Chapter IV: Story of a Honey-seller
A charmer was selling his honey one day,So that hearts by his sweetness were burning away ;An idol with loins like the sugar-cane bound;The buyers more num'rous than flies stood around.If he, for example, could poison command,They'd have eaten it, honey-like, out of his handAn envier cast a long look at his trade,And envied the prosperous market he made.Next day he went round the wide world at a pace,With honey on's head and a vinegar face.He wandered, lamenting before and behind,But not even a fly to his honey inclined.At night, when he found that no money he earned,He sat in a corner with face much concerned—Visage soured, like a culprit's awaiting his doom ;Like prisoners' eyebrows on Eed-day, all gloom.A wife to her husband remarked with a smile :"To a sour visage honey seems bitter as bile.""Tis unlawful for you to partake of one's bread,Who wrinkles his brows, like a table-cloth spread.Act not harshly, oh master, regarding your own !For a spiteful man's fortune becomes overthrown.Gold and silver, I grant, are as nothing to you ;But you have not, like Sadi, a pleasant tongue, too.
Words in this poem
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- envier n.
- One who envies; one who desires inordinately what another possesses.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IV: Story of a Honey-seller 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 a Honey-seller, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/4-9.html, id L29630.
Form and metre
Chapter IV: Story of a Honey-seller 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 95%).
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 dayA · awayA · boundB · aroundB · commandC · handC · tradeD · madeD · paceE · faceE · behindF · inclinedF · earnedG · concernedG · doomH · gloomH · smileI · bileI · breadJ · spreadJ · ownK · overthrownK · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| A charmer was selling his honey one day, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| So that hearts by his sweetness were burning away ; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| An idol with loins like the sugar-cane bound; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| The buyers more num'rous than flies stood around. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| If he, for example, could poison command, | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| They'd have eaten it, honey-like, out of his hand | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| An envier cast a long look at his trade, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| And envied the prosperous market he made. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Next day he went round the wide world at a pace, | 11 | ··········· |
| With honey on's head and a vinegar face. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| He wandered, lamenting before and behind, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| But not even a fly to his honey inclined. | 11 | ··/····/˘˘/ |
| At night, when he found that no money he earned, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| He sat in a corner with face much concerned— | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| Visage soured, like a culprit's awaiting his doom ; | 12 | /˘/··/˘˘/˘·· |
| Like prisoners' eyebrows on Eed-day, all gloom. | 11 | ·/˘˘/······ |
| A wife to her husband remarked with a smile : | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| "To a sour visage honey seems bitter as bile." | 12 | ··//˘/˘·/˘·· |
| "Tis unlawful for you to partake of one's bread, | 12 | ·˘/˘···˘/··· |
| Who wrinkles his brows, like a table-cloth spread. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Act not harshly, oh master, regarding your own ! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| For a spiteful man's fortune becomes overthrown. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘/·˘/ |
| Gold and silver, I grant, are as nothing to you ; | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| But you have not, like Sadi, a pleasant tongue, too. | 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.