment.
  • ‘This one,’ says he, ‘is ashamed of good and evil: stripping him would cause him to run away from thee.’
  • The (rich) merchant is plunged in vice up to the ears, (but) the merchant has money, and his money covers his vice,
  • For because of cupidity none that is covetous sees his vice: feelings of cupidity are a bond uniting (men's) hearts; 2350
  • And if a beggar speak a word like the (pure) gold of the mine, his wares will not find the way to the shop.