English
The Tale of Hatim the Deaf
Some of the eloquent claim that Hatim was truly deaf; don't believe it.
One morning came the buzzing of a fly that had fallen into a spider's web.
The spider's weakness and stillness were all a trick; the fly mistook the trap for sugar.
The wise old man looked on with meaning and said: You who are bound by greed, watch your step.
Not everywhere there is sugar, honey, and candy is safe; in the corners lurk the trapper and his snare.
One of that circle of thoughtful men said: I'm amazed at you, man of God's path.
How did you make out the fly's cry, which barely reached our own ears?
You caught the sound of a fly; from now on it isn't right to call you deaf.
Smiling, he said: O sharp-witted one, better to be deaf than to hear empty talk.
Those who sit with me in private conceal my faults and heap on praise.
By hiding my low character, they leave my whole being sunk, my nature debased.
So I pretend that I can't hear, hoping to be freed from their flattery.
When my companions think me hard of hearing, they'll tell me my good and bad, all as it is.
If hearing my faults displeases me, I'll pull back my skirt from doing wrong.
Don't lean on the rope of praise; be like Hatim the deaf, and listen to your faults.