Chapter X: Story of the Ugly Man's astonishing Reply
A man called a dark-coloured person a fright,And received a reply that astonished him quite:"No hand in portraying my features, I had,That fault you should find, saying, 'I have done bad.'What business have you with my beautiless face?I'm at least not the painter of wildness and grace."Than what on my head Thou hast written before,Oh Protector of Slaves ! I've not done less nor more.Thou, at least, art aware that no strength shows in me;Thy power is absolute, who may I be?To safety I'll reach, if Thou show me the way ;On the road I'll be left, if Thou lead me astray.Creator of Earth ! if Thou do not befriend,When will Thy poor servant to continence tend?
Words in this poem
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- beautiless a.
- Destitute of beauty. Hammond.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- befriend v. t.
- To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
- continence n.
- Self-restraint; self-command. [F. continence, L. continentia. See Continent, and cf. Countenance.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter X: Story of the Ugly Man's astonishing Reply 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 X: Story of the Ugly Man's astonishing Reply, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/10-3.html, id L29762.
Form and metre
Chapter X: Story of the Ugly Man's astonishing Reply is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG frightA · quiteA · hadB · badB · faceC · graceC · beforeD · moreD · meE · beE · wayF · astrayF · befriendG · tendG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A man called a dark-coloured person a fright, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| And received a reply that astonished him quite: | 12 | ·˘/·˘/·˘/˘·· |
| "No hand in portraying my features, I had, | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| That fault you should find, saying, 'I have done bad.' | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| What business have you with my beautiless face? | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| I'm at least not the painter of wildness and grace." | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Than what on my head Thou hast written before, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Oh Protector of Slaves ! I've not done less nor more. | 12 | ·˘/˘········ |
| Thou, at least, art aware that no strength shows in me; | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| Thy power is absolute, who may I be? | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| To safety I'll reach, if Thou show me the way ; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| On the road I'll be left, if Thou lead me astray. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Creator of Earth ! if Thou do not befriend, | 11 | ˘/˘······˘/ |
| When will Thy poor servant to continence tend? | 11 | ····/˘····· |
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.