Chapter II: Story of Shibli and the Ant
To a virtue of one of the pious give ear,If you're pious yourself, and your conduct is clear :When Shibli, the saint, from a wheat-seller's store,To his thorp, on his shoulder, a bag of wheat bore ;He looked, and an ant in the wheat caught his eye,Which hither and thither, bewildered, did hie.In grief at its state, he all night kept awake—He carried it back to its dwelling, and spake :—"It is far from humane that this ant, forced to roam,I should cause to be wretched, away from its home."Keep tranquil the people distracted in heart,So that Fortune to you may composure impart!How well spoke Fardusi, of origin pure,(On his sanctified tomb may God's mercy endure),"The ant that bears grain, you ought not to oppress!It has life, and sweet life is a joy to possess !"He's a merciless man, and hard-hearted, at best,Who harbours the wish that an ant be distressedWith the hand of oppression, the weak, do not beat!For ant-like, one day, you may fall at their feet.For the moth's state, the candle all sympathy spurned ;Before the assembly, observe how it burned !I admit there are many more feeble than you ;Than you, at least One is more puissant, too.
Words in this poem
- thorp n.
- A group of houses in the country; a small village; a hamlet; a dorp; -- now chiefly occurring in names of places and persons; as, Althorp, Mablethorpe. [AS. þorp; akin to OS. & OFries. thorp, D. dorp, G. dorf, Icel. þorp, Dan. torp, Sw. torp a cottage, a little farm, Goth. þaúrp a field, and probably to Lith. tr]
- humane a.
- Pertaining to man; human. Jer. Taylor. [L. humanus: cf. F. humain. See Human.]
- composure n.
- The act of composing, or that which is composed; a composition. [From Compose.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- sanctified a.
- Made holy; also, made to have the air of sanctity; sanctimonious.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- puissant a.
- Powerful; strong; mighty; forcible; as, a puissant prince or empire. [F., originally, a p. pr. formed fr. L. posse to be able: cf. L. potens powerful. See Potent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Story of Shibli and the Ant 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 II: Story of Shibli and the Ant, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-16.html, id L29573.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Story of Shibli and the Ant is 24 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL earA · clearA · storeB · boreB · eyeC · hieC · awakeD · spakeD · roamE · homeE · heartF · impartF · pureG · endureG · oppressH · possessH · bestI · distressedI · beatJ · feetJ · spurnedK · burnedK · youL · tooL
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 a virtue of one of the pious give ear, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| If you're pious yourself, and your conduct is clear : | 12 | ··/˘˘/··˘/·· |
| When Shibli, the saint, from a wheat-seller's store, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| To his thorp, on his shoulder, a bag of wheat bore ; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| He looked, and an ant in the wheat caught his eye, | 12 | ··˘········· |
| Which hither and thither, bewildered, did hie. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘˘·· |
| In grief at its state, he all night kept awake— | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| He carried it back to its dwelling, and spake :— | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| "It is far from humane that this ant, forced to roam, | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| I should cause to be wretched, away from its home." | 12 | ·····/˘˘/··· |
| Keep tranquil the people distracted in heart, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| So that Fortune to you may composure impart! | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘/ |
| How well spoke Fardusi, of origin pure, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| (On his sanctified tomb may God's mercy endure), | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘˘/ |
| "The ant that bears grain, you ought not to oppress! | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| It has life, and sweet life is a joy to possess !" | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| He's a merciless man, and hard-hearted, at best, | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘·· |
| Who harbours the wish that an ant be distressed | 12 | ·/˘······˘/˘ |
| With the hand of oppression, the weak, do not beat! | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| For ant-like, one day, you may fall at their feet. | 11 | ··········· |
| For the moth's state, the candle all sympathy spurned ; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Before the assembly, observe how it burned ! | 12 | ···˘/˘˘/···˘ |
| I admit there are many more feeble than you ; | 12 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘·· |
| Than you, at least One is more puissant, too. | 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.