Recognise your (proper) limit and do not fly aloft, lest you fall into the abyss of woe and bane.”
حد خود بشناس و بر بالا مپر ** تا نیفتی در نشیب شور و شر
How the ass answered the fox.
جواب گفتن خر روباه را
He (the ass) replied, “Know that you are speaking (just) the reverse (of the truth), (for) woe and bane come to the soul from cupidity.
گفت این معکوس می‌گویی بدان ** شور و شر از طمع آید سوی جان
No one was (ever) deprived of (spiritual) life by contentment; no one was (ever) made a (spiritual) king by covetousness.
از قناعت هیچ کس بی‌جان نشد ** از حریصی هیچ کس سلطان نشد
(The daily) bread is not withheld (even) from pigs and dogs: this rain and (these) clouds are not earned by Man.
نان ز خوکان و سگان نبود دریغ ** کسپ مردم نیست این باران و میغ
Just as you are pitiably enamoured of the daily bread, so the daily bread is enamoured of its consumer.2400
آنچنان که عاشقی بر زرق زار ** هست عاشق رزق هم بر رزق‌خوار
Exposition of the meaning of trust in God, (which is illustrated by) the Story of the ascetic who, making trial of his trust in God, abandoned his property and (native) town and went far away from the beaten tracks and thoroughfares of men to the foot of a remote and inaccessible mountain, (where) in extreme hunger he laid his head upon a stone and fell asleep, saying to himself, ‘I put trust in Thy providing the means (of livelihood) and daily bread; and I cut myself off from (all) means (secondary causes) in order that I may experience the causation of trust in God.’
در تقریر معنی توکل حکایت آن زاهد کی توکل را امتحان می‌کرد از میان اسباب و شهر برون آمد و از قوارع و ره‌گذر خلق دور شد و ببن کوهی مهجوری مفقودی در غایت گرسنگی سر بر سر سنگی نهاد و خفت و با خود گفت توکل کردم بر سبب‌سازی و رزاقی تو و از اسباب منقطع شدم تا ببینم سببیت توکل را
A certain ascetic had heard the saying of Mustafá (Mohammed) that the daily bread surely comes from God to the spirit,
آن یکی زاهد شنود از مصطفی ** که یقین آید به جان رزق از خدا
(And that), whether you will or no, your daily bread comes running to you because it is (so) fond of you.
گر بخواهی ور نخواهی رزق تو ** پیش تو آید دوان از عشق تو
By way of trial that man went into the desert and immediately lay down near a mountain,
از برای امتحان آن مرد رفت ** در بیابان نزد کوهی خفت تفت
Saying, ‘I will see whether the daily bread will come to me: (my object is) that my belief in the daily bread may become firm.’
که ببینم رزق می‌آید به من ** تا قوی گردد مرا در رزق ظن
A caravan lost its way and marched towards the mountain: (the travellers) saw lying (there) him who was making the trial.2405
کاروانی راه گم کرد و کشید ** سوی کوه آن ممتحن را خفته دید
(One) said (to another), ‘How is this man destitute here in the wilderness, far from road and town?
گفت این مرد این طرف چونست عور ** در بیابان از ره و از شهر دور
Oh, I wonder, is he dead or alive? (Evidently) he has no fear of wolves or enemies.’
ای عجب مرده‌ست یا زنده که او ** می‌نترسد هیچ از گرگ و عدو
They came on and touched him with their hands: that venerable man deliberately said nothing.
آمدند و دست بر وی می‌زدند ** قاصدا چیزی نگفت آن ارجمند
He did not stir, he did not even move his head or open his eyes, because he was making a trial.
هم نجنبید و نجنبانید سر ** وا نکرد از امتحان هم او بصر
Then they said, ‘This poor disappointed man has had a stroke of apoplexy caused by hunger.’2410
پس بگفتند این ضعیف بی‌مراد ** از مجاعت سکته اندر اوفتاد
They fetched bread and (also) food in a kettle, that they might pour it into his mouth and (down) his throat.
نان بیاوردند و در دیگی طعام ** تا بریزندش به حلقوم و به کام
Thereupon the man purposely clenched his teeth, in order to see (test) the truth of that promise.
پس بقاصد مرد دندان سخت کرد ** تا ببیند صدق آن میعاد مرد
They felt pity for him and said, ‘This man is starving and perishing with hunger and at the point of death’;
رحمشان آمد که این بس بی‌نواست ** وز مجاعت هالک مرگ و فناست
(So) they brought a knife and hastily made a rift in his closed teeth.
کارد آوردند قوم اشتافتند ** بسته دندانهاش را بشکافتند
They poured soup into his mouth and forced into it fragments of bread.2415