Chapter V: Story of the Camel and her Colt
The colt of a camel its mother addressedAfter trav'lling, " Oh, come ! for a time let us rest!"She replied, "If the halter had been in my sway,In the train 'neath a load none had seen me to-day."Wherever Fate wills she the vessel can bear,Though the Captain should tear all his clothes in despair.Oh Sadi! on others' hands cast not your eyes!For God is the giver and He should suffice.If you worship the Lord you need no other door;If He drive you away none will bid you come more.If He give you good luck, raise your head in the air!Go ! scratch, if He does not, the head of despair !
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter V: Story of the Camel and her Colt 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 V: Story of the Camel and her Colt, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/5-13.html, id L29664.
Form and metre
Chapter V: Story of the Camel and her Colt is 12 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 AABBCCDDEEFF addressedA · restA · swayB · dayB · bearC · despairC · eyesD · sufficeD · doorE · moreE · airF · despairF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The colt of a camel its mother addressed | 12 | ····/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| After trav'lling, " Oh, come ! for a time let us rest!" | 12 | ············ |
| She replied, "If the halter had been in my sway, | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| In the train 'neath a load none had seen me to-day." | 12 | ············ |
| Wherever Fate wills she the vessel can bear, | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Though the Captain should tear all his clothes in despair. | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| Oh Sadi! on others' hands cast not your eyes! | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| For God is the giver and He should suffice. | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| If you worship the Lord you need no other door; | 12 | ··/˘·····/˘· |
| If He drive you away none will bid you come more. | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| If He give you good luck, raise your head in the air! | 12 | ············ |
| Go ! scratch, if He does not, the head of despair ! | 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.