1877. The Prophet said, “Enmity (proceeding) from wisdom is better than the love that comes from a fool.”

How an Amír harassed a sleeping man into whose mouth a snake had gone.

1878. A wise man was riding along (at the moment when) a snake was going into the mouth of a man asleep.

1879. The rider saw that, and was hurrying to scare away the snake, (but) he got no chance (of doing so).

1880. Since he had an abundant supply of intelligence, he struck the sleeper several powerful blows with a mace.

1881. The strokes of the hard mace drove him in flight from him (the rider) to beneath a tree.

1882. There were many rotten apples which had dropped (from the tree): he said, “Eat of these, O you in the grip of pain!”

1883. He gave the man so many apples to eat that they were falling out of his mouth again.

1884. He was crying, “O Amír, pray, why have you set on me? What have I done to you?

1885. If you have an inveterate and mortal feud with me, strike with your sword and shed my blood at once.

1886. I'll-omened (was) the hour I came into your sight: oh, happy he that never saw your face!

1887. Without guilt, without sin, without (having done) anything great or small—(even) the heretics hold not such oppression allowable.

1888. Blood gushes from my mouth together with (my) words. O God, I beseech Thee, give him the retribution (which he deserves)!”

1889. Every instant he was uttering a new curse, (while) he (the rider) kept beating him and saying, “Run in this plain.”

1890. Blows of the mace, and the rider (swift) as the wind! He (therefore) went on running and (now and) again falling on his face.

1891. He was full-fed and sleepy and fatigued: his feet and face became (covered with) a hundred thousand wounds.

1892. Till nightfall he (the rider) drove (him) to and fro, until vomiting caused by bile overtook him.

1893. All the things he had eaten, bad or good, came up from him: the snake shot forth from him along with what he had eaten.

1894. When he saw the snake outside of him, he fell on his knees before that beneficent man.

1895. As soon as he saw the horror of that black, ugly, big snake, those griefs departed from him.

1896. “Truly,” said he, “you are the Gabriel of (Divine) mercy, or you are God, for you are the lord of bounty.

1897. Oh, blest (is) the hour that you saw me: I was dead, you have given me new life.

1898. You (were) seeking me like mothers (in search of their children); I (was) fleeing from you like asses.

1899. The ass flees from his master because of asininity; his owner (runs) after (him) because of good-nature.

1900. He seeks him, not on account of profit or loss, but in order that a wolf or (other) wild beast may not tear him.

1901. Oh, happy he that espies your face or suddenly lights upon your abode.

1902. O you whom the pure spirit hath praised, how many foolish and idle words have I spoken to you!

1903. O lord and emperor and amír, I spoke not, my folly spoke: do not punish that (offence).

1904. If I had known a tittle of this matter, how could I have spoken foolish words?

1905. I should have spoken much praise of you, O man of good qualities, if you had given me a single hint as to the (actual) case;

1906. But you, keeping silence, showed perturbation and silently continued to beat me on the head.

1907. My head became dizzy, the wits flew out of my head— especially as this head has (but) little brain.

1908. Pardon, O man of goodly countenance and goodly behaviour: let pass that which I said in frenzy.”

1909. He answered, “If I had uttered a hint of it, your gall would instantly have turned to water.

1910. Had I told you the qualities of the snake, terror would have made you give up the ghost.”

1911. Mustafá (Mohammed) said, ‘If I should tell aright the description of the enemy which is in your souls,

1912. The gall-bladders even of courageous men would burst: he (such a one) would neither go his way nor care for any work.

1913. Neither would there remain to his heart endurance in supplication, nor to his body strength for fasting and (ritual) prayer.

1914. He would become (good for) nothing as a mouse before a cat; he would be distraught as a lamb before a wolf.

1915. No power to plan or move would remain in him: therefore I tend you without speaking.

1923. “(If I had told you about the snake), you would not have been able to eat, nor would you have been capable of vomiting or cared (to do so).

1927. The man that had been delivered from woe was falling on his knees and saying, “O (thou who art) my bliss, O my fortune and treasure,

1944. Purge thy two eyes from the hair of defect, that thou mayst behold the garden and cypress-plot of the world unseen.

