Chapter III: Story of a Duty-knowing Man
In a city of Syria a tumult began ;They had put into bonds a good-natured, old man.That saying of his—in my ears still remains—When they fastened his hands and his ankles in chains:"If the Sultan," he said, " does not furnish the sign,What person can me to destruction consign ?It is proper to treat as a friend such a foe,For the Friend has despatched him to hurt me, I know.Be it honour and rank or if bonds and disgrace,From God I'll acknowledge it, not Adam's race !About your disease, oh wise man ! do not quake !When the Doctor sends drugs that are bitter, to take.All that comes from the hand of the 'Friend', then, endure !A patient's not skilled, like a doctor, to cure."
Words in this poem
- consign v. i.
- To submit; to surrender or yield one's self.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter III: Story of a Duty-knowing Man 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 III: Story of a Duty-knowing Man, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/3-24.html, id L29616.
Form and metre
Chapter III: Story of a Duty-knowing Man 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 92%).
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 beganA · manA · remainsB · chainsB · signC · consignC · foeD · knowD · disgraceE · raceE · quakeF · takeF · endureG · cureG
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 city of Syria a tumult began ; | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| They had put into bonds a good-natured, old man. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| That saying of his—in my ears still remains— | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| When they fastened his hands and his ankles in chains: | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| "If the Sultan," he said, " does not furnish the sign, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| What person can me to destruction consign ? | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘/ |
| It is proper to treat as a friend such a foe, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| For the Friend has despatched him to hurt me, I know. | 12 | ············ |
| Be it honour and rank or if bonds and disgrace, | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| From God I'll acknowledge it, not Adam's race ! | 11 | ···˘/˘··/˘· |
| About your disease, oh wise man ! do not quake ! | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| When the Doctor sends drugs that are bitter, to take. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| All that comes from the hand of the 'Friend', then, endure ! | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| A patient's not skilled, like a doctor, to cure." | 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.