Chapter IV: Story of Bahlul and the Grumbler
How well spoke Bahlul, ever happy in mood,When he passed by a grumbler who thought himself good :"If this claimant had known aught concerning the ' Friend,He would not have dared with the foe to contend.If regarding the presence of God he knew aught,He'd have reckoned the whole of the creatures as naught.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- grumbler n.
- One who grumbles.
- claimant n.
- One who claims; one who asserts a right or title; a claimer. [Cf. OF. clamant, p. pr. of clamer. Cf.Clamant.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IV: Story of Bahlul and the Grumbler 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 IV: Story of Bahlul and the Grumbler, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/4-22.html, id L29643.
Form and metre
Chapter IV: Story of Bahlul and the Grumbler is 6 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 --AABB mood · good · friendA · contendA · aughtB · naughtB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How well spoke Bahlul, ever happy in mood, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| When he passed by a grumbler who thought himself good : | 12 | ·····/˘··˘/· |
| "If this claimant had known aught concerning the ' Friend, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| He would not have dared with the foe to contend. | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| If regarding the presence of God he knew aught, | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘····· |
| He'd have reckoned the whole of the creatures as naught. | 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.