1945. Eject the phlegm from thy brain and nose, that the wind of God may come into the centres of thy (spiritual) sense of smell.

1950. And if thou art unable (to do that), fly to the Ka‘ba of (Divine) grace: lay thy helplessness before the Helper.

1951. Lamentation and weeping are a mighty stock-in-trade (resource); the Universal Mercy is the mightiest nurse (to comfort and cherish).

1952. The nurse and mother seeks a pretext (for giving relief): (she waits to see) when her child will begin to weep.

1953. He (God) created the child, (namely) your wants, in order that it might moan and that milk might (then) be produced for it.

1954. He said, “Call ye upon God!” Refrain not thou from lamentation, in order that the milk of His loving kindnesses may flow.

1955. The howling of the wind and the pouring forth of (rain like) milk from the cloud are for care of us: (have) patience one moment!

1956. Hast not thou heard (the text) “in the sky is your daily bread”? Wherefore hast thou stuck to this low place?

1958. Every call that draws thee upward. know that call has come from on high.

When the bear cried out for help against the dragon,

1970. When the bear cried out for help against the dragon, a valiant man rescued it from the (dragon's) claws.

1971. Cunning and courage gave support to each other: by this strength he slew the dragon.

1976. Accustom your eye to the light; if you are not a bat, look in that direction.

1977. Vision of the end is the sign of your (having the) light; the lust of the moment is in truth your (dark) grave.

1986. Your thought is the outward form, and his thought is the soul: your coin is false, and his coin is (pure as) the mine.

1987. You are (really) he: seek yourself in his “he” (personality). Say coo, coo: become a dove (flying) towards him.

1988. And if you are unwilling to serve the (holy) men of (human) kind, you are in the dragon's mouth, like the bear.

1990. As you have no strength, keep making a lamentation; since you are blind, take care, do not turn your head away from him that sees the road.

1991. You are less (worse) than the bear, (for) you are not wailing at the pain. The bear was freed from pain when it made an outcry.

Continuation of the story of the bear and of the fool who had put trust in its good faith.

2010. The bear, too, when it was delivered from the dragon and received such kindness from that brave man.

2011. Like the dog of the Men of the Cave, that poor bear became an attendant at the heels of him that bore the burden (of the fight with the dragon).

2012. That Moslem, from fatigue, laid down his head (to rest); the bear, from devotion (to him), became (his) guard.

2013. A certain man passed by and said to him, “What has happened? O brother, who is this bear (in relation) to you?”

2014. He recounted the adventure, and the story of the dragon. The other said, “Do not set your heart on a bear, O fool!

2015. The friendship of a fool is worse than (his) enmity: it (the bear) ought to be driven away by every means you know.”

2016. He (the man with the bear) said (to himself), “By God, he has said this from envy; otherwise,” (he said aloud), “why do you look at the bearishness (of the bear)?

2017. Behold this affection (which it has for me)!” “The affection of fools,” said the other, “is beguiling; this envy of mine is better than its (the bear's) affection.

2018. Hey, come with me and drive away this bear: do not choose the bear (as your friend), do not forsake one of your own kind!”

2019. “Go, go,” said he, “mind your own business, O envious man!” Said the other, “This was my business, and it was not your fortune (to follow my advice).

2020. I am not less than a bear, O noble sir: abandon it, in order that I may be your comrade.

2021. My heart is trembling with anxiety for you: do not go into a forest with a bear like this.

2022. This heart of mine has never trembled in vain; this is the Light of God, not pretence or idle brag.

2023. I am the true believer who has become seeing by the Light of God. Beware and beware! Flee from this fire-temple!”

2024. He said all this, and it entered not his ear: suspicion is a thick barrier to a man.

2025. He took his hand, and he (the man with the bear) withdrew his hand from him. The other said, “I will go, since you are not a well-guided friend.”

2026. “Go,” cried he; “be not troubled for me; don't carve (retail) so much wisdom, O meddlesome one!”

2027. He answered him, (saying), “I am not your enemy: it would be a kindness if you would come after me.”

2028. “I am sleepy,” said he; “let me alone, go!”

