1. This is a strange happening
In the madness of the serpent and the malice of the scorpion

2. I saw a serpent, daughter of the Nile
Admiring her beautiful body

3. Scornful of advice and shunning the advisor
Claiming great mature wisdom

4. A house lizard attacked her
Carrying the weight of its filth

5. And she deemed it, and reasonably so
A sorceress from the sorceresses of India

6. So it darted like a sharp sword
And the other rushed like a sliding arrow

7. Until when it brought her to her burrow
It circled her like a bracelet in its orbit

8. Saying: O mother of blindness and recklessness
Where can you flee, O enemy of life?

9. If you enter, death awaits in the entering
If you exit, ruin awaits in the exiting

10. So the hunted of homes fell silent
And the serpent was fooled by this silence

11. And slept a sleep on the road
But its enemy quickly emerged

12. And rose at the peak of fury
And unleashed the agony of its sting

13. So she awoke like a terrified dreamer
Shrieking with woe and ruin

14. Until the strength of the young woman weakened
And the enemy descended from her head

15. Saying: Patience for the test, patience
And if you find it harsh, excuse it

16. For your head is the disease, and this is the cure
And so must enemies be ridden

17. Whoever spares an opponent and sleeps from him
Awakens to find what I found from him

18. If not for those with experience who saw
What malice lies in me, the scorpion