Chapter VIII: Story of the King and the Greek Physician
From a dark-coloured horse fell a king, used to war,Displacing a bone of his neck by the jar.On his body his head like an elephant's shrunk ;He could not look round without turning his trunk.The physicians perplexed could not give him release;But a doctor who came from the country of Greece,Re-twisted his head, and his body grew straight ;Had the doctor not come, sad had been the king's state !When again he came near to the king with his train,A look from the creature he did not obtain.The doctor, ashamed at the slight, hung his head ;I have heard, that when leaving, in whispers he said :" If his neck I had yesterday failed to replace,He would not, to-day, have averted his face."He sent him a seed by the hand of a slave;On a censer to roast it, directions he gave.The king gave a sneeze, from the vapour it bore,And his head and his neck turned the same as before !With excuses, they followed the man all around,And searched for him much, but no trace of him found.Turn your neck not from thanking the Bountiful One !Or your head will appear at the judgment undone.
Words in this poem
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- averted a.
- Turned away, esp. as an expression of feeling; also, offended; unpropitious.
- censer n.
- A vessel for perfumes; esp. one in which incense is burned. [For incenser, fr. OF. encensier, F. encensoir, fr. LL. incensarium, incensorium, fr. L. incensum incense. See Incense, and cf. Incensory.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- bountiful a.
- Free in giving; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors.
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VIII: Story of the King and the Greek Physician 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 VIII: Story of the King and the Greek Physician, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/8-4.html, id L29722.
Form and metre
Chapter VIII: Story of the King and the Greek Physician is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
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 A-BBCCDDEEFFGGHHAAIIJJ warA · jar · shrunkB · trunkB · releaseC · greeceC · straightD · stateD · trainE · obtainE · headF · saidF · replaceG · faceG · slaveH · gaveH · boreA · beforeA · aroundI · foundI · oneJ · undoneJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From a dark-coloured horse fell a king, used to war, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Displacing a bone of his neck by the jar. | 11 | ˘/˘········ |
| On his body his head like an elephant's shrunk ; | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘· |
| He could not look round without turning his trunk. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| The physicians perplexed could not give him release; | 12 | ·˘/˘˘/····˘/ |
| But a doctor who came from the country of Greece, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Re-twisted his head, and his body grew straight ; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Had the doctor not come, sad had been the king's state ! | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| When again he came near to the king with his train, | 12 | ·˘/········· |
| A look from the creature he did not obtain. | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| The doctor, ashamed at the slight, hung his head ; | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘······ |
| I have heard, that when leaving, in whispers he said : | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| " If his neck I had yesterday failed to replace, | 12 | ·····/˘····/ |
| He would not, to-day, have averted his face." | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| He sent him a seed by the hand of a slave; | 11 | ··········· |
| On a censer to roast it, directions he gave. | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| The king gave a sneeze, from the vapour it bore, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And his head and his neck turned the same as before ! | 12 | ············ |
| With excuses, they followed the man all around, | 12 | ·˘/˘·/˘····· |
| And searched for him much, but no trace of him found. | 12 | ··˘········· |
| Turn your neck not from thanking the Bountiful One ! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Or your head will appear at the judgment undone. | 12 | ····˘/··/˘˘/ |
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