Chapter V: Story of the Archer and the Youth clothed in Felt
There dwelt in Ardbil, once, a man of strong thew,Who could pierce with his arrows a spade through and through.To fight him a man clothed in felt came from far—A strife-raising youth and promoter of war—He was like Bihram-Ghor, in his search for a fray;On his shoulder a noose of wild ass's skin lay.Fifty arrows of poplar he shot at this foe;Through the armour of felt not an arrow would go.Like the hero Dastan the brave youth joined the fight;In the coil of his noose snared his enemy tight.To the door of his tent, in the camp-pitching ground,His hands to his neck, like a robber's, he bound.He slept not, from pride and from shame, all the night ;A slave shouted out from a tent, at daylight :"As the felt-clad one's prisoner, why are you here,Who can penetrate iron with arrows and spear ?"I have heard he wept blood, and thus said in reply :"Don't you know you can't live when the Fates bid you die?I am he who in using the sword and the dart,Could the tactics of war unto Rustam impart.When the arm of my fortune was strong in degree,A thick iron spade seemed like felt unto me.But now that good luck from my fingers has strayed,Felt in front of my shafts, is as good as a spade."When Death comes, a spear will pierce armour, indeed,But will not pierce a shirt, if it is not decreed.He who has the fell sabre of death at his rear,Will be nude, though his armour should triple appear.And should Fortune befriend and Time's aid he obtain,Though naked, he cannot by dagger be slain.The sage by his striving escaped not from fate,And the fool did not die from the rubbish he ate.
Words in this poem
- thew n.
- Manner; custom; habit; form of behavior; qualities of mind; disposition; specifically, good qualities; virtues.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- befriend v. t.
- To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter V: Story of the Archer and the Youth clothed in Felt 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 Archer and the Youth clothed in Felt, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/5-4.html, id L29655.
Form and metre
Chapter V: Story of the Archer and the Youth clothed in Felt is 32 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPP thewA · throughA · farB · warB · frayC · layC · foeD · goD · fightE · tightE · groundF · boundF · nightG · daylightG · hereH · spearH · replyI · dieI · dartJ · impartJ · degreeK · meK · strayedL · spadeL · indeedM · decreedM · rearN · appearN · obtainO · slainO · fateP · ateP
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There dwelt in Ardbil, once, a man of strong thew, | 11 | ··········· |
| Who could pierce with his arrows a spade through and through. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| To fight him a man clothed in felt came from far— | 12 | ······˘····· |
| A strife-raising youth and promoter of war— | 11 | ··/˘··˘/˘·· |
| He was like Bihram-Ghor, in his search for a fray; | 12 | ············ |
| On his shoulder a noose of wild ass's skin lay. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Fifty arrows of poplar he shot at this foe; | 12 | /˘/˘·/˘····· |
| Through the armour of felt not an arrow would go. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Like the hero Dastan the brave youth joined the fight; | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| In the coil of his noose snared his enemy tight. | 12 | ········/˘˘· |
| To the door of his tent, in the camp-pitching ground, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| His hands to his neck, like a robber's, he bound. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| He slept not, from pride and from shame, all the night ; | 11 | ··········· |
| A slave shouted out from a tent, at daylight : | 11 | ··/˘·····/· |
| "As the felt-clad one's prisoner, why are you here, | 12 | ·····/˘˘···· |
| Who can penetrate iron with arrows and spear ?" | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| I have heard he wept blood, and thus said in reply : | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| "Don't you know you can't live when the Fates bid you die? | 12 | ············ |
| I am he who in using the sword and the dart, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Could the tactics of war unto Rustam impart. | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| When the arm of my fortune was strong in degree, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| A thick iron spade seemed like felt unto me. | 12 | ··/˘··˘····· |
| But now that good luck from my fingers has strayed, | 12 | ·······/˘··˘ |
| Felt in front of my shafts, is as good as a spade." | 12 | ············ |
| When Death comes, a spear will pierce armour, indeed, | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| But will not pierce a shirt, if it is not decreed. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| He who has the fell sabre of death at his rear, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Will be nude, though his armour should triple appear. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| And should Fortune befriend and Time's aid he obtain, | 12 | ··/˘˘/····˘/ |
| Though naked, he cannot by dagger be slain. | 12 | ·/˘˘·˘/·/˘·· |
| The sage by his striving escaped not from fate, | 12 | ····/˘˘/˘··· |
| And the fool did not die from the rubbish he ate. | 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.