1. I mount my horse seeking battle,
Galloping with the riders.

2. I was granted a mule, fully responsible for it,
Yet the best of its traits was exceeding responsibility.

3. I saw its flaws multiply and rise,
And if I were to devote my efforts to describe them,

4. My speech and others’ would be counted
As ten of its traits, the worst of traits.

5. The least of its flaws is that when
I dismount and say “Walk, do not hesitate,”

6. It stands up and does not move when hurried
And it kicks me and starts fighting me.

7. And if I ride it, I hurt myself
Striking with my right and my left

8. And with both my legs I spur it on completely
So woe to you in misery and exhaustion.

9. It is the training of an ignorant beast
From the Kurds, who love the diseased.

10. It curses and spits, restless
And snorts on the day of departure.

11. So he trained it with offensive manners—
May God reward him with the worst for my family—

12. When it disturbed me and took away my sleep
And my worries and work increased because of it,

13. I took it to the market to sell it, thinking
Constantly about how I would trick someone.

14. With the responsibility for some merchandise returned long ago
I would cover up its incurable disease.

15. While my thoughts wandered as I bargained
Debating whether to reduce the price or raise it,

16. There came to me a disappointed, stupid, miserable fool,
Long in loss and misguidance.

17. He said, “Are you selling it?” I said, “Tie it up,
For my price is not high.”

18. So he turned to me, laughing with joy
And said, “I see you are easygoing and beautiful.”

19. He deceived me in order to get me alone,
And the wretched man did not know with whom he was keeping company.

20. So I said forty, and he said, “Do me a favor,
Someone like you, who is argumentative.”

21. “I’ll deduct five from it because I know
What would happen and lead to ruin.”

22. When he bought it from me conclusively,
With a deal that allowed no refusal,

23. I grabbed him by his cloak and absolved myself of
What I intended to do with those evil traits.

24. I absolved myself, my Lord, of an old goat skin,
Of a rat, of torn covers,

25. Of excessive neighing, of mischief,
Of weak hooves, of loins,

26. Of the huge rupture in its belly,
Of its hobble, and of the broken girth,

27. Of the bite of its tongue, beware of a digger
If your companions intend to depart,

28. And of the knot in its tongue, and the whiteness
In its eyes, and of the slipping of the ropes,

29. And the strong hobble that stays with it
And the destruction of the feed bags and the knee pads.

30. And of the severity of its bite and the impetuousness
When your companions want to move camp,

31. Its skin breaks out in scabs and mange
When teased, even without emaciation.

32. It has a gait smoother than the creeping of ants
And it stumbles from following coughs.

33. It always casts off its packsaddle askew
And falls down into holes and sands.

34. It is emaciated by mange when we settle down
And its back is rubbed by the covers’ chafing.

35. It remains lame in one leg from that,
Making you fear swelling of its spleen.

36. It farts forty times when we stop
Before the gathering places to ask for charity,

37. Silencing my speech and preventing me
From speaking to them as it continues.

38. Its cleverness has wearied me
And the vet who hobbles it with shackles—

39. A stud when you ride it to town,
A runaway when you intend to battle,

40. A wolf when you bring it near the packsaddle,
A lion during the clanging of swords,

41. A stalwart if you want it early in the morning,
A deserter during the needs of travel,

42. I have a thousand sticks and whips
More delicious to it than fresh drinking water,

43. It is terrified for a month by the roosters’ crowing
And is panicked by whistling and imagination.

44. If you hurry it, it stumbles and is incontinent,
And stands for an hour at the refuse pile.

45. It has projecting nostrils that bring forward
Every packsaddle, placing them on its rump.

46. It strains when standing if we stop
Like a female mule in the perished state.

47. It would strain even walking on pebbles
And even walking on sandy soil,

48. And if you gathered from here and there
Loads the size of mountains,

49. As for fuel, bring a thousand loads
Like the greatest burden on a camel’s back,

50. For you will not be feeding it for three days
And you will have firewood for kindling.

51. And if it is thirsty, water it at Dujayl
Whether you water it or the streams of Bilal,

52. For the watering places have run dry for its watering, it was given boiling water,
And even if the Euphrates overflowed, it is for saplings.

53. It was a rebel in the days of Kisra
And it remembers Tubba during the harvest season.

54. It had rebelled when Luqman the wise
And Dhu al-Aktāf were on the holy pilgrimages

55. It had perished while Nu’man was a boy
Before those nights had ended,

56. It remembers Bahram Gur arising
And his governor over the districts,

57. Many generations have worn it out
And its day was postponed for the loss of my money.

58. So change it for me, O Lord, for a mule
That will adorn my mount with beauty,

59. A generous one when its parents are attributed
To the generosity of its pedigree among mules.