If a piece of timber break off from your house-roof and fall upon you and wound you severely,
گر ز سقف خانه چوبی بشکند ** بر تو افتد سخت مجروحت کند
Will you feel any anger against the timber of the roof? Will you ever devote yourself to taking vengeance upon it,
هیچ خشمی آیدت بر چوب سقف ** هیچ اندر کین او باشی تو وقف
(And say), ‘Why did it hit me and fracture my hand? It has been my mortal foe and enemy’?
که چرا بر من زد و دستم شکست ** او عدو و خصم جان من بدست
Why do you beat little children (when they do wrong), since (in theory) you make out that adults are exempt from blame?
کودکان خرد را چون میزنی ** چون بزرگان را منزه میکنی
(In the case of) a man who steals your property, you say (to the magistrate), ‘Arrest him, cut off his hand and foot, make him a captive’;3045
آنک دزدد مال تو گویی بگیر ** دست و پایش را ببر سازش اسیر
And (in the case of) a man who visits your wife, a hundred thousand angers shoot up from you.
وآنک قصد عورت تو میکند ** صد هزاران خشم از تو میدمد
(On the contrary), if a flood come and sweep away your household goods, will your reason bear any enmity towards the flood?
گر بیاید سیل و رخت تو برد ** هیچ با سیل آورد کینی خرد
And if the wind came and carried off your turban, when did your heart show any anger against the wind?
ور بیامد باد و دستارت ربود ** کی ترا با باد دل خشمی نمود
The anger within you is a clear demonstration of (the existence of) a power of choice (in Man), so that you must not excuse yourself after the fashion of Necessitarians.
خشم در تو شد بیان اختیار ** تا نگویی جبریانه اعتذار
If a camel-driver goes on striking a camel, the camel will attack the striker.3050
گر شتربان اشتری را میزند ** آن شتر قصد زننده میکند
The camel's anger is not (directed) against his stick: therefore the camel has got some notion of the power of choice (in Man).
خشم اشتر نیست با آن چوب او ** پس ز مختاری شتر بردست بو
Similarly a dog, if you throw a stone at him, will rush at you and become contorted (with fury).
همچنین سگ گر برو سنگی زنی ** بر تو آرد حمله گردد منثنی
If he seize the stone, ’tis because of his anger against you; for you are far off and he has no means of getting at you.
سنگ را گر گیرد از خشم توست ** که تو دوری و ندارد بر تو دست
Since the animal intelligence is conscious of the power of choice (in Man), do not thou, O human intelligence, hold this (Necessitarian doctrine). Be ashamed!
عقل حیوانی چو دانست اختیار ** این مگو ای عقل انسان شرم دار
This (power of choice) is manifest, but in his desire for the meal taken before dawn that (greedy) eater shuts his eyes to the light.3055
روشنست این لیکن از طمع سحور ** آن خورنده چشم میبندد ز نور
Since all his desire is for eating bread, he sets his face towards the darkness, saying, ‘It is not (yet) day.’
چونک کلی میل او نان خوردنیست ** رو به تاریکی نهد که روز نیست
Inasmuch as greed causes the sun to be hidden (from him), what wonder if he turn his back on the convincing proof?
حرص چون خورشید را پنهان کند ** چه عجب گر پشت بر برهان کند
A Story illustrating and confirming the view that mankind have the power of choice, and showing that Pre-ordination and Predestination do not annul the power of choice.
حکایت هم در بیان تقریر اختیار خلق و بیان آنک تقدیر و قضا سلب کنندهی اختیار نیست
A thief said to the magistrate, ‘O (my) king, that which I have done was decreed by God.’
گفت دزدی شحنه را کای پادشاه ** آنچ کردم بود آن حکم اله
The magistrate replied, ‘That which I am doing is also decreed by God, O light of my eyes.’
گفت شحنه آنچ من هم میکنم ** حکم حقست ای دو چشم روشنم
If any one take a radish from a (greengrocer's) shop, saying, ‘This is decreed by God, O man of understanding,’3060
از دکانی گر کسی تربی برد ** کین ز حکم ایزدست ای با خرد
You (the greengrocer) will give him two or three blows on the head with your fist, (as though to say), ‘O detestable man, this (beating) is God's decree that you put it (the radish) back here.’
بر سرش کوبی دو سه مشت ای کره ** حکم حقست این که اینجا باز نه
Since this excuse, O trifler, is not accepted (even) by a greengrocer in the case of (stealing) a single vegetable,
در یکی تره چو این عذر ای فضول ** مینیاید پیش بقالی قبول
How are you placing (such) a reliance on this excuse and frequenting the neighbourhood of (such) a dragon?
چون بدین عذر اعتمادی میکنی ** بر حوالی اژدهایی میتنی
By (making) an excuse like this, O ignoble simpleton, you sacrifice all—your life, your property, and your wife;
از چنین عذر ای سلیم نانبیل ** خون و مال و زن همه کردی سبیل
(For) afterwards every one will pluck your moustache and offer (the same) excuse and make himself out to be acting under compulsion.3065
هر کسی پس سبلت تو بر کند ** عذر آرد خویش را مضطر کند