Chapter VI: Story of the Haji's Ivory Comb
A Haji once gave me an ivory comb ;(Mercy rest on the virtues of Hajis, who roam !)I had heard that he dared once to call me a dog;For at something I said, was his mind set agog."This bone," I said—casting the comb on the ground—"Does not suit me ! henceforth do not call me a hound!If I drink my own vinegar, do not suppose,That I care to endure the confectioner's blows !"Let a little, oh spirit, your wish satisfy !That the Sultan and beggar as one, you may spy !In front of a monarch, your wishes, why bring?When you've set aside greed, you yourself are a king !If you worship yourself, make your stomach a gong !And pray at each door, as you travel along.
Words in this poem
- agog a.
- In eager desire; eager; astir. [Cf. F. gogue fun, perhaps of Celtic origin.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- greed n.
- An eager desire or longing; greediness; as, a greed of gain. [Akin to Goth. grdus hunger, Icel. graedhr. sq. root34. See Greedy.]
- gong n.
- A privy or jakes. Chaucer. Gong farmer, Gong man, a cleaner of privies. [AS. gong, gang, a going, passage, drain. See Gang.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VI: Story of the Haji's Ivory Comb 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 VI: Story of the Haji's Ivory Comb, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/6-2.html, id L29669.
Form and metre
Chapter VI: Story of the Haji's Ivory Comb is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG combA · roamA · dogB · agogB · groundC · houndC · supposeD · blowsD · satisfyE · spyE · bringF · kingF · gongG · alongG
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 Haji once gave me an ivory comb ; | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| (Mercy rest on the virtues of Hajis, who roam !) | 12 | /˘···/˘····· |
| I had heard that he dared once to call me a dog; | 12 | ············ |
| For at something I said, was his mind set agog. | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| "This bone," I said—casting the comb on the ground— | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| "Does not suit me ! henceforth do not call me a hound! | 12 | ····//······ |
| If I drink my own vinegar, do not suppose, | 12 | ·····/˘˘··˘/ |
| That I care to endure the confectioner's blows !" | 12 | ····˘/·˘/˘˘· |
| Let a little, oh spirit, your wish satisfy ! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| That the Sultan and beggar as one, you may spy ! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| In front of a monarch, your wishes, why bring? | 11 | ····/··/˘·· |
| When you've set aside greed, you yourself are a king ! | 12 | ···˘/··˘/··· |
| If you worship yourself, make your stomach a gong ! | 12 | ··/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| And pray at each door, as you travel along. | 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.