گفت عیسی چون شتابش کوفتی ** گفت ز آن رو که تو زو آشوفتی
Jesus said (to the lion), “How did you maul him so quickly?” The lion said, “Because thou wert troubled by him.”
گفت عیسی چون نخوردی خون مرد ** گفت در قسمت نبودم رزق خورد
Jesus asked, “How did not you drink the man’s blood?” “In the (Divine) dispensation ‘twas not granted to me to drink (it),” replied the lion.
ای بسا کس همچو آن شیر ژیان ** صید خود ناخورده رفته از جهان
Oh, many a one that like that raging lion has departed from the world without having eaten his prey!
قسمتش کاهی نه و حرصش چو کوه ** وجه نه و کرده تحصیل وجوه465
His (ordained portion is not (even) a straw, while his greed is as (great as) a mountain; he hat no means (of satisfying his desires), though he has gotten the (material) means.
ای میسر کرده بر ما در جهان ** سخره و بیگار ما را وارهان
O Thou who hast made it easy for us to do unrewarded and fruitless labour in the world, deliver us!
طعمه بنموده به ما و آن بوده شست ** آن چنان بنما به ما آن را که هست
To us it seems a (tempting) bait and ‘tis (really) a hook: show it to us even as it is.
گفت آن شیر ای مسیحا این شکار ** بود خالص از برای اعتبار
The lion said, “O Messiah, (my killing) this prey was merely for the purpose that warning might be taken (by others).
گر مرا روزی بدی اندر جهان ** خود چه کاراستی مرا با مردگان
Had there (still) been for me in the world an allotted portion (of food), what business indeed should I have had with the dead?”
این سزای آن که یابد آب صاف ** همچو خر در جو بمیزد از گزاف470
This is the punishment deserved by him that finds pure water, and like an ass stales impertinently in the stream.
گر بداند قیمت آن جوی خر ** او بجای پا نهد در جوی سر
If the ass know the value of the stream, instead of his foot he will pull his head in it.