Original content

English translation

Amr-e Leyth saw one of his soldiers mounted on a lean horse.

Upon this lean little horse whose frame has surely found no order Except from bones — the very substance of its composition. Like the donkey of Uzayr, its bones have come together, But flesh has not yet grown upon the bones.

A lean horse that, were you to search it, You would find no sign of flesh within it; From head to hoof, were you to dig into it, You would find nothing but skin upon bone.

He said: A curse upon my soldiers! For every dinar and dirham I gave them, they fattened the private parts of their women and let their mounts waste away from hunger. That man heard this and said: By God, O Amir, if you were to cast a discerning eye upon my wife's private part, you would reckon it leaner than the rump of my horse.

Amr laughed at this remark, bestowed upon him a worthy reward, and said: Go and fatten both of your mounts.

God gave you two mounts to bear your burden; Sometimes shift the load from that one onto this, and sometimes from this onto that. Make that mount for the night and this mount for the day; Drive this one beneath the saddle and that one beneath your thigh.