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
Go, behold the foxy tricks played by the hare; behold the cunning of the hare and how he overthrew the lion.
رو تو روبه بازی خرگوش بین ** مکر و شیر اندازی خرگوش بین
Knowledge is the seal of the kingdom of Solomon: the whole world is form, and knowledge is the spirit.1030
خاتم ملک سلیمان است علم ** جمله عالم صورت و جان است علم
Because of this virtue, the creatures of the seas and those of mountain and plain are helpless before man.
آدمی را زین هنر بی‌‌چاره گشت ** خلق دریاها و خلق کوه و دشت
Of him the pard and lion are afraid, like the mouse; from him the leviathan and the sea are in pallor and agitation.
زو پلنگ و شیر ترسان همچو موش ** زو نهنگ و بحر در صفرا و جوش
From him peri and demon took to the shores (sought refuge): each took abode in some hiding-place.
زو پری و دیو ساحلها گرفت ** هر یکی در جای پنهان جا گرفت
Man hath many a secret enemy: the cautious man is a wise one.
آدمی را دشمن پنهان بسی است ** آدمی با حذر عاقل کسی است
(There are) hidden creatures, evil and good: at every instant their blows are striking on the heart.1035
خلق پنهان زشتشان و خوبشان ** می‌‌زند در دل بهر دم کوبشان
If you go into the river to wash yourself, a thorn in the water inflicts a hurt upon you.
بهر غسل ار در روی در جویبار ** بر تو آسیبی زند در آب خار
Although the thorn is hidden low in the water, you know it is there, since it is pricking you.
گر چه پنهان خار در آب است پست ** چون که در تو می‌‌خلد دانی که هست
The pricks of (angelic) inspirations and (satanic) temptations are from thousands of beings, not (only) from one.
خار خار وحیها و وسوسه ** از هزاران کس بود نی یک کسه
Wait (patiently) for your (bodily) senses to be transmuted, so that you may see them (the hidden beings), and the difficulty may be solved,
باش تا حسهای تو مبدل شود ** تا ببینیشان و مشکل حل شود
So that (you may see) whose words you have rejected and whom you have made your captain.1040
تا سخنهای کیان رد کرده‌‌ای ** تا کیان را سرور خود کرده‌‌ای
How the beasts requested the hare to tell the secret of his thought.
باز طلبیدن نخجیران از خرگوش سر اندیشه‌‌ی او را
Afterwards they said, “O nimble hare, communicate what is in thy apprehension.
بعد از آن گفتند کای خرگوش چست ** در میان آر آن چه در ادراک تست
O thou who hast grappled with a lion, declare the plan which thou hast thought of.
ای که با شیری تو در پیچیده‌‌ای ** باز گو رایی که اندیشیده‌‌ای
Counsel gives perception and understanding: the mind is helped by (other) minds.
مشورت ادراک و هشیاری دهد ** عقلها مر عقل را یاری دهد
The Prophet said, ‘O adviser, take counsel (with the trustworthy), for he whose counsel is sought is trusted.’”
گفت پیغمبر بکن ای رایزن ** مشورت کالمستشار موتمن
How the hare withheld the secret from them.
منع کردن خرگوش راز را از ایشان
He said, “One ought not to say forth every secret: sometimes the even number turns out to be odd, and sometimes the odd number to be even.”1045
گفت هر رازی نشاید باز گفت ** جفت طاق آید گهی گه طاق جفت
If from guilelessness you breathe words to a mirror, the mirror at once becomes dim to us.
از صفا گر دم زنی با آینه ** تیره گردد زود با ما آینه
Do not move your lip in explanation of these three things, (namely) concerning your departure and your gold and your religion;
در بیان این سه کم جنبان لبت ** از ذهاب و از ذهب وز مذهبت
For to these three there is many an adversary and foe standing in wait for you when he knows (about any of them).
کین سه را خصم است بسیار و عدو ** در کمینت ایستد چون داند او
And if you tell (only) one or two (a few people), farewell (to your secret): every secret that goes beyond the twain (who share it) is published abroad.
ور بگویی با یکی دو الوداع ** کل سر جاوز الاثنین شاع
If you tie two or three birds together, they will remain on the ground, imprisoned by grief;1050
گر دو سه پرنده را بندی به هم ** بر زمین مانند محبوس از الم
(But in truth) they hold a consultation well-disguised and mingled, in its (apparent) significance, with that which casts error (into the mind of any one who observes them).
مشورت دارند سرپوشیده خوب ** در کنایت با غلط افکن مشوب
(Similarly) the Prophet used to take counsel, (speaking) cryptically, and they (his companions) would answer him and (would be) without knowledge (of his real meaning).
مشورت کردی پیمبر بسته سر ** گفته ایشانش جواب و بی‌‌خبر
He would speak his opinion in a covert parable, in order that the adversary might not know foot from head.
در مثالی بسته گفتی رای را ** تا نداند خصم از سر پای را
He (the Prophet) would receive his answer from him (the adversary), while the other would not catch the smell (drift) of his question.
او جواب خویش بگرفتی از او ** وز سؤالش می‌‌نبردی غیر بو