Chapter V: Story of the Beggar and his Wife
A fortunate person, whose name was Bakhtyar,]Was exalted in rank and had wealth on a par.He alone possessed money and stores in the place ;All the others were poor and showed grief in their face.A woman presumed with her husband to fight,Because he came home empty-handed at night."Like you," she exclaimed, "there's no poor, blighted thing!Like the wasp, you are only possessed of a sting!From your neighbours some manliness try to acquire !For at any rate, I'm not a wife without hire.Gold and silver and property others possess;Why don't you, like them, smiling Fortune caress?"The pure-hearted man in a woollen robe dressed,Like a drum, brought a cry from his desolate breast :"No power have I over things that exist;With your fingers, the strong hand of Fate do not twist !On my hand of selecting, the Fates placed a bar,Else I'd have created myself a Bakhtyar."
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- manliness n.
- The quality or state of being manly.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter V: Story of the Beggar and his Wife 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 Beggar and his Wife, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/5-9.html, id L29660.
Form and metre
Chapter V: Story of the Beggar and his Wife is 18 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHAA bakhtyarA · parA · placeB · faceB · fightC · nightC · thingD · stingD · acquireE · hireE · possessF · caressF · dressedG · breastG · existH · twistH · barA · bakhtyarA
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 fortunate person, whose name was Bakhtyar,] | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| Was exalted in rank and had wealth on a par. | 12 | ·˘/˘········ |
| He alone possessed money and stores in the place ; | 12 | ·˘/˘//˘····· |
| All the others were poor and showed grief in their face. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| A woman presumed with her husband to fight, | 11 | ·/˘˘/··/˘·· |
| Because he came home empty-handed at night. | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| "Like you," she exclaimed, "there's no poor, blighted thing! | 11 | ···˘/···/˘· |
| Like the wasp, you are only possessed of a sting! | 12 | ·····/˘˘/··· |
| From your neighbours some manliness try to acquire ! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘˘··˘/ |
| For at any rate, I'm not a wife without hire. | 12 | ··/˘·······/ |
| Gold and silver and property others possess; | 11 | ··/˘·/˘/˘˘/ |
| Why don't you, like them, smiling Fortune caress?" | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘/ |
| The pure-hearted man in a woollen robe dressed, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| Like a drum, brought a cry from his desolate breast : | 11 | ········/˘· |
| "No power have I over things that exist; | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| With your fingers, the strong hand of Fate do not twist ! | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| On my hand of selecting, the Fates placed a bar, | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| Else I'd have created myself a Bakhtyar." | 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.