Chapter I: Story on Mercy to the Weak
To drink water is wrong should the law not permit ;And if blood you should shed by the law, it is fit.If the law should decide that 'tis proper to slay,Take care, that in killing no fear you display !If some of the criminal's household you know,Award to them freely, and comfort bestow!For the man who committed the crime is to blame ;What have wife and poor children done, meriting shame?Though your body be strong and your army be great,Do not march with your troops through an enemy's state !For he to a strong, lofty fortress will fly,And harm to the guiltless dominion comes nigh.Examine the men who in dungeons are bound !For among them an innocent man may be found.If a merchant should happen to die in your land,"Twould be meanness to lay on his riches a hand!For afterwards those who lament for him sore,His household and friends, will repeat o'er and o'er :—"This luckless one died in a far distant land,And his chattels were seized by the tyrant's mean hand."Let that fatherless child of your thoughts have a share !Of the sighs from his heart, full of anguish, beware!There are many good names with a fifty years' root,That one mention of evil will hurl under foot.Agreeable rulers, with permanent names,On the people's effects make no tyrannous claims.Should a man rule the world from the East to the West,And plunder the rich, he's a beggar at best.The generous man went, from poverty, hence ;He filled not his paunch at the pauper's expense.
Words in this poem
- award v. t.
- To give by sentence or judicial determination; to assign or apportion, after careful regard to the nature of the case; to adjudge; as, the arbitrators awarded damages to the complainant. [OF. eswarder to look at, consider, decide, judge; es (L. ex) + warder, garder, to observe, take heed, keep, fr. OHG. wart to watch, guard. See Ward.]
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- fatherless a.
- Destitute of a living father; as, a fatherless child.
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- tyrannous a.
- Tyrannical; arbitrary; unjustly severe; despotic. Sir P.
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- paunch n.
- The belly and its contents; the abdomen; also, the first stomach, or rumen, of ruminants. See Rumen. [OF. panch, pance, F. panse, L. pantex, panticis.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter I: Story on Mercy to the Weak is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Garden of Fragrance: being a complete translation of the Bostan of Sadi from the original Persian into English verse, by G. S. Davie (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1882), Internet Archive, the G. S. Davie translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Saadi, Chapter I: Story on Mercy to the Weak, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/1-9.html, id L29514.
Form and metre
Chapter I: Story on Mercy to the Weak is 30 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOO permitA · fitA · slayB · displayB · knowC · bestowC · blameD · shameD · greatE · stateE · flyF · nighF · boundG · foundG · landH · handH · soreI · o'erI · landJ · handJ · shareK · bewareK · rootL · footL · namesM · claimsM · westN · bestN · henceO · expenseO
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| To drink water is wrong should the law not permit ; | 12 | ··/˘······/· |
| And if blood you should shed by the law, it is fit. | 12 | ············ |
| If the law should decide that 'tis proper to slay, | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| Take care, that in killing no fear you display ! | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| If some of the criminal's household you know, | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| Award to them freely, and comfort bestow! | 11 | ˘/··/˘·/˘˘/ |
| For the man who committed the crime is to blame ; | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| What have wife and poor children done, meriting shame? | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Though your body be strong and your army be great, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Do not march with your troops through an enemy's state ! | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| For he to a strong, lofty fortress will fly, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| And harm to the guiltless dominion comes nigh. | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| Examine the men who in dungeons are bound ! | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| For among them an innocent man may be found. | 12 | ·····/˘˘···· |
| If a merchant should happen to die in your land, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| "Twould be meanness to lay on his riches a hand! | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| For afterwards those who lament for him sore, | 11 | ·/˘˘··˘/··· |
| His household and friends, will repeat o'er and o'er :— | 11 | ·/····˘/··· |
| "This luckless one died in a far distant land, | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| And his chattels were seized by the tyrant's mean hand." | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Let that fatherless child of your thoughts have a share ! | 12 | ··/˘˘······· |
| Of the sighs from his heart, full of anguish, beware! | 12 | ········/˘˘/ |
| There are many good names with a fifty years' root, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| That one mention of evil will hurl under foot. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Agreeable rulers, with permanent names, | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| On the people's effects make no tyrannous claims. | 12 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Should a man rule the world from the East to the West, | 12 | ············ |
| And plunder the rich, he's a beggar at best. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| The generous man went, from poverty, hence ; | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘· |
| He filled not his paunch at the pauper's expense. | 12 | ··˘·····/˘˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.