Ink Atlas

The Gulistan

by Sa'di (translated by James Ross) · 1900

Classics

The Rose Garden of the Persian poet Sa'di, in James Ross's translation: eight chapters of short anecdotes and verses on kings, dervishes, contentment, silence, love and youth, old age, education and the duties of society. It comes with an introduction by Richard Gottheil.

Content note: A nineteenth-century translation with some passages left out by the translator. Some anecdotes involve cruelty, war and sexual themes.

10 chapters

A look inside

Of the Customs of Kings

I

I have heard of a king who made the sign to put a captive to death. The poor wretch, in that state of desperation, began to abuse the king in the dialect which he spoke, and to revile him with asperity, as has been said; whoever shall wash his hands of life will utter whatever he may harbor in his heart:—"When a man is desperate he will give a latitude to his tongue, like as a cat at bay will fly at a dog"—"at the moment of compulsion when it is impossible to fly, the hand will grasp the sharp edge of a sword." The king asked, saying, "What does he say?" One of the Vizirs (or nobles in attendance), and a well-disposed man, made answer, "O my lord! he is expressing himself and saying, (paradise is for such) as are restraining their anger and forgiving their fellow-creatures; and God will befriend the benevolent." The king felt compassion for him, and desisted from shedding his blood.

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