How the lion punished the wolf who had shown disrespect in dividing (the prey).
That haughty one tore off the head of the wolf, in order that two-headedness (dualism) and distinction might not remain (in being).
’Tis (the meaning of) So we took vengeance on them, O old wolf, inasmuch as thou wert not dead in the presence of the Amír.
After that, the lion turned to the fox and said, “Divide it (the prey) for breakfast.”
He bowed low and said, “This fat ox will be thy food at breakfast, O excellent King,
And this goat will be a portion reserved for the victorious King at midday,
And the hare too for supper—(to be) the repast at nightfall of the gracious and bountiful King.”
Said the lion, “O fox, thou hast made justice shine forth: from whom didst thou learn to divide in such a manner?
Whence didst thou learn this, O eminent one?” “O King of the world,” he replied, “(I learned it) from the fate of the wolf.”
The lion said, “Inasmuch as thou hast become pledged to love of me, pick up all the three (animals), and take (them) and depart.
O fox, since thou hast become entirely mine, how should I hurt thee when thou hast become myself?
I am thine, and all the beasts of chase are thine: set thy foot on the Seventh Heaven and mount (beyond)!
Since thou hast taken warning from (the fate of) the vile wolf, thou art not a fox: thou art my own lion.
The wise man is he that in (the hour of) the shunned tribulation takes warning from the death of his friends.”
The fox said (to himself), “A hundred thanks to the lion for having called me up after that wolf.
If he had bidden me first, saying, ‘Do thou divide this,’ who would have escaped from him with his life?”
Thanks be to Him (God), then, that He caused us to appear (be born) in the world after those of old,
So that we heard of the chastisements which God inflicted upon the past generations in the preceding time,
That we, like the fox, may keep better watch over ourselves from (considering) the fate of those ancient wolves.
On this account he that is God's prophet and veracious in explanation called us “a people on which God has taken mercy.”
Behold with clear vision the bones and fur of those wolves, and take warning, O mighty ones!
The wise man will put off from his head (lay aside) this self-existence and wind (of vanity), since he heard (what was) the end of the Pharaohs and ‘Ád;
And if he do not put it off, others will take warning from what befell him in consequence of his being misguided.