2029. He replied, “Pray, give in to your friend, So that you may sleep under the safeguard of a sage, under the protection of one loved (by God), a man of heart (spiritual insight).”

2030. The man was thrown by his (the other's) earnestness into a (groundless) fancy: he became angry and quickly averted his face,

2031. Thinking, “Mayhap this man has come to attack me—he is a murderer; or he has hope (of gain)—he is a beggar and a tout;

2032. Or he has wagered with his friends that he will make me afraid of this companion.”

2033. From the wickedness of his heart, not (even) one good surmise came into his thoughts at all.

2034. His good opinions were wholly for the bear: to be sure, he was of the same kind as the bear.

2035. Through currishness, he suspected a sage and deemed a bear affectionate and just.

Moses said to one drunken with (deluding) fancy, “O thou who thinkest evil because of (thy) unblessedness and perdition,

2037. Thou hast had a hundred suspicions concerning my prophethood, not with standing these proofs and this noble nature (which I have shown).

2038. Thou hast seen from me hundreds of thousands of miracles, (and all the time) a hundred fancies and doubts and (vain) opinions were growing in thee.

2039. Thou wert sorely pressed by fancy and devilish suggestion, thou wert sneering at my prophethood.

2040. I raised up dust from the sea before your eyes, so that ye might be delivered from the wickedness of the people of Pharaoh.

2041. During forty years the platter and tray (of food) came (to you) from heaven, and at my prayer the river ran from a rock.

2042. These (miracles) and a hundred times as many, and all these diverse (evidences), did not make that vain imagination fade away from thee, O cold (hard-hearted) man!

2043. Through sorcery a calf lowed; (then) thou didst fall to worship, saying, ‘Thou art my God.’

2044. (Then) those imaginations were swept away (as) by a flood, and thy silly shrewdness went to sleep.

2045. How wert not thou suspicious in regard to him (Sámirí)? Why didst thou lay thy head (on the ground) like that, O ugly one?

2046. How did no idea come to thee of his imposition and of the corruptness of his fool catching magic?

2047. Who, indeed, is a Sámirí, O ye curs, that he should hew up a God in the world?

2049. Is a cow (calf) worthy to be deified on (the strength of) a vain boast, (while there are) a hundred disputes as to the prophetic mission of one like me?

2050. Through asinine dullness thou didst cast thyself down in worship before a cow (calf); thy understanding fell a prey to Sámirí's magic.

2051. Thou didst steal thine eye away from the Light of the Glorious (God): here is plenteous folly for thee and the essence of perdition!

2062. While he that is ignorant (of God) and a stranger to His sorrow (love), how often has it been shown, and he has not seen it! 2063. The mirror of the heart must be clear, in order that you may know therein the ugly form from the beautiful.

How the man of sincere counsel, after having done his utmost in (the way of) admonition, took leave of him who was deluded by (his confidence in) the bear.

2064.That Moslem left the foolish man and quickly, saying Lá hawl under his lip (breath), went back (to his abode).

2066Therefore the road of admonition and counsel has become barred: the command, Turn aside from them, has arrived."

2067When your remedy increases the disease, then (leave him who will not be cured, and) tell your story to one that seeks (to hear the Truth). Read (the chapter of the Qur'an, which begins with the word) 'Abasa (he frowned):

2079 O Ahmad, here riches have no use; a breast is wanted, full of love and pain and sighs.

2080 The blind man of enlightened heart is come: do not shut the door; give him counsel, for counsel is his right.

Conclusion of the (story concerning the) trust of that deluded man in the fawningness of the bear.

2124 The man fell asleep, and the bear kept driving the flies away, but in spite of him they soon came back again.

2125 Several times he drove them from the youth's face, but soon they came hurrying back once more.

2126 The bear was enraged with the flies and went off. He picked up a very big stone from the mountain-side.

2127 He fetched the stone, and saw the flies again settled comfort- ably¹ on the face of the sleeper.

2128 He took up that millstone and struck at the flies, in order that they might retire.

2129 The stone made powder of the sleeping man's face, and published to the whole world this adage.

2130 "The love of a fool is for sure the love of a bear: his hate is love and his love is hate."