Chapter II: Story on the Fruits of Well-doing
In a dream Khojand's chief saw a person out-rootA thorn, that had stuck in an orphan boy's foot.He was saying—and strutting in Paradise, free :—" What roses have grown from that thorn over me?"While you can, from the practice of mercy don't go !For on you they'll have mercy, if mercy you show.When you do one a favour, don't swell with conceit!Saying, "I am supreme with all else at my feet !"If the sword of his Time has been driven beneath,Is the dread sword of Time not still out of its sheath?When a thousand men blessing your fortune, you see,To God, for His gifts, let your thankfulness be!For with hope fixed on you, a vast multitude stand ;And you are not hopeful at any one's hand.Liberality's special to kings, I've expressed ;I've said wrong; it's a nature by prophets possessed.
Words in this poem
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- hopeful a.
- Full of hope, or agreeable expectation; inclined to hope; expectant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter II: Story on the Fruits of Well-doing 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 on the Fruits of Well-doing, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/2-3.html, id L29560.
Form and metre
Chapter II: Story on the Fruits of Well-doing is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH rootA · footA · freeB · meB · goC · showC · conceitD · feetD · beneathE · sheathE · seeF · beF · standG · handG · expressedH · possessedH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In a dream Khojand's chief saw a person out-root | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| A thorn, that had stuck in an orphan boy's foot. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| He was saying—and strutting in Paradise, free :— | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| " What roses have grown from that thorn over me?" | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| While you can, from the practice of mercy don't go ! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| For on you they'll have mercy, if mercy you show. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| When you do one a favour, don't swell with conceit! | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| Saying, "I am supreme with all else at my feet !" | 12 | /˘··˘/······ |
| If the sword of his Time has been driven beneath, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Is the dread sword of Time not still out of its sheath? | 12 | ············ |
| When a thousand men blessing your fortune, you see, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| To God, for His gifts, let your thankfulness be! | 11 | ··········· |
| For with hope fixed on you, a vast multitude stand ; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And you are not hopeful at any one's hand. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Liberality's special to kings, I've expressed ; | 12 | ·˘/˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| I've said wrong; it's a nature by prophets possessed. | 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.