’There was once, of old time, a hawk who made himself a nest hard by that of a locust, and the latter gloried in his neighbourhood and betaking herself to him, saluted him and said, “O my lord and chief of the birds, indeed the nearness unto thee delighteth me and thou honourest me with thy neighbourhood and my soul is fortified with thee.”  The hawk thanked her for this and there ensued friendship between them.  One day, the locust said to the hawk, “O chief of the birds, how cometh it that I see thee alone, solitary, having with thee no friend of thy kind of the birds, to whom thou mayst incline in time of easance and of whom thou mayst seek succour in time of stress?  Indeed, it is said, ’Man goeth about seeking the ease of his body and the preservation of his strength, and in this there is nought more necessary to him than a friend who shall be the completion of his gladness and the mainstay of his life and on whom shall be his dependence in his stress and in his ease.’  Now I, albeit I ardently desire thy weal in that which beseemeth thy condition, yet am I weak [and unable] unto that which the soul craveth; but, if thou wilt give me leave, I will seek out for thee one of the birds who shall be conformable unto thee in thy body and thy strength.”  And the hawk said, “I commit this to thee and rely upon thee therein.”

Therewithal, O my brother, the locust fell to going round about among the company of the birds, but saw nought resembling the hawk in bulk and body save the kite and deemed well of her.  So she brought the hawk and the kite together and counselled the former to make friends with the latter.  Now it chanced that the hawk fell sick and the kite abode with him a long while [and tended him] till he recovered and became whole and strong; wherefore he thanked her [and she departed from him].  But after awhile the hawk’s sickness returned to him and he needed the kite’s succour.  So the locust went out from him and was absent from him a day, after which she returned to him with a[nother] locust, [FN#53] saying, “I have brought thee this one.”  When the hawk saw her, he said, “God requite thee with good!  Indeed, thou hast done well in the quest and hast been subtle in the choice.”

All this, O my brother,’ continued the merchant, ’befell because the locust had no knowledge of the secret essence that lieth hid in apparent bodies.  As for thee, O my brother, (may God requite thee with good!) thou wast subtle in device and usedst precaution; but precaution sufficeth not against fate, and fortune fore-ordained baffleth contrivance.  How excellent is the saying of the poet!  And he recited the following verses: 

It chances whiles that the blind man escapes a pit, Whilst he who
     is clear of sight falls into it. 
The ignorant man may speak with impunity A word that is death to
     the wise and the ripe of wit. 
The true believer is pinched for his daily bread, Whilst infidel
     rogues enjoy all benefit. 
Where is a man’s resource and what can he do?  It is the
     Almighty’s will; we most submit.